Primitive man in Ohio / by Warren K. Moorehead.

  • Moorehead, Warren K. (Warren King), 1866-1939.
Date:
1892
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Primitive man in Ohio / by Warren K. Moorehead. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    per portion of the mound, to a deptli of four feet at the summit, was in this condition, giving rise to many speculations as to its cause. When we succeeded in getting it out of the way, the reason was apparent. In erecting the mound the builders had carried it up to a height of nine feet with a very fine dark sand which had become so compact as almost to equal mortar in hardness. This was impervious to water. The rain and snow melting and soaking into the ground was checked by it as by a floor. Coming from above more rapidly than it could escape along the surface of the sand core through the overlying clay produced the mud. When we finally reached the original level, we found under the central portion of the mound a floor of bark or split wood on which had been built a rectangular enclosure of small logs. This had an inside measurement of seven by eleven feet, being longest from north to south. In it were the remains of a single individual, with head toward the north. It was evident that the skeleton had been buried after the flesh had been removed from his bones, as the lower jaw and bones of the hands were covered with a coating of red ochre of uniform thickness, while the surrounding earth, except that immediately in contact with the bones in question, showed no traces of the coloring matter. This could not have been the case had the flesh not been removed before burial. Why no other bones had been colored is, of course, impossible for us to explain. Over this vault had been placed another layer of wood or bark, and the whole thing then covered with sand.