Coshocton County, Ohio - Chapter 17: Topography and Geology., 1881 (part 2 of 2)

The form of badges, known as "double-crescents," are the most elegant and expensive of any yet brought to notice. They were probably used to indicate the highest rank or office. The single crescent, perhaps, signified a rank next below the double. In the collection of Mr. John B. Matson, of Richland county, there is a rough-hewn double one in process of construction, the horns of which turn inward. In nearly or quite all the finished ones the points turn outward. The finish around the bore of aU winged badges and the crescents is the same, and the size of the bore about the same - from two-fifths to three-fifths of an inch. On one side of al! is a narrow ridge ; on the other, a flat band, lengthwise, like a ridge that has been ground down to a width of one to two-tenths of an inch. Badges and crescents are invariably made of banded slate, generally of a greenish shade of color. The other forms of wands or badges, such as those with symmetrical wings or blades, are also made of green striped slate, highly polished, with a bore of about one-half inch in diameter, apparently to insert a light wooden rod or staff. They were probably emblems of distinction, and were not ornaments. Nothing like them is known among the modern tribes, in form or use, hence they are attributed to. the Mound Builders.

In addition to stpne ornaments, the pre-historic man seems to have had a penchant, like his savage successot-s, to bedaub his body with various colors, derived from different colored minerals. These compounds were mixed in hollowed stones or diminutive mortars - " paint cups," - in which the mineral mass of colored clay was reduced to poVder and prepared for application to the body. Such paint cups are not common ; in fact, are quite rare, but one being known to exist in this part of the State, that in the collection of Dr. Craig, of Mansfield.

The comparative rarity of aboriginal smoking pipes is easily explained by the fact that they were not discarded, as were weapons, when those by whom they were fashioned entered upon the iron age. The advances of the whites in no way lessened the demand for pipes, nor did the whites substitute a better implement. The pipes were retained and used until worn out or broken, save the few that were buried with their dead owners. What was the ultimate fate of these can only be conjectured. In very few instances does an Indian grave contain a pipe. If the practice of burying the pipe with its owner was common, it is probable that the graves were opened and robbed of this coveted article by members of the same or some other tribes.

It only remains to notice the " flints," in addition to which a few other archaeological relics of minor importance are found about the country, but nonfe of sufficient import to merit mention, or to throw additional light on the lost tribes of America. Arrow and spear : heads and other similar pieces of flaked flints are the most abundant of any aboriginal relics in the United States. They are chiefly made of hard' and brittle siliceous materials; are easily damaged in hitting any object at which they are aimed, hence many of them bear marks of violent use. Perfect specimens are, however, by no means rare. The art of arrow making survives to the present day among certain Indian tribes, from whom is learned the art practiced that produces them.

A classification of arrow heads is not within the scope of this work; indeed, it is rarely attempted by archaeologists. The styles are almost as numerous as their makers. In general, they are all the same in outline, mostlj- leafshaped, varying according to the taste of their makers. The accompanying cut exhibits a few of the common forms, though the number is infinite. They may have been chipped - probably most were - and some may have been ground. Spear heads exhibit as large a variety as arrow heads. Like arrow heads, spear heads were inserted in wooden handles of various lengths, though in many tribes they were fastened by thongs of untanned leather or sinews.

Their modes of manufacture were generally the sanje. Sometimes tribes contained "arrow makers," whose business was to make these implements, selling them to, or exchanging them with, their neighbors for wampum or peltry. When the Indian desired an arrow head, he could buy one of the " arrow maker " or make one himself. The common method was to take a chipping implement, generally made of the pointed rods^of a deer horn, from eight to sixteen inches in length, or of slender, short pieces of the same material, bound with sinews to wooden sticks resembling arrow shafts. The " arrow maker " held in his left hand the flake of flint or obsidian on which he intended to operate, and pressing the point of the tool against its edge, detached scale after scale, until the flake assumed the desired form.

Note. - For more particular intormatlou regarding the works of the Mound Builders, in different parts of this county the reader is referred to the history of the different townships In which such works are located.