Fulton County, Illinois - Chapter 11: Archaeology, 1879

Perhaps no district of country in the West contains more of the traces of that mysterious pre-historic people known to us only as the "Mound-Builders" than does Fulton county. There is not a township of land in the county which does not contain more or less of these traces, and in some of them arc works which in extent and character will compare with any in the West.

These works of the Mound-Builders here are of four different classes: 1. Mounds, varying in size from two or three feet in diameter to immense pyramids, like one near Waterford, containing over an acre of ground, and of an altitude of over forty feet in its original condition, and the one in Otter Creek Valley near Otto, which looks in the distance like an immense hay-rick and is over two hundred feet long and between forty and fifty feet high ; 2. Excavations usually circular, in regular lines in most cases, some small, others of great size and considerable depth ; 3. Regular fortifications, square, elliptical, or following the accidental configuration of the ground ; 4. Terraced hills.

One of the most interesting pre-historic points in the county is located on sections 31 and 32 in Kerton township. Here, on the summit of a high blulf, is a field on the land of a Mr. Fisher, knoAvn as the " Mound field," containing, perhaps, twenty-five acres, that may properly be called a city of the dead. In this field there is a level space of five or six acres enclosed by two rows of circular, cup-shaped depressions, inside of which is one large mound which must originally have been thirty or forty feet high. To the south of this level the bluff" line, with its indentations, forms the border of the field, and here are the remains of not less than one hundred and fifty thousand human beings buried literally by the cord ! Where the bluff" begins to descend, it appears as though a step had been cut with the bluff face not less than ten feet high, and here were corded skeletons laid as one would cord wood, but with the bodies arranged just as one would preserve the level of the file best without regard to direction. This burial place follows the bluff' line for some distance, where the skeletons appear to have been covered by a peculiar light-colored clay, which must have been brought from a considerable distance, as it is not found in the locality. There are also two pits near the brow of the bluff on the side- hill, which appear to have been (triginally about forty feet in diameter and of jjreat depth, which have been walled uj) i)v placing skeletons around the outside, as one would wall a well, coveriui: the work with the same clay as in the other burial place. These skeletons are excellently preserved, in many cases the smallest processes of bone beini; in as sound a condition as though buried but a year ago. Over the entire surface of this field - which is in cultivation - the human hand canu.tt l)e placed without ])lacing it on broken pottery, bones or shells.

At one point near the large mound an area of about two acres, which is evidently a " kitchen midden," or refuse heap, covered with broken j)ieces of the bones of animals, broken household utensils and broken tools, to a considerable dej)th. In this refuse heap are the bones of nearly every animal known to have inhabited this country. Back of the square spoken of are a considerable number of ordinary mounds, arranged without much regard to order.

Just oi)posite and north of Duncan's mill, on the north blufP of Spoon river, are extensive and in many respects singular remains extending for two or three miles. After leaving the Spoon river bridge going north on the Lewistown road, one observes running nearly parallel witii the j)resent road what ai)|)ears to be an old disused road going up the bluil'. A closer inspection discloses a ridge of earth several feet in height, extending from near the foot of the blutf to very near the summit, with a dei)ression running j)arallel with it. On the crown of the blutit' are mounds of earth. built out from the brow of the hill, not elevated above the surface level but as though they were dumps of earth for some projected railroad. These mounds continue close together for nearly a mile; on the blutf back of them runs a low ridge of earth which follows the tortuous outline of (he bluff, and still back of this ridge circular depressions, some of which are fully fifty feet in diameter and from three to five feet deep. Xear this line of works is a low natural ridge on the top of which an earth-work exists, being an artificial atldition to the ridge, building it uj) for a distance of two hundred yards, fully thirty feet higher than the natural elevation of the ridge. From the north end of this ridge the same class of uKUinds and embankment spoken of again apjH'ar, extending nearly a mile further uj) the river bluff.

In these mounds - which are in the woods - considerable excavating has l)cen done in a desultory way, and many objects of interest exhumed, among which are wedges of hardened copper, - stone turned into the shaj)e of a sleeve-button with a long shank, and plated with (!oj)j)cr as skillfully as a modern jeweler could jdate with silver. These works do not apjK^ar to have been purely (lefensive, as but few imi)lcments of warfare are found in or al)out them, while domestic tools and implements of peace are found in great abundance.

tical ill form, which is terraced in a .singular manner. All around the side of the hill at the same elevation is a terrace perhaps twelve feet wide, and rising from this a second terrace about four feet high. These terraces are uniform, of the same height, width and grade, with places on the upper terrace where the hill has been leveled back a few feet in a circular form. Near this terraced hill are the remains of ancient pottery works, the mis-shaped and over-burned fragments filling the side of a hill fn- an area of one or two acres. North of the village of Bernadotte about one mile there is an elliptical ditch which appears to have been a fortification, containing within the ditch fifty or sixty acres of ground. This ditch, although the plow has aided in filling it for years, is still quite deep and clearly defined. Near this place a stone was observed projecting from the earth, and parties guided by the dictum of a spiritual medium dug it up expecting to find buried treasure under it; but did find a flat stone hearth at a depth of several feet, on which were fragments of burned wood and charcoal, showing that it had been used for fire.

At AVaterford and in its vicinity are a great many ancient mounds, one of which is pyramidal with a road up the east side. There are also several ancient burial places near here, but none on so extensive a scale as that in Kerton township.

Liverpool township is also rich in pre-historic remains, including several very large mounds ; and some artificial hill terraces at Pollitt's farm above the plank road, one on quite an extensive scale.

One of the most interesting archaeological relics in this county are the ancient furnaces, evidently for the working of ores or metal. One of these in Kerton township was discovered by citizens engaged in cutting a road-way around a side hill. This furnace was built up with rock laid up in a circular form, and was surrounded by scorisB and some metallic slag. There are several other furnaces of the kind in the county, one of which, on the old Dilworth farm in Farmer's township, shows by its immense quantity of cinder, coal, clinkers and metallic scoriae that extensive works of some kind were carried on here with coal for the fuel supply.

Just north of Seville, on a bluff of Spoon river, are quite extensive Nvorks supposed to be defensive in their character, but which have not been fully investigated. Near London Mills in Young Hickory township, are quite extensive works, mostly mounds, which have received but little attention. In fact there is scarcely a stream in the county the banks and i>lufl's of which do not show traces of prehistoric po])ulation.

The mounds in this county are evidently of three classes : Sacred mounds, which were used for the sacrificial fires ; burial mounds, which were erected over the last remains of important personages ; and mounds which were used for domestic habitations. In the latter class hearths are frequently found, and domestic utensils. These were probably residences similar to those of some tribes of our present Indians. First, poles or logs set up in a circle, then covered with brush or grass, and the whole with earth to a considerable depth. The sacrificial mounds always contain burnt earth, burnt bones and frequently, too, the charred bones of human beings. In the burial mounds only the bones of a few persons are found, probably of some chief and his immediate family, and usually near them are utensils of the kitchen, arrows, pottery and such articles as were most prized in life by the departed.

In some localities immense shell heaps exist, while it is not uncommon to find in a mound shell from the sea, notably the conch shell and sea periwinkles, the latter very common. Implements of both hardened copper and copper in its soft state are often found, and a metal resembling iron in color and texture, but hard enough to cut glass, and which resists the action of almost all the acids. The writer has specimens of this metal which show under the action of acid only that copper enters into their composition. No file will affect this substance, yet it yields readily to the grindstone and can be sharpened to carry a fine but brittle edge. This metal was probably a composition of copper and one or two other metals, tempered by a process not now known to the scientific world. Xorman Butler, a blacksmith in Toulon, Stark county, 111., one day in 1853 accidentally tempered brass so that it would turn a file, - an experiment which he never afterward could successfully imitate.

That these Mound-Builders were not of the same race as our Indians, is at once apparent from the bones of the latter being of a reddish hue, while those of the Mound-Builders are of a different shade and much larger. Dr. Schenck, of Duncan's Mills, has a large collection of these prehistoric bones collected with especial reference to diseased bones and surgery. Some of these specimens show fractures which have been set with considerable skill ; some indeed which would not disgrace the average surgery of this age. Some of these skeletons belonged to men who were giants, some over seven feet high ; some have skulls equal to the average European skull in shape and brain capacity, while the general average is much superior to the Indian or negro skull.

It is our opinion that the Mound-Builders were a pastoral people who had made considerable progress in civilization. In the winter, doubtless, they drove their flocks and herds to the bluffs and rich, sheltered bottoms where they could obtain shelter, and in the summer drove them to the prairies for pasturage. Doubtless, like the Chinese of to-dav^^ thev esteemed their native hills sacred and sought to be buried there no matter where the iron hand of death overtook them ; and their friends, respecting this desire, were in the habit of bringino; the bones of each familv or tribe to these sacred burial places, after they had been stripped of their flesh, for permanent burial.

Perhaps some future archieologist will delve among these ancient ruins and find a key to the mystery of the builders of whom we today know next to nothing ; and unless some means are taken by the

Government or societies organized for the purpose, and these measures at no distant day, they will have become so far obliterated by the plow and by unskilled diggers that the slight clues they contain will be buried in an oblivion greater than now enshroud the history of their builders.