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[ Serpent Mound of Ohio Index ] Archaeological finds at the cherry tree knoll of 'The Serpent Mound of Ohio' written by Frederic Ward Putnam (1890). [ << Return to Previous Page | Continue to Next Page >> ] At the southwestern portion of the plateau, on a knoll now shaded by a wild cherry tree, and to which reference has previously been made (32 of map), there is now a small low mound which has recently been restored, having been nearly plowed down years ago. Its site was noticed by Dr. Metz while examining the plateau with me, three years ago. The year following I explored the place and here found the first burials, which have an antiquity as great as that of the serpent itself, and we have every reason to believe that the bodies buried at this spot were of the people who worshiped at the serpent shrine. On the clay of the knoll a number of large stones had been placed, and over these had been raised a small mound, oblong in shape, and probably not over two or three feet high. In leveling the mound and plowing over the spot many of these stones had been turned out and thrown down the hill; but a few still remained, near which we started the preliminary trench. About a foot below the natural surface of the clay we found other stones, irregularly placed over an area about seven feet long east and west and four feet wide north and south, resting upon a bed of ashes nearly a foot thick; and under this ash bed were three more irregular groups, which proved to be graves - one under the eastern corner of the ash bed, one under the southeastern, and the other under the northwestern portion. In each of these graves were the remains of human skeletons, lying in the clay, and covered with ashes containing considerable charcoal; and here again, below these graves, were half a dozen boulders, from one to two feet in diameter, and around them the edges of other stones, some of which were rounded boulders and others piece of ledge rock, about four inches thick and a foot or two long, which marked another grave seven feet long and two feet wide. Here, too, were found the remains of a skeleton, extending from the southeast to the northwest, and resting upon flat stones. This grave, of course, contained the first burial of the four that had taken place at this spot, and was made two feet below the bottom of the uppermost layer of stones covering all the graves. The great weight from above had crushed the skull and other portions of the skeleton, and the fragments were firmly embedded in the hard yellow clay which had silted into the grave, mixed with ashes which had been thrown over the body. This mass had become so hard and compact that it seemed more like taking fossils from a clay rock than human bones from a grave. The clay immediately under the bottom stones was filled with bog iron, which had been deposited by water percolating among the stones, and the iron had also penetrated the bones. Several flint-flakes and a rude flint implement were found between the lower end of the humerus and the ribs. The bones in the three graves above, as already stated, were much decayed and reduced to fragments, and the skulls were crushed by the settling of the stones and clay. The illustration shows one of these graves, with a portion of the bones of the right arm in the central lower part of the picture. Resting against the humerus, a few inches above the elbow joint, is a small flint arrow-head with the point towards the bone, as if the arrow had been shot into the fleshy part of the arm; and just above it is a long slender point of flint, with the base near the arm and its point slanting upwards, in a position as if it had been thrust into the right side of the chest. It may be that both these points were placed with the body at the time of burial, but their position is certainly very suggestive of having been in the flesh at that time. A piece of flint which had been slightly chipped to a rude point was found in the clay near the decayed ribs, but this seems too rude an object to be called a weapon, and was probably placed in the grave. No other objects of any kind were found in this grave or in either of the other two. The fragments of bones, in all the graves, showed that all four skeletons were those of fully grown persons, and probably all men. With the knowledge obtained from the exploration of thousands of graves, under many and varied conditions of burial, in various parts of the country, during nearly a quarter of a century of active field-work, I am able to state that all the conditions relating to these graves, and to those next to be described, are confirmatory of their great antiquity; indeed, I have seldom found more conclusive comparative evidence of antiquity of graves than in those now under consideration. [ Top of Page ] |
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