Native cemeteries and forms of burial east of the Mississippi / by David I. Bushnell, Jr.
- David I. Bushnell
- Date:
- 1920
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Native cemeteries and forms of burial east of the Mississippi / by David I. Bushnell, Jr. Source: Wellcome Collection.
67/192 page 59
![The vaults so made were often covered and floored with sheets of bark, logs, stones, or a combination of the different materials. In some the logs were placed upright, in others horizontally, but these details in construction mav have been from individual tastes of the «/ makers rather than proving any tribal custom. One of the most re¬ markable of these structures, one among the first of the ancient works to attract the attention of early travelers and to be described by them, is the high, conical mound near the left bank of the Ohio, in Marshall County, West Yirginia, usually known as the Grave Creek Mound. And to quote from a work of 70 years ago, “ The Grave creek mound, although it has often been described, deserves, from its size and singularity of construction, more than a passing notice. It is situated on the plain, at the junction of Grave creek and the Ohio river, twelve miles below Wheeling. * * * It is one of the largest in the Ohio valley; measuring about seventy feet Fig. 6.—Grave Creek Mound. in height, by one thousand in circumference at the base. It was excavated by the proprietor in 1838. He sank a shaft from the apex of the mound to the base [fig. 6, a, 5,] intersecting it at that point by a horizontal drift [a, e, e,]. It was found to contain two sepul¬ chral chambers, one at the base [a], and another thirty feet above [<?]. These chambers had been constructed of logs, and covered with stones, which had sunk under the superincumbent mass as the wood decayed, giving the summit of the mound a flat or rather dish¬ shaped form. The lower chamber contained two human skeletons (one of which was thought to be that of a female) ; the upper chamber contained but one skeleton in an advanced stage of decay. With these were found between three and four thousand shell beads, a number of ornaments of mica, several bracelets of copper, and various articles carved in stone. After the excavation of the mound, a light three-story wooden structure was erected upon its summit.” (Squier and Davis, (1), pp. 168-169.) A view of the mound, figure 56 in the work quoted, is reproduced in plate 15. A mound of rather unusual form, covering a log inclosure, stood in Hocking County, Ohio. A plan of this work is produced in figure 7.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b29826718_0067.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
