PREHISTORIC MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS IN OHIO
BY MARY HUBBELL OSBURN
The prehistoric era of the Indians in
North America is an
episode in the chronology of man in
which Ohio and other por-
tions of the Mississippi Valley play an
important role. It is in
these regions that some of the finest
examples of Indian cultures
of that period are found. Among the many
thousands of other
art objects found in the Ohio area the
remnants of prehistoric
musical instruments are comparatively
few, but they are of
sufficient variation and interest to
make possible certain com-
parisons between these earlier and the
later, though still primitive,
historic Indians of the Americas. There
are evidences of a finished
art in highly developed centers, and
thousands of artifacts bear
witness to an intelligent people whose
greatest development is
placed by archaeologists within the past
thousand years. Though
it is purely conjecture, yet the
ceremonial rites and musical life
of these ancients, who, in pre-Columbian
times, lived in Scioto,
Hamilton, Butler, Ross, Lake and
Cuyahoga counties in Ohio, are
in some ways analogous to those of
primitive historic Indians.
Musical expression has been inseparable
from the life of
aborigines and one may assume that the
instrumental noises
destined to become a part of the making
of music are as old as
the most primitive man. Whether he has
lived by the sea, in
the forests, mountains or plains, man
has fashioned and used
instruments suitable to his need and to
the performance of the
magic arts practised by his tribe. No
little thing belonging to
beast, bird, fish or plant, not even
rock itself, was overlooked that
could be utilized, first to provide for
hunger and safety, and later
to satisfy the human instinct for the
expression of some kind of
art. Natural objects were transformed
into sound-producing
instruments that could express or
accompany all human experi-
ences and emotions from birth to burial.
12
PREHISTORIC MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS 13
There has been little or no change in
the fundamental prin-
ciple in musical instruments which bang,
blow or scrape. Even
today in remote corners of the earth the
same simple forms of
instruments are used; while in our very
midst, the modern dance
orchestra crashes with the same
types. It is not surprising,
therefore, that the remnants of
prehistoric musical instruments
actually discovered in Ohio are rattles,
rasps and whistles or
flutes. These specimens on exhibition at
the Ohio State Archae-
ological and Historical Society's Museum
in Columbus are identi-
fied with the Fort Ancient, Iroquois and
Hopewell cultures,
though there are other cultures besides
these in Ohio.
The Hopewell culture which was entirely
prehistoric, was
one of the more advanced and highly
specialized in the arts and
industries in the Mississippi Valley. It
was first defined in the
Scioto River Valley in Ohio but has been
traced far afield into
other states. Hopewell sites are found
in several Ohio counties
but the instruments here discussed were
taken from mounds in
Ross and Scioto counties, and consist
entirely of copper rattles
and a single (questionable) copper
whistle.
The Fort Ancient culture extended into
the historic period.
Most of the sites were villages or
burial sites. Though the people
built few mounds, the Gartner Mound in
Ross County yielded
bird-skull rattles. Whistles, rasps and
rattles made from bone
were found in village sites in Scioto,
Hamilton, Butler and Ross
counties.
The Iroquoian sites in Ohio date
approximately from 1500
to 1685 A. D. From these, in Cuyahoga
and Lake counties, bone
flutes and rasps were taken but no
rattles.
Though rattles and drums dominate
noise-making instruments
among primitive tribes in historic
times, the drum has not been
found among the Mound-Builder artifacts.
The Indian drum has
generally been the "bang" type
used for signals and for dances
and ceremonies, but the log-drum must
have melted into the earth
and the skin-covered instruments, if
any, succumbed to the decay
and mould of the ages.
14
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Rattles and musical rasps are the most
common among primi-
tive and modern tribes, and have been
associated with every sort
of ritual. Though the rattle can
scarcely be called a musical
instrument, and was not so designated by
the primitive Indians,
it was rather a sacred object to them.
For religious ceremonies
and incantations of medicine-men where
the maximum of ritual-
ism has developed, there was a special
use for each instrument, and
a trick for each hour of day or night
and for every phenomenon
and activity in the life of the tribe.
The drum usually accompa-
nied the song and the rattle was added
on ceremonial occasions.
Rattles of a great variety are described
as having been dis-
covered along thousands of miles of the
Americas where these
little instruments were used to mark off
the rhythms of ceremonial
songs and dances and to give emphasis to
special parts of tribal
rites. With them, medicine-men might be
heard defying the evil
spirits. Anything that would make a
"pleasant rattling sound and
coincide in religious significance with
the immediate need"1 was
used as a rattle. Some were worn on the
clothing or as necklaces,
such as dried cocoons, pecten shells,
bear teeth, antelope toes,
sheep horns and the like, all objects
which could be pierced through
and laced together and jingled to
produce each its own special
noise by outside contact; others were
shaken in the hand.
It was the globular type of rattle which
has been preserved
from the Ohio Mound-Builders. This type,
today represented by
the dried calabash among agricultural
tribes, may well have been
one of the earliest toys brought home to
the children of primi-
tive man.2 The calabash
rattle3 is still used by shamen throughout
the Amazon, pueblo and bison areas in
the treatment of the sick.
Rawhide and hollow wooden rattles abound
on the northwest
coast of North America; rawhide and
basketry rattles on the con-
tinental rim of South America.
Prehistoric man in Ohio, however, has
still different kinds
of globular rattles made from bird
skulls, turtle-shells and copper,
preserved perhaps because these
materials were more often in-
1 Beatrice Edgerly, From the Hunter's
Bow (New York, 1942), 60, 71.
2 Ibid., 4.
3 Clark Wissler, The American Indian (New
York, 1938), 203.
PREHISTORIC MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS 15
destructible. All the bird-skull rattles
were of Fort Ancient cul-
ture, taken from the Gartner Mound and
Baum Village Site in
Ross County. Ten or more were excavated
from the Gartner
Mound by the Ohio State Archaeological
and Historical Society
under direction of Dr. William C. Mills4
in 1902-1903. They
were found to be the skulls of wild
turkey, perforated to let out
the sound. Each contained from three to
five small quartz pebbles.
These rattles had been placed just below
the knee of the human
burial. Large numbers of similar turkey
skull rattles from the
Baum Village Site at the foot of Spruce
Hill adjacent to Paint
Creek in Ross County, as well as species
of wild duck skulls were
excavated by Dr. Mills in 1899.5
Since the turtle has been a religious
emblem in the concept
of prehistoric people and historic
Indians, the rattles of real turtle
shell taken from the Madisonville Village Site6 in Hamilton
County (Fort Ancient culture), and their
copper replicas which
were found only in the Hopewell culture
are of special interest.
The turtle was considered a highly
respected warrior by the
Indians. His shell contributed courage,7
as the feathers of the
eagle were said to bring bravery to the
one who wore them. The
turtle's effigy also was thought to
communicate bravery, hence
the turtle was used as a decoration on
war drums by southwestern
Indians. Among effigies preserved as art objects is the huge
boulder effigy in Hughes County, South
Dakota,8 and the great
carved stone turtle effigies at
Quirigua, Guatemala.9 These are
among the best sculptured work of the
Maya culture. A whole
group of effigy mounds at Lake
Koshkonong in Wisconsin are
supposed to be those of turtles. The
varied styles and combina-
tions of turtle-shell rattles used by
the Lenape and other tribes
4 William C. Mills, "Explorations
of the Gartner Mound and Village Site,"
Ohio State Archaeological and
Historical Quarterly, XIII (1904), 134.
5 William C. Mills, "Baum
Prehistoric Village," Ohio State Arch. and Hist.
Quarterly, XV (1906), 45-136.
6 Earnest A. Hooton, Indian Village
Site and Cemetery near Madisonville, Ohio,
Peabody Museum of American Archaeology
and Ethnology, Papers, VIII (1920).
7 Edgerly, Hunter's Bow, 64.
8 Henry C. Shetrone, The Mound
Builders (New York, 1930), 314, Fig. 203.
9 Wissler, American Indian, 143,
Fig. 55.
16
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
also show the importance of this little
animal in their religious
concepts.10
From the Mound City Group (Burial 12, Mound 7) in Ross
County near the north edge of
Chillicothe, widely known for its
Hopewell works, eighteen copper rattles
in the form of small
turtles were taken, each filled with
tiny shell beads or quartz peb-
bles and sewn side by side on a belt.
Each turtle is two inches
long and one and one-half inches wide,
the carapace and plastron
being formed of two separate pieces of
copper hammered together.
Each carapace is perforated by twelve
holes arranged, more or
less accurately, across the back from
right front to left rear and
from left front to right rear.11
The tinkling musical sound made by these
copper rattles
must have made them favorites among the prehistoric people.
Similar metal tinklers were later used
by historic tribes, notably
the Sioux. The extensive use of copper
in the Hopewell culture
for making many other art objects12 besides turtle-rattles attests
to the high excellence of the designs
and workmanship, as well
as the originality of the artisans who
worked without melting
or smelting the basic material13 and who had
little if any pre-
ceding culture to copy. The Hopewell
builders may have obtained
their native copper by trade, for it is
known that they made long
journeys. At any rate the copper of the
Lake Superior region
found its way south and east.
Still another kind of globular rattle
was excavated in the
Tremper Mound14 five miles above
Portsmouth in Scioto County,
a burial mound covering a ceremonial
structure. Among the other
collections found here were four copper
boat-shaped objects filled
with small quartz pebbles and two hollow
copper cone-shaped
objects also filled with quartz pebbles.
All were found in the
large cache in the mound with the effigy
and plain platform pipes.
There might be some question as to
whether they were intended
10 M. R. Harrington, Religion and
Ceremonies of the Lenape, Museum of the
American Indian, Heye Foundation, Indian
Notes and Monographs, Miscellaneous Ser.
(New York), No. 19 (1921), 103-4.
11 William C. Mills, "Explorations
of the Mound City Group," Ohio State Arch.
and Hist. Quarterly, XXXI (1922), 550-1, Fig. 74.
12 Shetrone, Mound
Builders, 129-31, Figs. 70, 71, 72.
13 Ibid., 114.
14 William C. Mills, "Exploration
of the Tremper Mound," Ohio State Arch. and
Hist. Quarterly, XXV (1916), 365-8, Figs. 94-9.
PREHISTORIC MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS 17
for rattles, but the presence of the
pebbles seems to indicate that
use. Two of the boat-shaped rattles have
holes at each end, and
the other two have holes near the
center. The shapes of the boat
and cone types have not been explained.
Another interesting fact concerning
rattles, is that they were
without doubt the origin of the bell
among American tribes, first
modeled in clay and later worked out in
metal. Dr. W. H. Holmes
of the Bureau of Ethnology pointed out
this fact in a study made
in 1884.15
Classed with and comparable to the
simplest forms of rattles
were the musical rasps. The notched stick and notched bone
seem to have been the most universal,
were easily made, and could
be scraped across various objects such
as scapula bones or wood
to produce the desired rattle.
The Madisonville Village Site16 in Hamilton
County (Fort
Ancient culture) yielded a considerable
number of musical rasps
made from deer and elk ribs. The excavations
of this site were
made by the Peabody Museum of Harvard
University in 1882-
1911. Each specimen was found to be cut
with shallow grooves
at one-quarter to one-half inch
intervals, the grooves in some speci-
mens having been partially or wholly
scraped away with constant
use. Two other fragments of elk or deer
rib rasps from South
Park Village Site17 near Cleveland (Iroquois culture) also have
transverse grooves. A single rasp made
from the rib of some
large animal and cut with nine notches
along one edge was found
in the Fairport Harbor Village Site18 in
Lake County in 1937.
Still another broken specimen has been
recorded from the Vance
Village Site19 (Fort Ancient). This is a
rasp having fourteen
grooves set one-quarter inch apart.
Only second in importance to rattles and
drums in the aborigi-
nal musical world are the wind
instruments, of which the whistle
15 Edgerly, Hunter's Bow, 70.
16 Hooton, Indian Village Site, 562-3, Plate 15.
17 E. F. Greenman, "Two
Prehistoric Villages near Cleveland,
Ohio," Ohio State
Arch. and Hist. Quarterly, XLVI (1937), 343, Fig. 20.
18 Richard G. Morgan and H. Holmes Ellis, "The Fairport Harbor
Village Site,"
Ohio State Arch. and Hist.
Quarterly, LII (1943), 3-64.
19 Field Notes, Department of Archaeology, Ohio State Archaeological and
Histori-
cal Society.
18
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
and flute are chief representatives
among historic and prehistoric
tribes alike. The greatest number and
variety are found in South
America where the true flutes were used.
In North America the
flageolet-flute prevailed, and no other
instrument has appealed
so forcibly to the gentle side of Indian
character nor was so useful
in his dancing and hunting. It has
always been the favorite instru-
ment used by Indian lovers. But whistles
too, like rattles, had
their symbolic meanings.
Perhaps the most universal kinds of
whistles have been those
instruments made from the wing and leg
bones of large birds,
especially the eagle, wild turkey and
goose, hawk, swan and crane.
Naturally, the birds of fighting courage
were preferred as they
might transfer this quality to the
person who used them. George
Catlin, who lived many years among the
Indians, described the
war-whistle as a little instrument six
or nine inches long, generally
made of the bone of deer or turkey leg
which had but two notes
that were produced by blowing in the
ends. The note produced
by blowing in one end, being much more
shrill than the other,
gave the signal of battle, while the
other sounded retreat. The
Hopi, especially noted for their flutes,
used a whistle of eagle-bone
in the sun-dance. Some are made to
imitate the cries of animals
and birds, were used for signaling, and
could be blown on the
side or end.
The actual specimens of whistles and
flutes from prehistoric
areas in Ohio are similar to these of
later origin, but whether they
were used for the same purposes is a
matter of conjecture. From
three prehistoric village sites in
southern Ohio (Fort Ancient
culture), more than forty whistle-like
objects have been taken.
Twenty of these came from the Feurt
Village Site,20 five miles
above Portsmouth in Scioto County, which
was excavated in 1916
under Dr. W. C. Mills for the Ohio State
Archaeological and
Historical Society. The specimens of
hollow bird-bone, evidently
the radii of eagle, hawk or turkey,
average four inches in length,
usually with three holes drilled along
the sides of the cylinder of
20 William C. Mills, "The Feurt
Mounds and Village Site," Ohio State Arch.
and Hist. Quarterly, XXVI (1917), 433, Fig. 83.
PREHISTORIC MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS 19
straight bone. Eighteen of the twenty
are broken, and of these,
ten show only one hole, with ends
broken. Bone flutes were also
taken from the Sand Ridge Site21 in Hamilton
County.
The Madisonville Site22 in Hamilton
County, excavated by
the Peabody Museum, yielded twenty
similar specimens with
finger-holes numbering from five to nine
and spaced about one-
half inch apart. A number of similar
whistles were also found
during the excavation of the Campbell
Island Village Site23 in
Butler County by Dr. Henry C. Shetrone
in 1921 for the Ohio
State Archaeological and Historical
Society.
From three Iroquoian culture sites in
northeastern Ohio four
bird-bone flutes were found; two from
the Reeve Village Site24 in
Lake County in 1929. The largest
of these is 14 cm. in length
and 12 mm. at its greatest diameter, and
has three holes; the other
is 86 mm. in length and 7 mm. at its
greatest diameter, and has
four holes. The Tuttle Hill Site25 near Independence in Cuya-
hoga County was excavated in 1930, and one flute six inches long
was found having five stops or holes,
three on one side and two
on the opposite. One flute taken from
the South Park Village
Site26
(1930) measures only two inches in length,
but has four
stops.
Again one looks to the Hopewell culture
to find an instrument
made of copper. A single copper object
that may possibly be a
whistle was taken from the Rockhold
Mound No. 1 in Paxton
Township, Ross County, during the summer
excavation in 1929
by the Ohio State Archaeological and
Historical Society.27 Interest
attaches to this little object as it was
found with several other
copper objects with the cremated burial
of a child, ten to thirteen
years of age. It was common practice to
place small ornaments
21 James
B. Griffin, The Fort Ancient Aspect: Its Culture and Chronological
Position in Mississippi Valley
Archaeology (Ann Arbor, 1943), 144.
22 Hooton, Indian Village Site.
23 Campbell Island Village Site, Butler
County, excavated by Henry C. Shetrone
for the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical
Society. Unpublished notes on this
are in the possession of J. B. Griffin, Ceramic
Repository, Ann Arbor, Mich., 1921.
24 E. F. Greenman, "Excavation of
the Reeve Village Site, Lake County, Ohio,"
Ohio State Arch. and Hist. Quarterly,
XLIV (1935), 18-9, Fig. 20.
25 See note 17.
26 South
Park Village Site, Greenman, "Two Prehistoric Villages."
27 Unpublished
Field Notes (1929) on material displayed at the Ohio State
Archaeological and Historical Society's
Museum, Columbus. Notes in possession of E.
F. Greenman, University Museums
Building, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
20
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
and playthings with the burials of
children, and one might infer
that this copper object with its
triangular perforation just back
of the mouth-piece, so like the ordinary
tin whistle of today,
might have been the child's instrument.
Not much can be said of the actual pitch
or quality of the
notes of these bone flutes. Many are too
crushed to be played.
The few which were blown on the ends
gave off an approximate
high F sharp, thin and faint, or a note
or so below. The per-
forating tools used in the making of the
holes in flutes were of
various kinds. There are many flint
drills in the Ohio State
Archaeological and Historical Society's
collections. The universal
mode of drilling was with the round
spindle whorl with pointed
end, rolled back and forth between the
palms of the hands.
This, then, is the story of the
prehistoric musical instru-
ments found in the mound and village
sites in Ohio. The absence
of reed instruments and trumpets from
the collection is notice-
able. Some reed instruments have been
found among living
Indians, but they were European and not
of Indian origin.28 Horns
have found little favor as musical
instruments even with early
historic Indians of Peru and Brazil;29
and the conch shell and
pottery horns, and those made from animal horns are nowhere
in evidence. As for melody and
rhythm patterns, for so long
an important part of the artistic
expression, according to tribe and
ritual of our present-day Indians, one
can only conjecture that
these may have existed in pre-Columbian
times. Notable among
prehistoric religious practices
preserved even down to this time
are those of the Pueblos. Excellent
examples also of poetry and
song among primitive historic tribes are
well established.30 The
persistence of the fundamental types of
musical instruments
through all time down to the present is
a historical fact. May
one go so far as to imagine that melody
and rhythm patterns and
unwritten musical lore existed among the
intelligent prehistoric
groups?
28 Edgerly, Hunter's Bow, 68.
29 Wissler, American Indian, 155-6.
30 Helen M. Roberts, Form in Primitive Music (New York, 1933);
Natalie Curtis,
The Indian's Book (New York, 1907); Benjamin Ives Gilman, "Hopi Songs," Journal
of American Ethnology and Archaeology
(Boston), V (1908).