Part 40

In short, no matter what suggestion has been offered as to their purpose or uses, objections to it can be brought and sustained. It is not improbable that, in the end, it will be found the difficulty lies in trying to place in a hard and fast category a variety of structures which are similar in appearance but which were intended for various uses. With more comprehensive study, it may be that a classification is possible which will interpret what is now obscure. Instead of uniformity, there was probably great diversity of motives, ideas, and beliefs which led to the building of these as well as of other mounds; and when the key is once obtained the explanation which will account for one may be very different from that which as clearly accounts for another.

A few of these mounds have been explored by the writer, but no discoveries were made upon which can be based a definite statement as to their probable purpose.

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NEW MADRID COUNTY

On the farm of A.B. Hunter, 7 miles north of New Madrid, more than 60 of these mounds, irregularly placed, extend for half a mile along the west bank of St. John's Bayou, the extreme width of the group being about 200 yards. The largest mound, standing on the edge of the terrace, was 6 feet high and 75 feet across. On the original surface, over a small area at the central part, were decayed fragments of human bones; so this was probably erected as a tumulus. The others were much smaller; from a foot to 3 feet high, and 30 to 50 feet in diameter. Six of these, varying in size from the largest to the smallest, were thoroughly excavated within the original margin and down to the undisturbed earth beneath them. No artificial object was found in any of them except here and there a fragment of pottery or a small amount of ashes or a piece of charcoal, not intentionally deposited but gathered up and carried in with the earth in the course of construction. There were no distinct fire-beds or ash piles at the bottom, or in any part of the mound; nor were there any holes in which posts may have stood.

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ST. FRANCOIS COUNTY

Nearly 2 miles south of Farmington, on Quesnel's land, are about 30 very small, low mounds, none more than 18 inches high or 25 feet across. They are on the general level, some of them on a gentle slope, of the first upland above the St. Francois River and a mile from that stream at its nearest point.

Half a mile to the south of these is a group of similar mounds on the farm of Isaac Hopkins, on a gently sloping hillside, and from 30 to 40 feet above the level of the overflow bottom land. One of these has been gradually worn away by the encroachment of a gully until more than half of it has disappeared. While the curvature of its surface is very apparent, and the remnant of its margin sufficiently distinct to show its regularity of outline, careful inspection of the face formed by the erosion fails to reveal any trace of stratification, or line of demarcation between the bottom of the mound and the original surface. There is precisely the same uniformity of change from the grass roots to the underlying gravelly soil that exists in the exposed bank at any point to either side of the mound. Mr. Hopkins, desirous of knowing what might be in the mound, or why it was built, has noted the appearance of the earth from the time the gully reached its margin. At no time has its appearance differed in the least from what it presents now.

On the river bottom portion of Mr. Hopkins's farm, and on the adjoining Goings and Townshend farms to the southward, are many mounds lying along both sides of the Belmont division of the Iron Mountain Railway. Fully 100 were observed within a distance of a mile; and they are said to continue both up and down the river. They are all above flood stage, except in time of extreme high water. They range from a foot to 3 feet high, and from 20 to 40 feet across; but some of them have been lowered and broadened by cultivation. They are of the same earth as the ground around them. Mr. Hopkins says crops are much better on the mounds than on the area between them. This is no doubt due to the greater amount of productive soil in the one case, and to the excess of moisture in the other; the railway embankment impeding drainage in the lower part. Oak trees 4 feet in diameter grew on the mounds before they were cleared off.

Two of these mounds were completely removed, down into the subsoil. The first was 18 inches high and 35 by 40 feet across; the variation in breadth resulting from continual cultivation in one direction. It contained nothing whatever of artificial character, not even a scrap of pottery. There were no post holes, no indications of a fire bed, no trace of a distinction between the mound and the soil below it. In fact, except for the greater thickness of the superficial dark earth there was no difference between the appearance of the face of the excavation and that of a hole dug at random in the field.

The second mound was somewhat larger than the first, being 2 feet high and 40 feet across, and at a little higher level toward the edge of the field. It was the largest which could be excavated of this group. As in the first mound opened, there was no worked object, if a small flint flake be excepted; no ashes; no fire bed; no trace of demarcation between the mound and the original surface of the ground, though in each mound the excavation over the entire area was carried down into the gravelly, hard-packed subsoil. Its artificial origin is clearly proven, however, by four holes dug into the earth beneath it before its construction. Nine feet a little north of the center, which was assumed to be the highest point of the mound, was a hole (A) 12 by 14 inches and 14 inches deep, with a flat bottom, the sides as regular as could be expected in hard soil dug out in primitive manner. Nine feet west of the center was a hole (B) a foot across, 10 inches deep, with a solid though somewhat irregular bottom. Near the center was a conical hole (C) a foot deep and the same across the top. Four feet from it, west of north, was another (D) of about the same size and shape. The measures given are of course only approximate, as the sides of all the holes were somewhat uneven, but they are practically correct. The depth was measured from the top of the gravelly subsoil. Fourteen feet east of south from the center was an irregular hole (E) about 2 feet deep to the bottom of the loose dirt in it. This had not been dug, but was due to the decay of a tree which grew here before the mound was made. At the top of the dirt filling this hole was a piece of decayed bark, apparently oak, which had grown in the air; and farther down fragments of root bark. Eight feet east of the center was a hole (F), similar to the last, 10 inches deep and averaging 2 feet across. This, also, resulted from the decay of a stump.

A plan of the holes is given in figure 37. The dotted lines are merely to show direction and distance.

This mound offers confirmation of the belief that such structures, or some of them at least, mark the sites of dwellings. With the two trees, E and F, the posts, A and B, would form the corners of an irregular quadrangle; the two posts, C and D, would support the inner ends of roof timbers. While no trace of posts or roof timbers remained, it is difficult to imagine for what other purpose these holes would be dug; and in this heavy, wet earth all traces of wood must in time disappear. Conversely, the total absence of a fireplace, potsherds or other remains, and of any sign of a floor, would serve to dispel the assumption that this spot was ever inhabited even for a short time. The evidence is as strong one way as it is the other.

In short, the limited observations above recorded leave the question of origin and purpose just where it was.

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Some years ago one of the mounds at Ferguson, St. Louis County, was opened. No remains of any sort were discovered, according to the report of the excavators; but on the original surface, at the center of the mound, was a fire bed in and about which were ashes, charcoal, and fragments of rude pottery.

No excavations have ever been made in the mounds near Granite Mountain; but a tortuous little stream has undercut several of them, thus making vertical sections as in the case of the mound at Hunter's, near Farmington. In some mounds only a small portion near the margin has been removed; in others the erosion has progressed to such an extent that observations were possible at varying distances, to and beyond the center. In every instance a monotonous uniformity of appearance prevails from the top of the mound into the underlying gravel. At no level is there a sign of a floor, fire bed, or other evidence of human work; and no difference can be detected between the earth upon which the mound rests and that on either side. Yet the mounds are indubitably artificial.

Exactly the same remarks apply to several mounds on the County Farm, near Salem. A little creek and a drainage ditch have cut away varying portions of them, and they merge insensibly into the soil and gravel on either side.

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In further support of the theory that these mounds are the remains of earth-covered houses, a few extracts relating to the area under discussion will be given from Dr. Cyrus Thomas in the Twelfth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology:

Near "Beckwith's Fort," in Mississippi County, Missouri, are (p. 189)--

Low, flattish, circular mounds * * * [which] appear to belong to two classes, those used for dwelling sites and those used for burial purposes, the former being the higher and the color of the surface layer darker than that of the other class. This darker color of the surface layer is probably due to the fact that immediately below it are found fire-beds with burnt earth, charcoal, ashes, and the bones of animals, (mostly split). There are seldom any human skeletons or entire vessels of pottery in the mounds of this class though the earth is filled with fragments of broken vessels.

In describing mound excavations in Crittenden County, Arkansas, the explorer states (p. 227):

As an almost universal rule, after removing a foot or two of top soil, a layer of burnt clay in a broken or fragmentary condition would be found, sometimes with impressions of grass or twigs, which easily crumbled but was often hard and stamped apparently with an implement made of split reeds of comparatively large size. This layer was in places a foot thick and frequently burned to a brick red or even to clinkers.

Below this, at a depth of 3 to 5 feet from the surface, were more or less ashes, and often 6 inches of charred grass, immediately covering skeletons. The latter were found lying in all directions, some with the face up, others with it down, and others on the side. With these were vessels of clay, in some cases one, sometimes more.

The positions of the skeletons in this mound would indicate that while the inmates of the house were asleep the roof fell and killed them. It was customary among some southern Indians to bury the dead under the floors of the houses; but the text clearly shows that these skeletons were lying on the floor. It would be supposed from most reports, not only in the volume quoted, but from various other sources as well, that only the walls of these houses were plastered with mud, the roof being of thatch alone. It seems to be overlooked that the tops of the houses would have even more need of such protection than the sides. The marks indicating that the clay was "stamped apparently with an implement made of split reeds" are only the impressions of the reeds or saplings by which the clay was supported; the "brick like" or "clinker like" condition of the clay being due, of course, to the destruction of the house by fire.

Adair, in his History of the Southern Indians, says they daub their houses with tough mortar mixed with dry grass; that they build winter or hot houses after the manner of Dutch ovens, covered with clay. Again: