Jersey County, Illinois - Chapter 3: Evidences of Great Antiquity, 1919

Pre-Historic Evidences

The evidences of pre-historic man in this vicinity are numerous. The central geographical position of the county, as well as its proximity to the mouths of the Illinois and Missouri rivers, two great tributaries of the Mississippi, doubtless made the locality a favorite resort of the primitive races that have inhabited this continent. Although we have no reason to suppose the aborigines were great travelers, they doubtless made excursions along the river courses in their canoes. There seems to be no evidence that they had any beasts of burden. That great ally of the European race, the horse, was probably unknown to the ancient American. Although several species of the horse existed on this con¬ tinent in great numbers, they probably became extinct at the close of the tertiary and during the glacial epoch. We have the tooth of an extinct animal bearing a strong resemblance to our common horse, which was recovered from the Loess at the depth of twenty feet, while digging a well. We have seen another tooth from the same geological horizon, found in the adjoining county of Greene, which, though somewhat larger, strongly resembles the grinders of our domestic horse. The same horizon furnishes the bones of several large extinct mammals, that we have reason to believe will some day be conclusively shown to have been con¬ temporaneous with man.

Buffalo

significant fact that in all the aboriginal delineations, more especially those by the mound builders, by sculpture and otherwise, and they em¬ brace nearly the entire fauna of the continent, we fail to find an un¬ doubted representation of the buffalo. From this fact, it has been considered doubtful by some antiquarians, whether the ancient mound builders knew the buffalo.

I recovered from a large mound in the American bottom between Alton and St. Louis, the remains of the head of a buffalo, with the teeth entire and in a good state of preservation by being in contact with a number of copper implements and ornaments, associated with others of stone, that are peculiar to the mound builder.

Natural Resources

The natural resources of the region embracing our county and vicinity furnishing food for a great variety and number of animals, on land and in water, must have made it a very paradise for primeval man with his simple but savage tastes ; and "when in the course of time his improv¬ able reason had discovered rude methods of agriculture, the alluvial bottoms furnished the richest garden spots, that with little preparation and care yielded abundantly of whatever he -chose to plant. This locality is wonderfully rich in the evidences of pre-historic man, and had no equal in the variety of the matter presented for the study of the anti¬ quarian.

Great Diversity Of Mounds

Reared in the Miami Valley in the state of Ohio, we had from boy¬ hood been familiar with the mounds and earthworks of the moundbuilders, and made a considerable collection of their relics. Upon com¬ ing to Illinois, we were not a little puzzled and bewildered by the great diversity of the mounds and relics in this vicinity. Having a passion for research in this direction, twenty years of investigation in the mounds of Jersey and adjoining counties, have not cleared away the mystery of their origin.

Within a radius of fifty miles from the mouth of the Illinois River, there are perhaps 5,000 mounds. Over 1,000 of this number are in the little county of Jersey. They are most numerous in the vicinity of springs and water courses, and are found in great numbers in that por¬ tion of the county bordering on the Mississippi and Illinois rivers, and along the Macoupin, Piasa and Otter creeks, which form the drainage system not only of Jersey, hut a portion of the adjoining counties. These mounds are from two to twenty feet in height, and generally conical or oval in shape. A common shape resembles the half of an egg divided lengthwise. The mounds are evidently of different ages, built for dif¬ ferent purposes, and doubtless by different nations, or perhaps dif¬ ferent races of people.

So-Called Indian Mounds

It has been commonly believed that what is known as an Indian Mound is a place of burial,; an aboriginal grave ; that an examination of one of these mounds would reveal the skeleton of one of the ancient people with all of his possessions buried with him. From the examina¬ tion of hundreds of these mounds, I have not found this to be true. But comparatively few of these elevations are sepulchral mounds, and few of them contain any relic of value or interest. The common mode of burying the dead among the aborigines was not in the erection of a mound over the remains, although elevated places were generally sought, and the high bluffs and ridges about the rivers and creeks of this vicinity contain a very great many more bones than do the mounds. No doubt, upon the death of their rulers, or persons who had distinguished them¬ selves by some great deed, together with the families of hereditary rulers, were honored by the erection of a mound over their remains. The more modern Indians often took advantage of mounds already built, to inter their dead therein.

These intrusive burials oftentimes lead hasty investigators to wrong conclusions. The investigation of these matters requires the utmost care, much experience, and long continued study? to arrive at anything like correct conclusions.

Not without some hesitation, but with much deliberation, 1 have con¬ cluded to arrange the mounds of Jersey County in the following classes: House Mounds, Sepulchral Mounds, and Signal Mounds.

House Mounds

There is a class of mounds in this county that long have been a puzzle to me. They are generally situated about the borders of the prairie lands, near some spring or water course. They occur in groups of two or three to thirty or more, and are from two to six feet in height,

In several of the groups the mounds are arranged in a circular manner. If a group is on a hill side or declivity, the larger mound will occupy the commanding position on the upper side. Other groups have apparently no design in their arrangement and are irregular, or form a line on the bank of the creek or top of some ridge. These mounds are most numerous of any in the county. Although I have made large excavations in them, I have met with nothing but ashes, charcoal and pieces of animal and fishes' bones, with shells of the Unio of the adja¬ cent streams, ^ears ago, after examining a number of these ancient structures, I came to the conclusion they were the remains of ancient dwellings made by placing strong poles, made from the bodies of young trees, with one end on the ground, the poles being arranged in a circle, or in two parallel rows, the upper ends of the poles being inclined and fastened together, and the whole covered with earth and sod to form a roof. This was the primitive form of house in Europe, and if prop¬ erly made would form a substantial dwelling place, warm in winter and cool in summer. The fire was placed in the center, with an aperture in the top for the escape of the smoke. These primitive men were no doubt very filthy, and the rubbish, with ashes, charcoal, and the bones of the animals eaten as food, would accumulate upon the floor of the dwelling. The wooden part of the dwelling would in the course of time decay, and falling in would form a mound. Of course, there is conjecture in this theory which I have not substantiated by finding any remains of the poles, or wood of any kind, except charcoal; but ages might have changed wood into the earthy mold always found in the mounds of this description. They are doubtless very ancient, now ex¬ tinct, and may have been built by a race perhaps the congeners of European builders of similar dwellings, which for want of a better name I call House Mounds. Numbers of these ancient mounds can still be' seen three or four miles from the city of Jerseyville, on the banks of Otter Creek.

Signal Mounds

There are a few mounds in this vicinity, situated on the highest points, that would seem to have been used for purposes of observation, or to light signal fires upon to apprise those in view of some event. These mounds are upon the elevated portions of the bluffs, overlooking

Sepulchral Mounds

Under this head I include all those mounds that seem to have been erected for burial purposes. Of these there are several kinds, made apparently by different tribes or people who have succeeded each other as occupants of the locality. The most prominent, and apparently the oldest of this class, are large barrows, constructed wholly of the earth immediately surrounding the base of the structure. They are mostly located along the Mississippi and Illinois rivers.

One of the largest of these is two miles above the mouth of the Illi¬ nois. It is the largest of a group of a dozen mounds, built on the top of a short, isolated ridge of loess, and is a conspicuous landmark on the eastern end of the ridge. The top of the mound measures 100 feet in length by fifteen feet in width, with a steep slope from the sides and ends to the base, and is about twenty feet high. This mound was in a most perfect state of preservation until some years ago when I was present at its examination. About two feet of the top of the mound was taken off, and a number of human skeletons revealed in a tolerable state of preservation. One of these was found near the west end of the mound. By the side of the skull was found a neat vessel, made from a large sea shell, Pyrula. The vessel would hold something more than a quart, was in excellent preservation, and contained a number of curious bones, six to eight inches long, and fashioned into a sharp point at one end. From the middle of each bone is a projection, nearly an inch in length, like the spur on the leg of a chicken. There were also a number of shell beads about the neck of the skeleton. The skull, which is in a good state of preservation, more resembles that of a white person than an Indian. The frontal bones project instead of receding, as in the common Indian type. The skull, is however, remarkable for its thick¬ ness and small size.

At the eastern end of the mound a skeleton ^vas found with several ornaments of bone, flint knives and arrow points, a rude pipe, a large plate of mica, near ten inches square and half an inch thick ; also sev¬ eral pieces of lead ore, from one to five or six pounds in weight. One of the pieces of lead ore had been worked with smooth faces, apparently for an ornament. This skeleton, like the one found at the west end, was not more than three feet from the surface of the mound. I supposed at the time they were intrusive burials.

Two large excavations were then made, one near the middle, the other near the east end of the mound. In the latter excavation, at the depth of sixteen feet, we came upon a basin of hard burnt clay, filled with dry ashes. From this basin were taken the various parts of a human skeleton, badly broken, two bone implements, one made from the leg bone of a deer, the other from the wing bone of some large bird, perhaps a swan. There were also about the neck of the skeleton a number of shell beads, precisely like those found in the top of the mound. The excava¬ tion in the middle of the mound, at the depth of fifteen feet, disclosed the basin of burnt clay, but nothing was found in it at this point.

Another large mound of this class is situated on the bluff, half a mile below the town of Grafton. It is very much like the one just de¬ scribed, except that it is not so large. I made a large excavation near the center of the mound. At the depth of fifteen feet we came upon the basin of burnt clay, containing a small quantity of ashes, in which we found thirteen skeletons, lying in a heap, without regard to any arrange¬ ment. They were white and clean, and had been cast apparently upon the cold ashes, and had no appearance of being burned. I succeeded in recovering one of the skulls in a tolerable state of preservation. It is of good size, and much longer and larger than those usually found in the vicinity. From near the surface of this mound a number of skeletons were found, some of the skulls finely preserved.

Another mound of this class was examined on the Illinois River bluffs, three miles above its mouth. This mound is nearly circular around the base, nearly ten feet high and thirty feet in diameter. A large excavation wms carried down from the center; at a depth of eight feet a circular basin of hard burned clay was found, the earth in the basin being mingled with ashes, pieces of decayed human bones, a part of the ashes and bones being deposited in a large sea shell that lay near the center of the basin. This shell around its largest part measured nearly thirty inches. A part of the side had been cut away, and the whorls and columella removed so as to form a neat and substantial vessel.

I have explored a number of mounds of this kind in the county, and taken from them a number of sea shells, pipes, copper and stone orna¬ ments. The mounds of this kind appear to be old and were possibly built by a people who had some connection with the real mound builders.

Another Variety

forms a large part of their construction. These stones are picked from the debris of the nearest ledge, and are generally slabs from five to 100 pounds in weight. There are mounds in the county that contain from fifty to 100 wagonloads of stone. These mounds seem to be made by first erecting a small, oblong or circular elevation of earth, or, as would sometimes seem to be the case, use a mound already made by some other people. On this mound the dead bodies would be laid, and covered with earth and large flat stones, this manner of burial being continued from time to time until the structure would contain many skeletons and a large quantity of stone. An excavation in a mound of this character is very difficult, the large slabs of stone being laid without any definite arrangement, lapping over and across each other, the dirt between being very hard.

The skulls are usually broken and crushed by the incumbent mass of stone and earth, and the skeletons are found in various positions throughout the structure.

Mounds of this kind generally contain a large number of relics, such as pipes, arrows, spears, and implements of chert, or, as generally called, flint. Plummets of stone and iron ore, and implements and ornaments of bone, and sometimes, but rarely of copper.

At what age to class these mounds I have not yet fully determined. They were probably erected by some of the later Indians, but from two mounds of this character, I have taken pipes of stone, carved to repre¬ sent, the one a frog, the other a lizard, seated on a crescent-shaped base, which served for a stem and a mouthpiece, and which is characteristic of the mound builders.

There is still another kind of burial mound of which numbers were found in this county on the river bluffs and vicinity. A single dead body was laid in the ground and covered with earth a foot or more in thickness. This elevation was then closely paved over with flat stones, forming a low mound, ten to fifteen feet in diameter. From mounds of this character, I have taken a number of perfect skulls, but never any relics. Mounds of this character were numerous about the mouth of Piasa Creek above Alton.

Ancient Burial Places

The limestone bluffs along the Mississippi and Illinois rivers, which form the southern and western boundary of the county, are capped with fifty or sixty feet of loess, a formation of marly sand and clay, which is intersected by deep ravines, separated by narrow ridges, which, termi¬ nate in bald knobs, hundreds of feet above the river, forming a promi¬ nent feature of the landscape. Nearly every one of these high, bald knobs are ancient burial places, and contain human bones. Many of these natural elevations were made artificially higher to form a mound over the remains of the dead. Although great quantities of bones are found in these high points they contain very few relics of stone.

Other Burial Places

Besides mounds, there are numerous places of burial on the bluffs and ridges, and in the bottoms, that are not marked by the erection of a hillock of earth. Many natural ridges were used as burial places. Some of these are shown by a single stone protruding from the ground ; others of these have no designating mark, and are only found by accident. On Otter Creek we have found a number of graves that we have seen nowhere else. They are made entirely of rock. The first one we ex¬ amined of this kind was situated on a high rocky point, among the debris of an outcropping limestone. Our attention being attracted to two large slabs of limestone on this spot, by the aid of a stout limb of a tree for a lever, we shoved one of these stones aside, when there was revealed beneath a vault some five feet long by three feet wide, and three feet deep. The walls were neatly laid up with large stones, some of them the entire length of the vault. A well preserved skeleton of a man lay in the structure. A careful examination revealed neither implement nor ornament of any kind. In the creek bottom, near a large spring, the early white settlers found a number of similar graves, all containing skeletons.

In many places along the river shore, the caving away of the bank reveals the remains of some native, buried with his pipe, arrows, and sometimes vessels of rude pottery.

Importance Of Relics

The number of remains of pre-historic inhabitants of this region, now lying buried beneath the soil of the county, is very considerable; and the evidence would seem to show that the occupants of the locality had removed from time to time and others had taken their places, each people in turn leaving some record, not only of their presence but of their manner of burial, and the peculiarity of their implements and ornaments. It will be from actual facts in relation to these relics, when proper collections of them are made, and carefully and impartially studied and properly classified, that we shall be able in the course of time to gather up the lost pa£es in the history of the different species of men.

Axes

The relics, especially of stone, are very numerous in this locality, and are found in great variety. Among the more common are what are commonly known as stone axes, arrow points, spears, pipes, plummets, etc. The stone axes are generally of granite, sienite or porphyry, and are in size from two ounces to twelve to fourteen pounds in weight. The ma¬ jority of them have a well defined groove around them to aid in fasten¬ ing a handle. The shape of these axes, excepting the groove, somewhat resembles the iron axe in use at the present day among Europeans. There are a great variety of these stone axes. From a hundred in my collection no two could be found exactly alike.

I have never found one of these grooved axes in a mound, nor do I know, from good authority, that one has been found in a mound, and it is at the least very rare to find one in such a position.

Who manufactured these stone axes, found in almost every locality in the soil, on the highlands as well as the lowlands, is a question diffi¬ cult to answer. Some 6f them are so rude and simple in workmanship, and apparently of great age, as to show that their primitive makers had attained but little skill in the manipulation of stone ; others are so nicely fashioned and so elaborately finished as to show no inconsiderable skill in the use even of primitive tools.

Arrow Points

The same may be said of the so-called flint arrow points. No two are precisely alike, although there are peculiar forms into which they may be grouped. Among 2,000 specimens in my collection, the great number of groups into which they may be divided strikes one as surprising. Different tribes no doubt made their arrow points after some definite fashion peculiar to them, and it is possible that different forms were given to the weapon according to the special use for which it was in¬ tended. Nevertheless, it would seem that certain localities furnish peculiar styles, and anyone becoming familiar with these styles can, upon

Many of the relics, commonly called arrow points, were doubtless used for some other purpose than on the end of an arrow. Some of the peculiar forms were no doubt fastened to a handle and used as tools to assist the aborigine workman in the manufacture of implements, ornaments, etc.

Spears of chert are not uncommon, and some of them show great skill in their manufacture. They are very sharp, and from four to ten inches in length. We have two very beautiful spear heads from the Piasa that are nearly ten inches long, and not more than an inch and a quarter wide.

Pipes are found in this county, but are not as numerous or as finely wrought as in the American bottom, or in the adjoining county of Calhoun. Among all the relics the ancient pipes seem to best indi¬ cate the condition of the owner. That peculiar people who erected the great mounds and earthworks of the Mississippi Valley, and who are generally designated by the name of the Mound Builders, disclose a higher taste and much greater skill in the manufacture of their pipes than any of the pre-historic inhabitants of this country. They had great genius for delineation, and with wonderful patience and skill carved from most obdurate stone various animals and objects of animate nature, which, when finished, served them for a pipe.

One of these beautiful relics of the Mound Builders is easily recog¬ nized. The later Indians, perhaps, never attained the same excellence in the manufacture of such articles. Among all the pipes I have seen from this county, I can ascribe but two to that mysterious race of pipemakers. One of these was found in a small mound on Coon Creek, the other in a mound on the Mississippi bluff, a short distance below Grafton. In the adjoining counties of Madison and Calhoun are found splendid pipes of Mound Builder workmanship.

In the investigation of these matters, many times the antiquarian comes across some evidence that is liable to confuse his case. From a mound of earth and stone in Calhoun County, from which I took a number of rough, flint implements, paint stones, with instruments of bone, and which I pronounced as soon as brought forth, as the effects of some red man, perhaps of a Dacotah, I came suddenly upon a beautiful pipe with its thin, delicate, crescent-sliaped stem, that fits nicely between the teeth, and whose polished surface felt smooth as glass between the lips, and which sustained a delicate, ornamented bowl, just large enough to hold a thimble full of tobacco. I found myself wondering where that pipe originally came from. There was too wide a difference between the pipe and the associating relics. Had the red man picked it up where it had been lost by a Mound Builder? Or had he been digging in an old mound for an intrusive burial, came across the ancient pipe and appropriated it to his own use? It would seem probable that the later Indians sometimes picked up and used relics left by a preceding people.

The numerous pipes found in this county, with the exception of two or three, are made for the insertion of a stem, being unlike the ancient pipe in this respect. Some are of stone, others are of baked clay, others still of a composition similar to earthen vessels, the fragments of which are common in this locality. I have a pipe of sandstone, taken from a mound in St. Charles County, Mo., on which there is an excellent) aboriginal profile, and, what is most singular, there is a beard depicted on each side of the face, from ear to chin. The thin lips, delicate nose and clear cut features show but little resemblance to the counte¬ nance of the modern red man. With this pipe was buried an earthen vase, with four ears or handles, and beautifully ornamented by lines or scroll work. It is of a capacity to hold a gallon or more, and in shape is not unlike illustrations of ancient Egyptian water vessels from the Nile. In fact, the profile on the pipe bears a strong resemblance to delineations of the human face sculptured on rock in the same region. In Layard's Explorations of Ancient Nineveh are given illustrations of sculptured profiles that have the beard depicted in almost precisely the same manner.

We have two curious pipes from Calhoun County, made to repre¬ sent frogs. One weighs several pounds, and is carved from a block of magnesian limestone, the other of smaller size, and is made from a tough piece of micaceous shale.

Beautiful Mound Builder pipes are found in the American bottom. But the finest pipes of this description that have come under our notice, not even excepting those from Ohio, have been found in the mounds on the Illinois River bottom, near Naples, in Scott County, Ill. One of these pipes represents a coon, so true to nature in every particular that the rings on his tail are plainly seen, and the pupils of the eye are rep¬ resented by pellets of native silver inserted in the head. The animal sits on a crescent-shaped base, which forms the stem. The bowl for the re¬ ception of tobacco is in the back of the animal. The whole pipe is carved from a solid piece of most, obdurate greenstone, and highly polished.

The impression made by our viewing such relics as these, leaves little room to doubt that at one time this vicinity was inhabited by a race of people who had made considerable advances from a savage state, and were different from our so-called Indian.

There is still another class of relics, of which great numbers are found here, and of which we have nearly a hundred in our possession. They are usually called Plummets, from their resemblance to the plumb, an instrument used by mechanics to ascertain perpendiculars. They are from one to four inches long, pyriform or pear-shaped, and from an ounce to two or three pounds in weight. About the smaller end there is often a crease or perforation, as if for the purpose of being suspended. The majority of them are made of iron ore, the remainder of various kinds of stone. Many of the plummets are very neatly made and highly polished.

Various have been the conjectures in regard to the use of these curious relics. Some collectors suppose them to have been sinkers for lines or nets in fishing; but there is evidently too much care'and labor expended in their manufacture for the simple purpose of fishing, when something more easily obtainable would answer as well. By others they are supposed to have been pendants worn as ornaments in the ears, nose, and about the neck, etc. ; but many of them weigh several pounds, and would be evidently too heavy for such a purpose, besides a majority of them have neither crease nor hole by which to be suspended. Some persons have thought them to have been covered with rawhide and used as a slungshot, or after the manner of the bolus of the South American Indians. But some weigh less than an ounce, and would apparently be too small for such a purpose. Still others have supposed them to have been used as paint stones, from the fact that a large portion of them are hematite, which being wet or incased in water and rubbed against another stone forms a bright red paint, with which they adorned their persons. That hematite was thus used by the aborigines is highly prob¬ able. But we have a number of nicely made plummets, made of both granite and limestone.

Ancient Mortars

Another class of stone implements found in this county, and of which we have quite a number, are ancient mortars. They are generally made of round, drift rocks, such as granite or porphyry, and weigh from ten to twenty pounds. These generally have a rounded or oblong basin, scooped out from both the flattened sides of the rock. Some have a circu¬ lar basin on one side, and are oblong on the other, as if two kinds of pestles had been used. The depression, forming the basin of the mortar, is from one to four inches deep. These implements are worn very smooth, as though from long contact with the hands or persons of the ancient workers.

Other Relics

There are a great many relics found in this section, the uses of which we can only conjecture, and for which we have no name. Some of these were doubtless intended for ornament, others, possibly, as badges of office. We have a beautiful relic of the latter class, found in a plowed field on the Illinois River bottom, a short distance from the mouth of that river. It is in the form of a double crescent, or like a two-edged axe, the rounded ^dges of which at their points extend out over the perforation for the handle. The edges of the stone, however, are not sharp. It is made from a variety of reddish jasper, translucent, and beautifully polished. The relic is about four inches long. The per¬ foration is about half an inch in diameter. How so hard a rock was worked, especially how the perforation, which is straight and true, was made through such obdurate material, by means in possession of such a primitive people, surpasses our understanding. There is no evi¬ dence that such objects were made by, or even known to the modern red men, so we refer them to that mysterious race of stone carvers, gen¬ erally known as Mound Builders. So great labor bestowed on the manufacture of an object must certainly have greatly enhanced its value, and it is possible that it was worn by some ruler as a badge or ornament indicative of his office.

There are numerous relics, worked from stone with great patience and some skill, which we shall not attempt to describe in the limits of this paper, which we have prepared in the midst of other arduous labors, and is not at all complete. We have refrained from dwelling on some important departments in our collection from this vicinity. Notably among these is our collection of skulls and pottery. The skulls found in the old mounds and caves are of great value in determining the in¬ tellectual condition of pre-historic man. We have about fifty of these old crania, some of which are very peculiar in shape. They are all much smaller than the average European skull.

The pottery of the ancient inhabitants of this region affords an excel¬ lent means by which to judge of their advancement from a savage state. Some of the pottery is very rude, other specimens exhibit a considerable degree of skill and some taste in ornamentation. We have some splen¬ did specimens of pottery from the American bottom and the lowlands between the Missouri and Mississippi rivers. They were taken from ancient mounds.

Remaining Relics

There is a remaining class of relics found in this county and vicinity, which, though but little known, are of great interest to the antiquarian. These evidences of the presence of ancient men are found in caverns and rocky recesses about the limestone bluffs of the rivers and streams.

In these rocky bluffs are numerous small caves and recesses under the overhanging cliffs that contain ancient fireplaces, on which are great quantities of ashes, mingled with curious implements, and the bones of animals and fishes used as food. These piles of ashes are evidently the result of fire kept burning for ages by a peculiar people, who made their abode in these rocky recesses.

A number of years' investigation of these caverns has led me to believe that there was a peculiar race of savages who lived along the streams and subsisted principally on fish, mostly shell fish, as is evidenced in vast piles of shells, mostly Unios, half buried in debris about their habitations. They were cannibals, as is shown by the human bones among others, being broken lengthwise, as if to obtain the marrow. Most of their implements and ornaments were made from the stalagmite and stalactite from the floor and roof of their cavernous retreats. My dis¬ coveries in regard to these savage men must, however, be reserved for a special paper.

Pleasant Yet Hard Task

doubt, in the course of time made this their home, and in' the great struggle for existence, have been forced to succumb. To collect these relics and study them and endeavor to restore a portion at least of a lost history, is the pleasant yet hard task of the antiquarian.