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La*: Friday a party from town was eft* gaged in arch.neologies I n*searehtfi on the Guibrandsim farm, near the outlet lt;A Alfewt Le* Luke. In other words two Imltas j mounds were opened, tod four or five foot below the top of the larger mound, human bones were found; enough to that one might readily sapposa it bad originally contained a large nuinbur ot bodies thrown in promiscuously. The second rnound was small, and had two, or at most three bodies iu it, and in a belter state of preservation than the bones in the Other, as they were ; enabled to take from it a skull nearly whole. The bones found in the best state of preser-vatiou were the femur, tibia, fibula and humerus, with parts ot skulls, jaw and te* th. One set of femur bones was of 'arge site, while the skull taken from the other mound was medium, with a tow standing forehead. Nothing of much historical interest was found, except an imperfect tiiut arrow head, and a sharp, thin tiiut, which might bo a knife; nut such things are often found in the fields in New York and Pennsylvania.Concerning the object and antiquity ol these western mound*, one ot the best authorities is Hon. E. G. Squires, author of “Monuments of the Mississippi \ alley, who states that the most common monuments of the Mississippi Valley are these which are incontestably simply places of sepulchre, memorials raised over the dead, often their size indicating somewhat the importance ot the personages therein. He says further that these mounds rarely contain more than two bodies, except where later tribes, with a vague notion of their sanctity, have buried their dead there; that the notion once prevalent that they contain vast heaps of slain, and arc memorials of great battles, is wholly unsupported by tacts. His remarks throughout seem applicable to these mounds in question, though the larger one had an over-plus of bones. Speaking in general of the mounds through the Mississippi \ alley, he says the decayed condition of the remains shows their great age. Considering that the earth around the skeletons is 'or the most part wonderfully compact and dry, exceed- j ingl? favorable to the preservation of th«( remains, which latter are m fact in the last j stages of decomposition, enable (he antiquarians to say approximately that many of the mounds are several hundred years old, and contain the remains of extinct tribes, and especially so when similar mounds in England, known to be 1800 years old, contain remains in an excellent stale of preser- • ration. It would certainly scorn absurd fur any of us to gainsay the statements of men ; who have given years of study to the sub-1 ject, but we should like to see these mounds investigated more fully, and competent authorities explain the larger mound.
Newspaper Details
Albert Lea Enterprise
Albert Lea, Minnesota, US
Thu, Jul 10, 1879
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