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Hunters in Northern- Michigan : 'Unearth Quaint Images and a Lettered TabletSUPPOSED WORK OF AZTECS.Statue of a Man in Sitting Posture . Cut from Lake Superior Brown Stone.■’ Islipeming. Midi.. Nov. 2WSpeclaU VNothble finds of copper wea|hos and pottery utensils left behind by the l,lv* historic tocc.H one© inhabiting portions of tlie ’ American continent have been mode from time to time along the soutli-crn shores -uf Lake Superior, and the mines opened- in the days before history began on the native copper lodes uf Ontonagon county have been of especial in-• tcre6t to antiquarians and ethnologists, hut n discovery inndc u few days ago near Newberry. Midi., promises to rank jn importance second to nothing yet unearthed tlmt relates to prehistoric history In this couutry.Jacob Brown and George Bo wo. both . residents of Newberry, were looking for deer last week. In the course of then hunting they startled n mink, which made for a ntvnurp near by pud took refuge » a hollow stump. In digging under one aide of the old slump. In order to gel . under It at the mink, they struck stone which bore evidences of the handiwork of man. Becoming interested they .secured nicks and spades and unearthed the objects against which their implements had first struck. As the result of their lulaics three stone image.- were uncovered; also u large stone tabjet. All ‘ four articles wore eut from hnwn sand*• stone, the rock prpbahly coming from the northeastward, where the pictured rocks, great cliffs of sandstone worn by wlud and wave into laniusii. forms, frotvu for *nnn.v mile* upon iln- blue wn-’ tors.of the great lake. Of llie throe ! images the largest is that rif a man in n sitting position, nearly life-size. I he Htatuc* in oti a pedestal formed from the Blum* jtietv of stone. The sis-opd image. In point of size, is tliai of a woman, nnd Is a trllb- umler three feel in height, '.while the third und lust is the image of n child, like the num. postured in a sitting attitude, nnd is about two feel high. All .three of Ihe images were found placed with fuees toward the cast, wliieh may lmve bivn luvidontal. but more probably was intentional, ami jiomts 4-trongly toward Min-worship on the part of the unknown pit 1 tint cowed and placed the statues in -times so distant that.even an np.pmxlimitc estimate of the period is impossible.• Near »he*e figure* u*:is found a slab of brownstom*. averaging i! inelies in thiek-neBB and is ISolkj iurlies on each face. One side was smoothed as carefully sis the coarse struiHiire of the nick had allowed while upon llie other face were engraved a serii-s of Insi-ripi ions, each set• in u square of approximately one and a half inches, there being Mb of these.’ot the Work or Indians.Those who have examined the images nnd the inscribed tablet arc nimbi.* to assign them to any race nr period.. yond being able to assert positively iliat they wen- not the work of tin* Indians, ■ample* nf their handicraft are frequent, und whose work in stone or inrtal is very erudo.. Those wlm saw the statues say they looked like Egyptian idols, though the heads were those of human• beings ami not of the snored animals ■ with which the mu-lent ralt; e of t.lie Nilewns wont to ornament ils carved images. Prom wlm I - nut be lea mod of these .works from those wlm have seen them, they boar n strong relationship to the work of the A/.too and the even more ancient Toltee races, remnants of whose work In atone is waitered so plenlilnlly through Southern’Mexico and the Ten-' trni American slates. The trick of lengthening the byes, noticed iu the Ncw-herry liads.. was known to the ancient in-habitants or Mexico us well as to ihe •Egyptians, nnd is noticeable jn the carvings of Uxntal and other ruins of Ihe Miztecs, Toilers end Aztecs. The• ‘ strunce figures engraved within square*nre also not witloml parallel. Iieiuc found upon ihe urnnnionintinn of the saeritieinl nlfars of Central American ruins. The • M ox Icon idols were usually carved from obsidian, -und 1bt- inscription* which have so long puzzled the ingenuity of an h:p-o|.i-gists were carved upon granite or v.n-k* of alrimsr equal hardness, wlii.b easdy . retained the line lines cut with siieli grout iff nil. whereas the brown saml-. ntoue indigenous to I.nke Superior can* nut be made to lake or retain lines of _ great fiaeuess.Further excavations will be made, and the find is rich in possibilities.-,r. ■' Copied the Inscription!.MarqUette,’ Mich'.' Nov. 21.—Kev. David Howell, Kynudienl missionary of the Presbyterian church, is one of the best informed gentlemen wlm has seen the .wouderful lind near Newberry and lie places full credence in tile honesty of the discovery and considers it probably offront scientific ami historical value. Mr.lowell is 1 In* only e»ie \vb« has yet made n copy of the inscriptions on the tablet.' He intends to semi a blue print of the copy to the Smithsonian institute nnd liuvo it examined there by the great authorities nnd see if they can decipher the characters und shod any light upou the . discovery.There i*nn bo no doubt about the liohostv of the men -wlm made the discovery, Hit id Mr. Howell. They have• nn idea that the images mid tablet are worth SlOlMKin or more, though they Brat thought that wlm I they bad dt*• covered were the petrilied bodies of littmau beings. . Anyone wlm knows Kundstone. tlmngli, could tejl tlmt this wan not right. The formation is very ulmilur to tlmt of tin* Pictured Hocks. The men are very suspicious and iifrnid someone is going to get the things nwny from them. They weren’t oven going to Jet me inside the railing of the vacant Blare where they -have them to take, a copy of the inscriptions. They •have an idea they can make :i big thing exhibiting them around the country. 1...told them, though, they wouldn’t be worth 15 cents to exhibit outside of Newberry, where there whs some local interest attaching to the tind. unless the hiRcriptionB. were copied mid sent to ■ome place where -t hey cob Id be cxntu-ined by men who were an authority upop .. BUch taides, and their authenticity perfectly established.Blur ITInt of thr Tablet.**I cleaned the tablet us well as I could nnd lampblnckiMl it und took an• impree-Biou on u sheet of paper. and -then J nmde a tracing .from tlmt, and- when I was at M muring today the chief.• engineer of the’ Munisiug railway, Mr. Voting, made tbesc blue prints for me.The tablet is about 19\2’« and is divid-ed into one hundred and forty squares, ten on one edge, fourteen on ibe other. V A character or letter is inscribed iu all -.but three Of those cumll squares. The chowders seetu to have been effaced from ’ 'these. Some of the chnmeters appear .‘■.toore lltau ouce on the stone nud a few : .of. then: boar a resemblance to GreekBoth tablet nnd images. Mr. Howell \ aaya, were found-just umler where the /•-.Treewould have been were it stunding. .i. ’The trunk of the tree ifi sixteen inches y-'ln diameter. This fact iB worthy of t.-tKrte for while it docs not preclude the .Mty of the Btatues or idols hav-teen buried there bo recently os a year* ogo it would go to show had not boon planted” by fekir in the last ten or ive years. ’-dbcovery was made on the 29th i month. Day before yesterday a pfr Newberry people were out to ohd did some more digging about -M_*v«ll as they could for theon the edge of a awamp, ■that «a mounted to any-peared to be the broken-off foot of the lurger image.THE NEWBERRY RELICS.Description of tli« Interesting TlgnrM nnd Tablet Found In aiicblroii.A dcseripibm of the relic* found near Newberry. .Mich., has bc-n furnished the Wisconsin by }t. C. Ilubb. ll. 3 g«*nil«*-iiuin i-ounei-usl with the J. E. Pation eumpauy of Milwaukee, who is now at Mnrqiiclte.The principal figure, or idol, as it probably is. Is that of a man in a sitting posture iiIhmU four feet high, sitting with his Open hands, oalru* upwards, ou his knees. The workmanship is **ruiic. but shows careful painstaking work and considerable ability. The lend i massive, but in excellent prcportions to the rest ol‘ the form. Tin- forehead i* broad and high, eyebrow* well arched, nose straight and well foriv d. und i-liin round und prominent. None ol tin1 figures have any of the diiiractcristi' S of the Indians.The second figure is evnlenily intended to represea! n female in standing position. It is :il*ut three fist high nnd has niiH'h tin- same rliaraeti'Tisties us ihe first. The arms are hauging by the side.The third figure evidently represents n boy or son in a silling position. It is about two feet high and hus the sumc relative jmsinre as tin1 first.These images were nil founa stand tug in a row. the larger ui the north, all facing the eiist.At tin* fnot of llilt;* row was fouitil tnc tablet which is MIX2T.I-;. inches square and lt;1 inches threk. This tald«-t is laid off into HO.H'liuires. cneh iiiehes bqu.vre. There are fourteen rows with ten squares in a row formed by grooves cut in ihe .^tono a Unit one-eighth of an inch deep. Within each square is’cut a cbnmeter, evidently n written lauguyge. and this work was done with great enre. The characters bure some rescmblauco or some of them to Greek letters. others lo EgJ'P1’iuxi or nn.. hi I'hoeiiieiun. All arc iu an excellent state of preservation, with two or three exceptions.The tnutcria! uf which tin1 tmages nml tablet are made is (lark brown saudstoue.MBS. MAYBR1CK INSANE.- - WallS
Newspaper Details
Milwaukee Weekly Wisconsin
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, US
Sat, Nov 28, 1896
Page 8
Full Page
Clipped by
Badgerlink
WI, USA 19 Oct 2017
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