Ohio History Journal

DOCUMENT

 

 

 

THE SPRUCE RUN EARTHWORKS: A FORGOTTEN

ADENA SITE IN DELAWARE COUNTY, OHIO

 

by JAMES B. GRIFFIN

Director, Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan

 

The Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society has

published many papers on Ohio archaeology for the purpose of

preserving the history of the State's first inhabitants. This short

paper is a contribution to that end. It should perhaps be a joint

paper since the writer of the excavation report was one of Ohio's

early historians and a member of the faculty of Ohio State Uni-

versity in the last half of the nineteenth century.

During the summer of 1945 I was able to spend a few weeks

studying the collections from east Florida of the Peabody Museum

of American Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University.

It was my good fortune to come across some pottery trays in the

Ohio section of the storage cabinets which contained pottery

fragments which were immediately recognized as Adena in type.

A surprising feature was that some of these fragments bore a

concentric diamond design and represent the only decorated

Adena vessels now known from the State. Decorated Adena

vessels were first described from southeastern Indiana and in the

last five years they have been excavated in northern Kentucky.

The "rediscovery" of these specimens from Ohio was thus of

some importance for it extended the distribution of this pottery

into the State which has the greatest number of Adena mounds

and where the Adena culture was first recognized as a distinctive

prehistoric unit.

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SPRUCE RUN EARTHWORKS                        189

 

It was with great interest then that I hurried to check the

accession data to find the specific locality from which these sherds

were obtained. I believed that they were probably the result of

the excavation of Professor Putnam, who was so prominent a

figure in the Ohio archaeological field, or of his field workers in

southern and southeastern Ohio. What I found furnished another

pleasant surprise for this collection was not one made by Putnam,

but by John T. Short. It was not from southern Ohio, but was

instead from  Delaware County. Even more remarkable was the

report on the excavations accompanied by drawings of the site and

of some of the material. The covering letter from John T. Short

to Professor Putnam implies that the finds were considered to be

the property of the Peabody Museum as well as the manuscript de-

scribing the excavations.¹ This letter and the report are repro-

duced below.2

 

 

Acc. #79-85

Columbus, O., Jan. 1, 1880

My dear Professor Putnam:

"A happy New Year."

Your hearty favor of the 29th inst. is received.

Many thanks for the loan of the cut and the offer of more. I have

just completed the revision of my book and think I have improved it. I

sent you yesterday the report of my mound exploration. The drawings

represent the decorations on the mound pottery, but the artist drew the two

smaller vessels too tall for their width. The large vessel is represented

correctly in all respects. The plan is also correct. If you publish the

report and drawings reduce the height of the smaller vessels.

I sent Mr. Hills a letter--press copy of the entire report, advising him

however of the necessity of giving full credit to the Peabody Museum.

Trusting that you received my paper in time for use in your next report,

I am

Very sincerely yours,

John T. Short.

 

 

1 Grateful acknowledgment is hereby made to Prof. Donald Scott who granted

permission to publish this data and to Mr. F. P. Orchard for his excellent photograph

of the specimens.

2 Peabody Museum, Harvard University, accession data 79-85.

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SPRUCE RUN EARTHWORKS                         191

 

MOUND EXPLORATIONS IN DELAWARE COUNTY, OHIO

by

John T. Short

 

In the month of August 1879, the writer in company with Mr. Eugene

Lane and Mr. David Dyer opened three mounds in Delaware County, Ohio.

Two of these formed part of a system of mound works situated on the

estate of Jacob Rhodes, Esq. in Genoa Township. The general arrangement

of the works will be seen by reference to plate I.

The peninsula or tongue of land situated between Big Walnut Creek

and Spruce Run is an elevated area having nearly perpendicular sides

washed by the streams, over a hundred feet below.

Fig. I, Pl. I indicates the scene of our exploration.  The central

figure, the mound A stands within a perfectly circular enclosure (B) meas-

uring 570 feet around. Now it is but about three feet higher than the nat-

ural level, but formerly was ten feet higher. Its present owner reduced it

by plowing it down. The trench is inside of the enclosure and no doubt

furnished the earth for both the embankment and the mound. Its present

width is 27 feet and it was formerly about seven feet deep. The circle

has an opening (E) about twenty feet in width on the east from which a

graded way (G) of about the same width and probably 400 feet in length,

no doubt of artificial construction, affords a descent at an angle of about

30^° to the stream below.

On the north side of the entrance and continuous with the embankment

is a small mound marked C. measuring 10 feet in diameter and four feet in

height. It may have served as a point of outlook into the deep ravine

below, as from it alone the entire length of the graded way is at once visible.

A shaft six feet in diameter was sunk in this mound to a depth of four

and a half feet but we discovered nothing that could be removed. Charcoal,

a few calcined animal bones and burnt clay were all that was found.

The large mound A. situated in the centre of the enclosure measures

75 feet through its major axis and 68 feet through its minor axis. Its pres-

ent height is about 12 feet above the natural level though the distance to the

bottom of the trench is three or four feet or more. It is probable that the

mound was perfectly round as its symetry has no doubt been destroyed in

part by the removal from its surface of about twenty-five wagon loads of

flat sand stones (each a foot square, more or less and about 3 inches

thick) for the purpose of walling neighboring cellars. These stones were

brought from the ravine below and made a complete covering for the mound.

Extending out from the mound on the west the remains of the low crescent

shaped platform 25 feet across at its greatest width are still visible. A

small excavation was made four years ago in the top of the mound by the

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192   OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

son of the present owner, but the digging was abandoned before any depth

was reached or anything was discovered. I excavated the mound by causing

a trench four feet wide to be dug from the northern side of the mound to

its centre. The trench was started on the natural level and continued along

the surface of the undisturbed clay until the centre was reached where it was

enlarged into a circular shaft 10?? feet in diameter. The section thus made

revealed the structure of the mound to be as shown in Fig. 1, Plate II. The

dark shading in the Fig. indicates the section made by the trench. A single

layer of flat stones like those on the outside of the mound was found to start

at the base and to cover what at one time must have been regarded as its

finished surface. At the centre this inner layer of stones was situated about

three feet below the present surface of the mound. This was the only trace

of stratification observable in the structure and is suggestive of the section

given by Squier and Davis to illustrate stratification in Altar mounds.

Aside from this, the indications were distinct that the earth had been

dumped down in small basket or bagfulls. This is confirmitory [sic] of the

observations of Prof. E. B. Andrews in the mounds of southern Ohio.*

The mottled appearance of the earth seen on the vertical face of the

section precludes the supposition that the builders thought of stratification

other than that resulting from the introduction of a layer of stones.

On the undisturbed surface of the ground at the centre of the mound

I uncovered a circular bed of ashes eight feet in diameter and about six

inches in thickness. These ashes were of a reddish clay color except that

through the centre of the bed ran a seam or layer of white ashes--no doubt

calcined bones--as at the outer margin of the bed in one or two instances

the form of bones were traceable but so calcined that they possessed no

consistency when touched or uncovered. Ranged in a semicircle around

the eastern margin of the ash-heap were several pieces of pottery, all broken,

probably in the construction of the mound or by its subsequent settling. The

pottery was exceedingly brittle and crumbled rapidly after exposure. It

was almost impossible to recover any fragments larger than the size of

the hand, though a couple of pieces were taken out which indicated that the

vessel to which they belonged was much larger than any which to my knowl-

edge has been taken from Ohio mounds. It was probably 12 or 14 inches

in height.

This vessel was ornamented with a double row or border or lozenge

or diamond shaped figures and when intact probably resembled fig. 3, Pl. II

both in form and decoration. Smaller fragments having a single border of

lozenges were also taken out. The vessel of which they were a part prob-

ably belonged to the style represented in Fig. 2--Pl. II. Although the

decoration on these vessels (produced by a pointed tool before the clay was

baked) indicate an attempt at art of a respectable order--the material em-

* 10th An. Rept. of P. M. p. 57.

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SPRUCE RUN EARTHWORKS                         193

 

ployed was nothing more than coarse clay and pounded sandstone--instead

of pounded shells, as is more frequently the case. However, numerous frag-

ments of finer workmanship bearing an ornamentation similar to that indi-

cated in Fig. 4. were taken out. Evidently an attempt had been made to

glaze the vessels.

Fig. 5 represents, full size, one of a number of flints picked up on the

surface of the mound by its present owner. I could not help being impressed

with the thought that the mound marked the cite where cremation or possibly

sacrifice had been performed. It was evident that a large quantity of wood

had been placed upon the ground and a corpse or sacrifice laid upon it as

the seam of bone ash and the outlines of bones at the margin of the heap

indicated. Upon this again after combustion was partially completed even

greater quantities of fuel were added and while the bed of coals was still

aglow the clay was heaped on burying the ashes of the sacrifice or cremated

subject and breaking the vessels which had been appropriately arranged for

the ceremony. Whether any portion of the bone ashes had been collected

and placed in the vessels we were unable to determine, About 300 yards

south west of the mound just described are the remains of a circular en-

closure 300 feet in diameter, see Fig. 2. Pl. II.

The embankment has been reduced by plowing until it is now scarcely

two feet in height. The precipitous sides of both the Big Walnut and

Spruce Run render an ascent at this point impossible. The circle is visible

from the mound and is possibly an intermediate link between the mound

and another system lying west at a point two miles distant.

On the estate of E. Phillips Esq. one mile south of Galena in the same

county I opened a mound 165 feet in circumference and about four feet in

height. The mound was excavated completely by cutting a trench through

it, 14 feet wide and to a depth of one foot below the natural surface.

Nothing was found but the remains of two hearths indicated by heaps

of wood ashes, charcoal and burnt clay. No bones nor pottery were found.

The human bones which I sent you were donated by Mr. Jay Dyer of

Galena Delaware county, O.

Mr. Dyer is an old resident, a graduate of West Point and a gentleman

whose statement concerning the history of the relics is perfectly reliable.

Mr. Dyer states that a couple of years ago a large mound--measuring

75 feet in diameter and 15 feet in height--constructed entirely of stone and

situated on the farm of Isaac Brinberger Esq., three miles south of Galena

was partly removed by its owner for the purpose of selling the stone.

Immediately under the centre of the mound and below the natural level

a vault was discovered. The sides and roof of the vault consisted of oak

and walnut timbers averaging 6 inches in diameter and still covered with

bark, though some of the timbers had been split from large logs. One of

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SPRUCE RUN EARTHWORKS       195

 

these timbers now in the possession of Eugene Lane Esq. of Columbus, O.

bears the marks of what must have been a stone axe. The timbers were

driven perpendicularly into the ground around the quadrangular vault while

others were laid across the top for a roof. Over all the skin of some animal

had been stretched. Inside of the vault were the remains apparently of three

persons, one a child, and fragments of a coarse cloth made of vegitable

fibre and animal hair. With the exception of the relics which I sent you

the contents of the vault were all destroyed or scattered by the superstitious

owners of the mound who regarded them as dangerous property. The

preservation of the wood is due probably to the presence of water with

which the vault seems to have been filled.

In the Thirteenth Annual Report of the Peabody Museum

there is the following brief statement included in the additions to

the Museum and Library for the year 1879:

20388-20391. Fragments of earthen vases, and human bones with char-

coal, ashes and clay from mounds in Delaware County, Ohio. Exploration

of Prof. John T. Short conducted for the Museum.3

 

On page 721 of the same report Prof. Putnam         presented a

short statement of these excavations for he evidently planned to

have the report published at a later date. This desirable outcome

has been postponed for 66 years. I have not found any further

notices of these excavations in the literature of Ohio archaeology.

However, in the Archaeological Atlas of Ohio, Delaware

County has recorded two inclosures in Genoa Township which

are no doubt those excavated by Short and his party.4

With the history of the site now presented we can turn to a

more detailed examination of the data in order to see how far we

can go in determining the cultural relationships. There has re-

cently been published by William S. Webb and Charles E. Snow

a comparative analysis of the Adena culture with a comprehensive

list of Adena traits.⁵ The following features of the Rhodes sites

are all known Adena characteristics:

"Sacred Circle"; Sacred Circle with embankment exterior to

 

³ Frederic Ward Putnam, "Additions to the Museum," in Peabody Museum.

Thirteenth Annual Report, 1879 (Cambridge, 1880), bound in Peabody Museum,

Reports, II, No. 4 (Cambridge, 1880), 743.

4 William C. Mills, Archaeological Atlas of Ohio (Columbus, 1914), 21-22.

5 William S. Webb and Charles E. Snow, The Adena People (University of

Kentucky, Reports in Anthropology and Archaeology, VI. Lexington, 1945).

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196 OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

the ditch; Sacred Circle with entrance on east; Sacred Circles in

group of two to eight; Conical mounds; Mound within the sacred

circle; Mound on the site of a burned house. This interpretation

might be given to Short's observations on the basis of Webb's

investigations; Mound shows individual earth loads; Fired area

at mound base; Primary purpose of mound to cover burials; Con-

structional use of stone; Cremated remains; Pottery vessels asso-

ciated with burials (Prof. Webb chooses not to accept the evi-

dence from the Morgan Stone and Adena mounds); Adena Plain

pottery; Diamond design incised pottery; Corner-notched pro-

jectile point with convex base (this type is apparently not too

common in Adena sites but is included on the basis of its appear-

ance in the Nowlin Mound, Indiana;⁶ at four Adena sites in Ken-

tucky: Wright Mounds,⁷ C & O Mounds,⁸ Crigler,⁹ and the Peter

Village site;10 and the Schwartz and Orr sites in Ohio11).

The graded way running from the circular enclosure to the

creek is not often found in association with such small mound

groups and in fact has rarely been found. The most notable

graded ways were at Marietta and the Turner site. Gerard Fowke

took a very dim    view of these graded ways especially those lead-

ing down to water. In the literature neither Shetrone,¹² Green-

man,13 nor Webb have discussed the graded ways as an Adena trait.

In Setzler's review    of Ohio Valley cultures published six years

ago,14 he did not include enclosures as an Adena characteristic and

 

6 Glenn A. Black, "Excavation of the Nowlin Mound," in Indiana History Bulle-

tin, XIII (1936), 197-342.

⁷ William S. Webb, The Wright Mounds: Sites 6 and 7, Montgomery County,

Kentucky . . . (University of Kentucky, Reports in Anthropology and Archaeology, V,

No. 1. Lexington, 1940), 63.

8 William S. Webb, The C. and O. Mounds at Paintsville: Sites Jo 2 and Jo 9,

Johnson County, Kentucky . . . (University of Kentucky, Reports in Anthropology and

Archaeology, V, No. 4. Lexington, 1942), Fig. 15-3f.

9 William S. Webb, The Crigler Mounds: Sites Be 20 and Be 27 and the Hart-

man Mound: Site Be 32, Boone County, Kentucky (University of Kentucky Reports

in Anthropology and Archaeology, V, No. 6. Lexington, 1943) Fig. 12, A and C.

10 William S. Webb, The Riley Mound: Site Be 15 and the Landing Mound: Site

Be 17, Boone County, Kentucky (University of Kentucky, Reports in Anthropology and

Archaeology, V, No. 7. Lexington, 1943), Fig. 26A.

¹¹ Barbara Herman, "An Analysis of Two Adena Sites in Ohio," in Michigan

Academy of Science, Arts, and Letters, Papers [1947], XXXIII (in press).

¹² Henry C. Shetrone, "The Culture Problem in Ohio Archaeology," in American

Anthropologist, n. s. XXII (1920), 144-172.

13 Emerson F. Greenman, "Excavation of the Coon Mound and an Analysis of

the Adena Culture," in Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly, XLI (1932),

369-523.

14 Frank M. Setzler, "Archaeological Perspectives in the Northern Mississippi

Valley," in Essays in Historical Anthropology of North America Published in Honor

of John R. Swanson (Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, C, Washington, D. C.,

1940), 253-290.

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SPRUCE RUN EARTHWORKS                  197

they were not definitely regarded as a part of Adena culture until

Webb's recent work. Is it possible that sufficient evidence would

remain of the Spruce Run site to provide field data on the re-

ported association of the graded way with an Adena site?

From the drawings of the pottery provided by Prof. Short's

artist it is evident that he believed there were three vessels. One

might also think from these drawings that the vessels were com-

plete when found but the excavation report speaks of them as

"several pieces of pottery, all broken." In Putnam's report it is

also stated that the pottery was in fragments. My examination of

the sherds in the Peabody Museum indicates that there was at

least one vessel, and perhaps two, with a plain exterior surface

without incised decoration and without the impressions of a cord-

wrapped paddle. Some of the lips of the plain rim sherds are

rounded and some are flattened. They vary in width from 5 to 7

mm. As can be seen in Plate III, Figs. 1 and 3, the rim just below

the lip is thickened and projects slightly over the lower rim sur-

face, thus forming a slight collar. This thickened rim is 11 mm.

wide while the lower rim is but 6.5 mm. The tempering material

is crushed granitic rock, approximately 25 to 30 per cent by

volume and the texture is medium coarse. The sherds are very

friable and have broken with jagged uneven surfaces. There is

no evidence of the method of construction although they were

probably made by coiling. The inner surface has faint striations

which might have been produced by the fingers of the potter, as

she shaped the vessel. The exterior surface, which is more com-

pacted, may have been smoothed with a river pebble. A crude

estimate of the lip diameter would be 25 cm. The only decorative

feature of the plain pottery from the site is a small node, Plate

III, Fig. 4, which is a recurring trait of Adena Plain pottery.

This particular knob is 1.9 cm. wide and projects 1.7 cm. from the

outer surface. It was added to the surface after the vessel was

shaped.

The decorated fragments also present a problem as to the

number of vessels represented. The drawings accompanying

Short's report illustrate three decorated vessels. My examination

of the specimens suggested the presence of two vessels. The first

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SPRUCE RUN EARTHWORKS                  199

 

of these is represented by the rim fragments shown as Figs. 2 and

5 of Plate III. This vessel has a smooth horizontal band I cm.

wide just below the lip. The lip of the vessel is narrowed (3 mm.)

and flattened, while the rim thickness is 7 mm. The incised lines

which form the pattern are narrow and shallow to medium deep.

The edges of the incisions are uneven and the lines are not straight.

The artist of Prof. Short has drawn a design of a band of left to

right oblique lines but the lines on the sherds I have illustrated

slope in the opposite direction as did the lines on one of the other

two rim specimens belonging to this vessel. The design then is

apparently not one of concentric diamonds but a band around the

rim either of lines sloping in one direction only (if two pots are

represented), or of groups of lines sloping first right to left fol-

lowed by a group sloping left to right.

The second decorated vessel which could be recognized has

the concentric diamond design which is illustrated on Figs. 6-10

of Plate III. This design could be distinguished from that on the

first decorated vessel described because the incisions are medium

wide and medium deep. They were made with a broader point

than the lines on the other vessel. The lines were very crudely

made in the moist clay after the rim area had been smoothed.

The design, which appears to be a five to seven line concentric

diamond, has a single punctate mark in the middle of the central

diamond. This vessel has the small rim node characteristic of

Adena pottery. Just below the narrowed and flattened lip which

is 5 mm. wide there is a smooth horizontal rim band 15 mm. wide

around the vessel with the design placed below it. The decorated

rim area has a thickness of from 8 to 10 mm.

Both of these decorated vessels have the same type of temper-

ing material, texture, and surface finish as the Adena Plain vessel.

The basal fragments in this lot indicated a vessel with a rounded

base but its exact shape is, of course, unknown. The shape is

probably close to that of Fig. 2, Plate II.

In Kentucky vessels of this type found at the Morgan Stone

Mound, Wright Mound 6, and the C & O Mound sites are lime-

stone tempered and are called Montgomery Incised. It has been

already mentioned that a similar incised vessel was found at the

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200 OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

Mound Camp site in southeastern Indiana but at that site the vessel

had four small tetrapodal feet. In another publication I have ex-

pressed the opinion that the incised Adena pottery is probably

associated with a late Adena occupation but this has not been veri-

fied by stratigraphy.15

Prof. Short also refers to two mounds south of Galena. The

first of these was one mile south of the town on land belonging to

Mr. E. Phillips but the data provided is insufficient to indicate to

which cultural division it belongs. The second mound which was

on the land of Isaac Brinberger three miles south of Galena is,

however, almost certainly an Adena structure. Constructed of

stone to a height of fifteen feet it contained a log tomb which was

unusually well preserved.

Through the efforts of Prof. Short over a half century ago,

the preservation of his material in a museum, and the advance of

archaeological knowledge, we have been able to provide an inter-

esting addition to the Adena culture complex. Short's report is

the first record of Adena occupation in Delaware County. It pro-

vides the first association of an Adena site with a possible "graded

way" and the first record of incised Adena pottery from Ohio.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

15 James B. Griffin, "The Ceramic Affiliations of the Ohio Valley Adena Culture,"

in Webb and Snow, The Adena People, 244.

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