Ohio History Journal

THE MOUNDS OF FLORIDA AND THEIR BUILDERS.

 

 

 

REV. J. F. RICHMOND.

[Mr. Richmond, now resident of McConnelsville, Ohio, was born

and educated in New York, in which city he was for many years pastor

of a prominent Methodist Episcopal Church. He is the author of

several books. For twenty years he made his home in Florida where

he improved the opportunity of giving thoughtful investigation to the

so-called Indian Mounds, and the various theories concerning the race

that produced them. His distinctive views therefore have the merit of

being derived from knowledge obtained at first hand. -EDITOR.]

The complete history of the primeval American has never

been written and probably never will be. This writer has not

found himself capable of accepting the hypothesis of a separate

creation in Central America to people the Western continent,

autogenous with the generally accepted one of Genesis in Asia;

nor yet the hypothesis of an interoceanic maritime communica-

tion between Asia and Central America, previous to the Noach-

ian Deluge, sufficient to establish contemporaneous civilizations

on both hemispheres. These brilliant theories I leave to writ-

ers of more florid vision.

Still, the construction of great cities and vast pyramids, the

foundations of which are being slowly exhumed in the narrow

central portions of the continent, speak eloquently of immense

forces that certainly toiled in the long, long ago. The stupen-

dous operations carried on in Central America, Mexico, and in

Ohio, the latter containing ten thousand earth works (mounds)

and fifteen hundred constructed of stone, could only have been

accomplished by vast aggregations of men toiling in unison. The

conclusion is inevitable that at some period in prehistoric time

portions of this Western continent contained a vast population.

One sober glance, however, at what the Anglo-Saxon has

done during the last one hundred and fifty years, changing near-

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ly everything on the continent, will modify many statements

hitherto made as to the amount of time necessary for the accom-

plishment of given results, often reducing the period from thou-

sands of years to centuries.

In the Northern section there were three routes by which

the Asiatic could, and doubtless did, reach this continent. First,

the most Northern by Behring, secondly, by the Aleutian Islands,

and, thirdly, by the accidental drift of water crafts containing

human beings, caught in the Japan Current, a part of which

flows south of the Aleutian Islands until it feels the bank of the

Western Continent, when it turns southward to California. This

great river of the ocean has drifted Japanese junks to our shores

during the present century, which proves rather more than the

possibility of human transit in a similar manner at various pe-

riods during the last six thousand years.

At what precise period the Red Man took up his abode in

Florida, and whether he entered from the North, feeling his

way down the tangled peninsula or whether he came by way of

the West Indies, as some think, is at present impossible to deter-

mine, nor is it material, he has certainly been there and left an

abundant trail.

As there are a few available rocks in Florida his numerous

mounds, scattered over much of the State, are all constructed of

earth. From the earliest white settlements these mounds have

been matters of curiosity, though little examined, and in the im-

provement of the territory many of them fell into cultivated

fields, where they were reduced by the plow and in some in-

stances orange groves were planted over them.

During the last fifteen years the Philadelphia Academy of

Natural Sciences under the immediate supervision of Mr. Clar-

ence B. Moore, has conducted a most thorough and systematic

investigation of some of these mounds by digging every portion

of them with shovels, closely watching everything, and preserv-

ing all that could throw a ray of light on the period, the thoughts,

the arts and habits of the builders. A very large mound on the

land of the writer was dug over which quickened his interest in

this investigation and study.

Nearly one hundred mounds were in this manner examined

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The Mounds of Florida and their Builders.    447

 

between the Atlantic at the mouth of the St. John's River, fol-

lowing the stream last named to Sanford, and the Ocklawana to

and around the banks of certain large bodies of water in Lake

County. These mounds were all of ancient construction, in but

two places was anything found of European or post-Columbian

times, and those mounds gave certain evidence of superficial ad-

ditions of a recent date, probably the work of the Seminoles.

Some old writers spoke of the Mound Builders as if certain

tribes had followed it as an occupation, but it is probable that all

the people of the period engaged in it, and from notions of pub-

lic utility. Mounds served a variety of purposes. A cavity from

two to six feet deep was often excavated before the mound was

begun, for this we can assign no reason. The amount of sherds

(pieces of broken pottery) and midden material, and the bones

of forest animals, found so plentifully in the lower stratas or

courses of the mounds, prove that some of them were constructed

on the sites and with the surface materials of what had been

ancient villages.

The mounds were probably constructed for the following

uses: First, as places of residence for the ruling chieftain, where

Councils were held, where orders were issued and justice dis-

tributed.  Second, as places of protection from  inundation.

Along the low banks of the Atlantic and the St. John's River,

where the stream was choked with fallen timbers, and where

great rains caused frequent overflows these mounds were a pro-

tection from a tidal wave, and an annual inundation. Third, in

the days of their construction and chief glory it is probable that

they possessed ornamental features, such as gay decorations, with

games and festivities. These would appeal to a popular desire

and stimulate the toil of construction. Fourth, in time of war

they were fortifications. A mound one hundred feet in diameter

and twenty feet high, surrounded with timbered breastwork that

would stop arrows, became a formidable point of resistance to

an invading foe. Fifth, the mounds were probably the places

of tribal sacrifice and worship. And sixthly, they were places

of sepulture.

In excavating these mounds broken pottery was found in

abundance, much of it so weakened that it fell to pieces in the

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handling. Some beautiful decorated pieces of large size were

preserved. Among these not a few were for mural uses. There

were also large ornamental vases, and large table pieces contain-

ing three separate compartments for food and sauces. Drinking

cups made of conch shells (Fulgar Perversum) by the skillful

removal of the columella and a portion of the body whorl. Mus-

sel shells sharpened on gritty stones, appear to have served as

knives. Chisels and gouges were made from shells, and bone,

and others from sandstone. Several axes of enormous size, one

measuring thirteen inches in length of blade, manufactured from

fine grained sedimentary rock, and probably used for cutting

trees. The soil they probably cultivated with wooden tools, as

nothing answering the purpose of a harrow, shovel, hoe or rake,

was discovered.

In the matter of personal ornamentation the Red Man has

in all ages been profuse, and these mounds yielded plentifully

in that line. Sheet copper manufactured into ornamental plates

four inches square, with bosses and beaded lines, and perforated

corners to be worn as breast plates were numerous. Also sheet

mica seven inches square, with perforated corners for suspen-

sion. Pendants for the ear of great size, some of slate stone,

with copper bands, others of soapstone, and a few of syenite,

either perforated or grooved near the end for suspension.

Large canine teeth of bears, wolves, and of sharks, showed

that these were much prized as pendants.

Beads were very plentiful. Some of these of earthenware

were more than two inches in diameter. Many were of beautiful

shells, and some were of copper, made by pounding the overlap-

ping margins, disclosing their mode of manufacture. Pebbles

and pebble hammers were numerous near the ocean. In a shell

mound in Orange County, ten feet below the surface was found

an earthen vessel with the incised delineation of the human head

and face, and a part of the human form, which was thought to be

the first specimen of such ancient work discovered in America.

Pins were found made of bone, round and pointed and several

inches in length.

Celts (hatchets) manufactured from fine grained igneous

rock, were everywhere plentiful, and a few of them beautifully

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The Mounds of Florida and their Builders.      449

 

polished. Arrow points, lances, spear points, suited to attach to

wooden handles, manufactured from chert, or horn-stone, one of

red jasper, and several from chalcedony, were found. During

these investigations a band of railroad laborers near Palatka, un-

earthed a half dozen beautiful daggers, made of chalcedony, six

inches in length, and so lightly appreciated their treasure that

nearly all of them have been lost Smoking pipes of many forms

and sizes, some of earthenware, some of soapstone, some of

sandstone, were also numerous.

Human remains were found in most of the mounds, but in

a very disappointing condition, as these presented the greatest

lack of order of anything discovered. Very seldom was a skele-

ton found presenting separate and anatomical order. As a rule

collections of osseous remains were encountered in a bunched

condition, sometimes without the skull, as if the remains had

been interred without the head, often prominent bones were miss-

ing, and in some instances these bones in such unnatural juxtapo-

sition that the conclusion was almost inevitable that they were

denuded of flesh before interment. Here and there were evi-

dences of orderly separate interment, probably of Chieftains. With

some of these were large bowls near the head-which were

probably filled with food at the interment to be eaten on the jour-

ney. In such graves were also large pipes, canine teeth of great

size, many pendants and beads, and in one was found twenty

conch shells, and a vase holding four gallons. Many of these

large vessels were perforated at the bottom (after manufacture),

which signified their demise, or killing, that their spirits might

thus be liberated to attend the deceased to the spirit world. It

is probable that the beautiful spears of chalcedony, and many

of the polished celts were interred with Chieftains, the handle

with the bow and string having long since mouldered to dust.

In the construction of their mounds they displayed peculiar

taste. A course of soil two feet thick was colored artificially

a bright red, the next course would be brown or black, then one

of gray, with narrow lines running through of pure white sand,

and an occasional pocket presenting other variations. These

matters were probably made to conform to the ability or caprice

of the chieftain under whose direction it was constructed.

Vol. XVI - 29.

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All the evidences show that the Florida Mound Builders

were a very ancient people. The mounds externally indicate

this. Settling through long periods many of them are now but

a few feet above the surrounding surface, their angles having

been smoothed by the storms of centuries, until farmers have

trampled over them, believing them natural elevations, and are

surprised to learn that they are artificial. Great forest trees,

large as any in the vicinity, grow on the top of them. The moul-

dering bones discovered in these mounds are in the last stages of

decomposition, in some instances leaving only a streak of yellow

to show where they have lain.

Their implements were of the rudest class, affording no idea

of modern invention. Their paint and coloring material, used

so plentifully, were doubtless obtained from the ochers which

they dug from the earth, and of which we now have abundant

trace. Their mica was probably obtained from what is now

Georgia, which in our day affords an abundance, but in large

sheets it is not found in Florida. Igneous rocks of the solidity

for hatchets, abound in Florida, and there is no lack of lime-

stone, or of sandstone.

They found plenty of material for their pottery in Florida,

as that state abounds in China clay of the long, tough variety,

that holds form in moulding without other admixtures. Well

baked pottery of good material is among the most indestructible

things of human art, and the decay of their wares simply indi-

cates that they did much imperfect work, or lacked the proper

knowledge and appliances. Still, some of their pieces exhibit

skill, being well decorated, in pinched work, in squares, and in

other complicated stampings, often graceful in form and of great

variety. To us they are quite original in design, as all their

large pieces have four supporting feet, whereas the European

style has but three, so they borrowed nothing from Europe.

Their copper was of the unsmelted variety and probably

come from the region of Lake Superior, as the great mines there

that have yielded such immense quantities in our day of pure

copper, without refining, were discovered, worked and abandoned

before the advent of the European. Their long distance from

these mines evidently prevented their making use of copper for

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The Mounds of Florida and their Builders.    451

 

culinary utensils, weapons, and tools, restricting its use to orna-

mental purposes.

Not one trace of bronze was discovered in any mound, a

metal so extensively used by the Aztecs in Mexico, an almost con-

tiguous country, proves conclusively that their reign antedated

the Aztecs.

Not one trace of gold or silver was discovered, indicating

that they flourished before the later Toltecs, if not, indeed, be-

fore the Incas of Peru. It is not easy to ascertain when gold,

which was so abundant at the period of the Spanish conquests,

was brought into use in America. The immense stores found

and carried away are believed to have been accumulations of

centuries.

We know that a rude commerce was conducted up and down

the continent, extending also from the interior to the coast. The

Red Man everywhere has been as fond of barter as the ancient

Phoenician, or the modern Yankee, and it seems incredible that

gold should have been collected in Mexico and Peru in quanti-

ties to fill apartments of houses, without one fragment of it find--

ing its way into Florida. Certainly, the commerce that brought

mica from Georgia, chalcedony and jasper from some distant

place, and copper from Lake Superior, would have brought gold

and silver from Mexico and beyond if the Florida Mound Build-

ers and the gold miners had been contemporaneous. The ab-

sence of these things can only be construed therefore as showing

that in the order of time these Florida Mound Builders appear

to have been foremost.

Nothing whatever answering to our notions of money was

exhumed, leaving us without any light as to their system of ex-

change, unless beads and pendants answered that purpose.

In 1539, DeSoto landed at what is now Tampa, Florida, and

found an Indian Sachem dwelling on a mound, but the mound

building period had mostly closed, and the modern Seminoles

when questioned concerning these mounds in their territory de--

nied any definite knowledge concerning them, attributing them to

the work of their forefathers. Professor J. S. Newberry believed

the mounds of the lower Mississippi were completed and aban-

doned two or three thousand years ago. Caleb Atwater be-

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452      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

lieved the Southern Mound Builders were the ancestors of the

civilized races of Mexico and Central America. My own view

is that most of the mounds of Florida were constructed many

hundreds of years before Columbus was born, by a quiet, seden-

tary, agricultural people, more peaceful and less nomadic and

warlike than the Indian tribes of modern times. These mounds

give evidence of much greater age than those of the Carolinas

and Ohio. Much timber in a fair state of preservation was found

in some of the mounds of Ohio, also some pieces of European

manufacture. In North Carolina iron implements were un-

earthed in mounds, clearly proving that the work there was in

part at least the work of another and a later generation, and

at a later period.

The bunched condition of the bones in so many of the

mounds indicate reburials or extensive   cannibalism. Rev.

Heckewelder, writing of the Indians in Northern Ohio and

Michigan, says: "When a tribe removed from one locality to

another, they exhumed the bones of their dead, and carried them

to their new burial place." He also states, that the Indians re-

moved the flesh from the bones of their dead before interment,

and that every eight or ten years they conducted a tribal burial,

when all the bones of the locality were collected and interred at

one time. If these practices prevailed in Florida they may ac-

count for these jumbled, promiscuous, masses of osseous mate-

rial so rudely pressed together, heads and points, without skulls,

or other large bones at times, all the evidence showing that a

hole was excavated in the mound and the skeletons massed to-

gether crowded down into it. The most orderly interments were

evidently made by placing the remains on the mound as it then

stood, and immediately covering them by building the mound

higher. Successive interments are indicated in many mounds

from the bottom upward. Among some tribes in the West, when

a chieftain died whose house was on a mound, they interred his

remains under his house and then burned the house, which ac-

counts in part for the ashes so plentiful in every mound. The

evidence of mortality among children were painfully evident, and

the marks of orderly and loving interment in ancient Florida

were scattering and few.

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The Mounds of Florida and their Builders.    453

The absence of rocks and cliffs in Florida rendered it diffi-

cult for that ancient people to leave us studies of their thoughts

and deeds in pictures, as their congeners have done in other parts

of the world. They left no improvements whatever. No archi-

tectural skill has been traced north of the Gulf of Mexico, or in

Florida, on our continent. They evidently dwelt in tents made

with poles and grass, bark or clay. Does not the complete ab-

sence of stone structures, everywhere so abundant in Mexico,

and Central America, prove them to have been a different race

and probably an older?

The rude arts of that earlier period were probably carried on

as now by experts who occupied themselves chiefly at a single

occupation. The uniform precision discernible in the manufac-

ture of every arrow point, celt, bead, and pendant, shows that a

skilled workman produced it. Some conducted the ceramic art,

producing the pottery, others manufactured stone pipes. The

tobacco plant evidently originated somewhere in sub-tropical

America. Columbus discovered the smoking habit among the

Indians on the Island of Cuba on his first voyage in 1492. Later

investigation proved that the plant grew as far North as Vir-

ginia, and extended down through Central America, and that the

habit of using it as snuff, and for chewing and smoking was uni-

versal and ancient, and had existed here from time immemorial.

Fernandes, one of Phillips II Spanish physicians, carried the

plant to Spain in 1558. It spread over Europe, and Sir Walter

Raleigh took a strong pipe full of it just before going to the

block.

In nothing did the Red Man display greater skill than in the

manufacture of pipes. In Ohio, and in other Western States

the places of manufacture have been discovered by the masses of

broken material left near the rocks where the material was found.

A large collection of these pipes shows also that the Red Man was

as skillful as the White, in the variety, form, and beauty of his

manufacture. With the modern the pipe symbolizes recreation,

but with the ancient American it attended things sacred and sol-

emn, such as worship and treaties.

The bones of the animals left behind show that the Mound

Builders ate meat, and the piles of shells that he relished the

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454       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.   bivalve. Between Jacksonville and the Atlantic for a distance of twenty miles, there are scattered evidences of a large pre-his- toric population. A few years ago there were mounds of oyster shells, which after settling through the centuries were still more than thirty feet high. Some of these have been ground and sold to Southern poultry-men, and untold quantities of them were used in constructing the jetties of the St. John's River. These mouldering mounds, and these piles of shells are the only legacies left by the Florida Mound Builders to the present gen- eration.

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