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ilHie Mound Builders.The Chicago Times of the 9th contains^ m mm m * r If V .a . «» * Athe following:Prof. William Stimson, oonnected with title Chicago Academy of Science, a short time ranee, while , passing Mr. Thatcher’s farm, just beyond the town of Harlem, and adjoining Haas’ Park, discovered hillocks which he suspected might belong to the mound-building period, and might/oontain valuable mementoes of a past ..age. A few days afterward he obtained permission of the owner of thefarmtomaka an elimination pf the mounds, and last week he, together with CharlesKennicott, made a personal examination of the premises, and uncovered the earth to the depth ’of about three feet . , They had dug but a short time, when human boneB were disco veifed, whi4tf, upon examination, proved to be of a race at present extinct fipdh the continent of North America Persevering efforts of several days were rewarded with the finding of several other similar monnds, and the remains of twenty human beings. Two entire skeletons were found, with the exception that one of tl^em lacked two cervical bones, Md the other a few of the bones of the bands and feet^ The bones themselves were very friable* and'required the most careful handling to prevent their falling into dust again. 'The bones which mark the peculiar characters of the’ beings who once possessed them are those of the cranion*. It is weU known that the heads of Europeans and all descendants of- the Caucasian race are usually much greater in length and breadth. They have what is technically called the dolicho-oephalic skull which the Iroquois Indians who inhabited America at the landing of Columbus, possessed square heads, or skulls which archffiologists call brachy-cephcd c. .The skulls found at® are of the brachy-cephalic .. . fact stamps them as being atleast as old as the first discovery of America. It is said that the influences of civilization Mve entirely changed the shape of the Indians1 skull, so that the present tribes, no matter how maeh isolated from the white man, present no cases of the antique Indian bead.'Another evidence of the antiquity of these remains is th« position in whioh they were found. Pr f. Stimson was obliged to remove a large treewhieh grew on one of the mounds to renlt; h theskeletons. Across section of tree disclosed 87 rings, and surce botanist^.claim that the evidences of the first 15 years* growth of old trees has been obliterated, it follows that this tree was at least 100 years’ old.The monnds were about two feet above the surface of the .prairie, were oval in shape, and were about four or five feet wide, and foet in length.They were eacn surrounded by a well defined trench. Before reaching the remains a layer of hard blue clay was penetrated, and the bones were found reposing in abed of gravel. The remains were found three feet below the surface.The-tombs of the “mound build ora,” as they are called are supposed to have been constructed by the ancestors of the ancient Aztecs, orhy the Aztecs themselves. The remains are .usually found arranged in reg ular order, and accompanied with tools, weapons, and implements, by which their great antiquity is inferred and, to some extent, measured. * The mounds discovered last week by Prof Stimson contained no tools or weapons, or at least none have yet been discovered, although, as the researches have not terminated, it is impossible that these objects may yet be found. The remains were apparently thrown together promiscuously, as if the rites of sepulture had been hurried—perbaprat the close of of a battle. ? ’ *From all the circumstances, it is believed that when the beings wfere buried there, the place was the margin of the lake, and thus the phenomena are closely connected with another interesting series of questions relating to the lake and its physical condition and boundaries before the shores were discovered by Europeans.On yesterday, another mound wav discovered, circular in its -form, and larger and higher than the others. It has not yet been investigated so as to determine what is the character of it* contents.shrecoT1Rifaorheedy«sefohlt;hithhiEHIBrcwtthiwofEClt;alHp|nlleclhhe-eihHAhItuaThe subject will be laid before the Academy of Sciences this evening, when, it maybe expected, some new light will be thrown upon the matter.Thmlling .InAdent. —During the late
Newspaper Details
Chippewa Falls Democrat
Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, US
Thu, Dec 02, 1869
Page 2
Full Page
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WI, USA 20 Apr 2017
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