Fig. 19—Flint Arrow and Spear Points.
Fig. 19—Flint Arrow and Spear Points.
Most useful of all Flint implements were the “Points” or “Heads” of Flint, as shown above. The only difference between an Arrowhead (A) and a Spearhead (B) is that of size. Those more than three inches long are usually called Spearheads.
With Arrows and Spears tipped with Flint Points, the primitive hunter was able to “bag” an abundance of game. Flint Points like these are probably the most numerous of the relics left by the prehistoric inhabitants of America. They are found by the hundreds of thousands in all parts of the country, on the surface, in mounds and graves, and in places where the Indians had their villages.
Shot from strong bows, these Flint Points had great penetrating power. Arrowheads have been found imbedded in the bones of large animals and human beings in such positions as to show that they passed through almost the entire thickness of the body before being brought to a stop.
Fig. 20—Primitive Agricultural Implements.
Fig. 20—Primitive Agricultural Implements.
Although the Mound-builders, like all primitive peoples, drew freely on nature’s bounty for food supplies, such as hunting, fishing and gathering wild nuts, fruits, and roots, they had developed agriculture to a considerable degree. Tending their crops with rude Hoes made from clam shells (A) and shoulder blades of the deer (B), they produced corn, beans, squash, tobacco, etc. It is probable also that some of the burial mounds were built with the aid of such Hoes, which were used for loosening the soil and scraping it into baskets and carrying bags.
Fig. 21—Implements of Bone.
Fig. 21—Implements of Bone.
Next to Stone and Flint, the Mound-builders prized Bone for making implements and ornaments. Above (B, C) are shown two Bone Awls, which served for piercing leather and bark, and also as “tableware” in eating their meals. Other things made from bone were Harpoons and Arrowheads (A), Fish Hooks (D), Scrapers (F), Hoes, Needles (E), and Ornaments such as Beads and Pendants.
With some of the Ohio Mound-builders and prehistoric Indians, Bone was almost as important as Flint and Stone, and was used for many different purposes.
Fig. 22—Vessels of Burned Clay.
Fig. 22—Vessels of Burned Clay.
The Mound-builders and some of the Indians made their pots and pans out of clay, of which there is a great abundance in the river valleys of Ohio. They tempered or hardened the clay by mixing it with ground-up rock or shells, molded it into the desired shape, and baked the vessel in an open fire.
Many of these ancient pots have designs like “B” and “C,” which were made with small sticks, or perhaps with pieces of flint or bone, before burning.
In size, pottery vessels range all the way from that of a thimble to a bushel basket. They were used for the most part for cooking, storing and preserving food, but many of the highly decorated pots found in the mounds were probably made purposely as tributes to the dead.
Fig. 23—Mound-builder Cloth.
Fig. 23—Mound-builder Cloth.
The Mound-builders wove serviceable cloth from the tough fibers of plants and the inner bark of certain trees. The sample shown as “A” resembles the homespun linen of the days of our pioneer grandmothers, and in “B” a piece of the same sample is magnified to show the weave. Cloth, as well as the skins of animals, was used for clothing by the Mound-builders, and they probably knew how to weave thick blankets to protect them from the cold in winter. There are many samples of Mound-builder Cloth, as well as of woven bark matting, in the Ohio State Museum. These show half a dozen or more different weaving patterns, of which the weave shown in the above picture is but one. Copper implements found in the mounds were very often wrapped in Cloth, which was preserved throughout the centuries by the chemical action of the Copper.
Some of the prehistoric Indians also wove cloth, but none of them was as skilled as the Mound-builders.
Fig. 24—Implements and Ornaments of Copper.
Fig. 24—Implements and Ornaments of Copper.
Although strictly a Stone Age people, the Mound-builders used Copper, Silver and other native metals. They had not learned to melt these, but pounded the metal into the desired shape, afterward polishing the objects by rubbing. The objects shown in the picture are all made of Copper. “A” is a Bracelet and “B” is a Celt, or ungrooved Axe. “C” shows two views of what are called Ear-spools. These were worn as ornaments in the ears, and probably signified some particular station in life. The Mound-builders obtained their copper from the shores of Lake Superior, where it is found near the surface of the ground. Many of the pits they dug there are still to be seen. Silver was also obtained by them in the same region.
Besides Copper and Silver, the Mound-builders used Galena, or Lead-ore, and Iron, which they probably obtained from fallen meteors. The non-Mound-building Indians used copper to a lesser extent.
Fig. 25—Mound-builder Jewelry.
Fig. 25—Mound-builder Jewelry.
Beads always have been popular with human beings as articles of personal adornment. The Mound-builders and other Indians used them in great numbers, samples of which are shown in the picture. From left to right there are: Beads made of fresh-water pearls, which are found in the mounds by the thousands; a “breast-pin” of sea-shell decorated with the effigy of an insect, and a Bear Tusk with a Pearl set in it, used as a pendant for a necklace.
The Mound-builders made Pendants and Beads and other ornaments, some of which were sewed onto cloth, out of Copper, Mica, Tortoise-shell, Stone and Bone. Many Buttons about as large around as a dime, made of sandstone and covered with thin layers of copper or silver, have been found in the burial mounds. Some of the Mound-builders even wore rings of copper on their fingers.
Fig. 26—Mound-builder Designs.
Fig. 26—Mound-builder Designs.
The Mound-builders were artists, carving and cutting a variety of patterns in Bone, Mica, Shell, Copper, Clay and Stone. Without doubt they worked in other materials too, such as Wood and Bark, but these, of course, have entirely disappeared along with other perishable materials. We have seen examples of their artistic ability in the great geometrical circles, squares and octagons which they built up of earth around some of their burial mounds.
At the left in the picture is a section of a human leg bone carved with an attractive design. This was no doubt a sort of family relic or a memento of some relative who had died. In the middle of the picture is a rare design, possibly representing the universe, cut from a thin sheet of copper. At the right is the foot of an eagle, cut out of a thin sheet of mica, as skillfully as anyone could do it today.
The finest examples of Mound-builder art are the many tobacco pipes taken from the Mounds.
Fig. 27—The Mound-builder Tobacco Pipe.
Fig. 27—The Mound-builder Tobacco Pipe.
The Mound-builders cultivated and smoked Tobacco long before civilized people knew of the plant. Above is a picture of one of their Tobacco Pipes, in which they have shown their artistic ability by carving it in the image of the Dog, their only domestic animal. Several hundred pipes like this one have been found in mounds in Ohio, representing many different animals and birds, and the human form has also been found. The American Indian not only taught the white man the use of tobacco, but it was probably from pipes very much like those of the Mound-builders, with stem and bowl, from which our modern tobacco-pipes are copied.
This Pipe is made of Ohio Pipestone, which is found in Scioto County. The Tobacco Pipes of the Mound-builders and prehistoric Indians are made not only of this material, but of several kinds of stone, including limestone, slate, steatite or soapstone, and granite.
Fig. 28—Charms, Badges and Talismans.
Fig. 28—Charms, Badges and Talismans.
Almost every collection of “Indian relics” contains one or more specimens, like those shown above, that are difficult to account for. They are called by the Archæologists “Ceremonial” objects, because they are believed to have been used in mysterious ceremonies of the Mound-builders and Indians. The specimen marked “A” is a pendant or Gorget, and was worn suspended from the neck. Specimen “B” is a Bannerstone, and “C” is a Crescent. They probably were mounted on wooden handles and served as badges of authority or rank. Other Ceremonial objects are tubes (D), Cones, Bars, Bird-shaped objects, called Bird-stones, and others.