THE MOUND-BUILDERS AND PLATYCNEMISM IN MICHIGAN. REPRINTED FROM SMITHSONIAN REPORT FOR 1873. CERTAIN CHARACTERISTICS PERTAINING TO ANCIENT MAN IN MICHIGAN. REPRINTED FROM SMITHSONIAN REPORT FOR 1875. By HENRY GILLMAN. WASHINGTON : GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 1 8 7 7. THE MOUND-BUILDERS AND PLATYCNEMISM IN MICHIGAN. REPRINTED FROM SMITHSONIAN REPORT FOR 1873. CERTAIN CHARACTERISTICS PERTAINING TO ANCIENT MAN IN MICHIGAN. REPRINTED FROM SMITHSONIAN REPORT FOR 1875. HENRY GILLMAN. WASHINGTON: GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 1 8 7 7. THE MOUND BUILDERS AND PLATYCNEMISM IN MICHIGAN. By Henry Gillman. Throughout the region of the Great Lakes occur many of the most interesting relics of the race known as the " Mound-builders." Even as far north as the State of Michigan, so large a portion of the bound- aries along the shore-line of the lakes and rivers of the region abounds in the presence of those remains as to be a subject of wonder to all who have investigated the subject. From the west end of Lake Erie, along the banks of the Detroit Biver, the shores of Lake Saint Clair, and the coasts of Lakes Huron and Michigan, through the passage of the Saint Mary's River, to Lake Superior, including isolated Isle Royal, near its northern limits, the remains of the mysterious people, who resided here hundreds of years ago, may be traced. Some of those relics may, indeed, be said So be unique-unlike any- thing of the kind in any other part of this country or even in the Old World. I refer, for instance, to those which exhibit the flattening of the tibia, known as platycnemism. That these people are identical with the race whose monuments of various descriptions are found occurring in such remarkable abundance to the westward and to the southward, through Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee, even to the Gulf of Mexico, admits now of no question; a race whose crauiological development and evidently advanced civiliza- tion apparently separate it from the North American Indian and ally it to the ancient Brazilian type. MOUND-BUILDERS AND PLATYCNEMISM IN MICHIGAN. 365 One of the most interesting works of this region, and which, till a few years ago, formed a member of a numerous series of mounds in the immediate vicinity, is the tumulus which I have named " The Great Mound of the river Rouge." This, in many respects, remarkable work is situated on the eastern bank of Rouge River, a tributary of the Detroit, and near the point of junction of the former with the latter river, or about four and one-half miles from the city-hall in Detroit. (See Fig. 1.) Tig. 1 Great Mound, River Rouge* and Circular Mound, Detroit River, Mich. TRUE MfcRlDIAN ONTARIO The size, shape, and well-defined outlines of the monument could hardly fail to attract the attention of even the superficial observer, and impress him as to its being the work of man. With a height of 20 feet, it must originally have measured about 300 feet in length by 200 366 ETHNOLOGY. feet in width; but large quantities of sand have been removed from it from time to time, greatly reducing its proportions, and scattering or destroying a large number of interesting relics. The series of smaller mounds, extending from the great mound to the eastward, has long since been entirely removed; so has the greater number of other similar mounds which once stood immediately below the southern city limits. Those which remain are fast disappearing before the march of civilization, the sand, of which they are principally composed, being in demand for building and other purposes. Indian tradition says that these mounds were built in ancient times, by a people of whom they (the Indians) know nothing, and for whom they have no name; that the mounds were occupied by the Tuetle Indians, and subsequently by the Wyandotts, but were constructed long before their time. These facts were ascertained by me in the year 1869, when I was further informed that the Tuetle Indians had been absorbed by the Six Nations, and that if any survived it is among them they must be looked for. In this connection it may be proper to state, that I have lately been informed of the results of some inquiries made at my request, through the instrumentality of the Smithsonian Institution, in regard to the name Tuetle. The conclusion arrived at is that the word Tuetle is probably a corruption of Tutelo, a tribe, "admitted as a younger mem- ber of the confederacy of the Six Nations about the middle of the last century," and that the Tuteloes "are believed to have migrated from Virginia northward, to lands assigned them on the Susquehanna by the Six Nations; but very little is known of their early history and migra- tions." An interesting paper on the Tuteloes, by Rev. J. Anderson, was read before the American Philological Association in July, 1871. Reporting Mr. H. Hale's discoveries, this assigns the Tuteloes to the Dakotan and not the Iroquois stock, and gives an account of Mr. Hale's " visit to Nikungha, the last survivor of the tribe of the Tuteloes," and who has since died at the age of one hundred and six years.* The establishment of the identity of the Tuetles with the Tuteloes, and their residence on these mounds and along the Detroit River, is not without value, in view of Mr. Hale's opinion, (opposed to the conclusions of others regarding the Dakotan migration,) that "in former times the \vhole of what is now the central portion of the United States, from the Mississippi nearly to the Atlantic, was occupied by Dakotan tribes, who have been cut up and gradually exterminated by the intrusive and more energetic Algonkins and Iroquois." The relics exhumed from the great mound (which has not even yet been thoroughly explored) consist of stone implements, such as axes, scrapers, chisels, arrow-heads, and knives; fragments of pottery of a great variety of pattern, including the favorite cord-pattern; and the * Proceedings of American Philological Association, July, 1871, pp. 15,1G. MOUND-BUILDERS AND PLATYCNEMISM IN MICHIGAN. 367 bones of man, generally much decayed, and exhibiting other indications of antiquity. From the fragments of burned bones and charcoal found it would appear that in the earlier interments cremation was practiced. The tibice present, in an extreme degree, the peculiar flattening or compression pertaining to platycnemic men. In the Fourth Annual Report of the Peabody Museum meution is made of this ; some of the relics which I collected from this mound having been given to the museum by the lion. Robert C. Winthrop, to whom I had presented them. The curator, Professor Wyman, says: "Of the tibice of forty individuals, from the mounds in Kentucky, one third presented this flat- tening to the extent that the transverse did not exceed 0.60 of the fore- and-aft diameter. The most extreme case was from the mound on the River Rouge, in Michigan, in which the transverse diameter was only 0.48. In the most marked case mentioned by Broca, viz, in the old man from Cro-Magnon, France, it was, as deduced from his figures, 0.60." Professor Wyman draws attention to certain resemblances in this bone to the same bone in the apo, adding: " In some of the tibice the amount of flattening surpasses that of the gorilla and chimpanzee, in each of which we found the short 0.67 of the long diameter, while in the tibia from Michigan it was only 0.48."* Subsequent to this (in 1870) I discovered in adjacent mounds several instances in which this compression of the tibia was exhibited to even a greater extreme. Two remarkable cases of this peculiarity were afforded by tibia; taken by me from the " Circular Mound" on the Detroit River. In one of those unique specimens the transverse diameter of the shaft is 0.42, and in the other 0.40, of the anteroposterior diameter; exceeding, I believe, any platycnemism which has been observed before or since. In communicating these facts to the American Naturalist, not long afterward, I claimed that the last-mentioned case "may be consid- ered as the flattest tibia on record."! Both of the bones are strongly marked with the saber-like curvature, as are also many others of the tibice from the vicinity. The majority of the tibice present the flattening, which is an exception to the facts as noted in other sections of the United States, where it is supposed to pertain to " only about one-third of all the individuals observed." About three-quarters of a mile to the north and eastward of the Great Rouge Mound, and only a few hundred feet to the westward of Fort Wayne, being over a third of a mile from the shore of the Detroit River, occurs the monument which I have named for distinction and from its originally symmetrical shape "The Great Circular Mound." This also appears to have been one of a numerous series, many of which have been removed for various purposes, but the present occupation of the land prevents a satisfactory examination of its character. * Fourth Annual Report of the Trustees of the Peabody Museum of American Archae- ology and Ethnology. Boston, 1871. t American Naturalist, October, 1871, vol. v, p. 6G3. 368 ETHNOLOGY. A few years ago a great part of the mound was removed, and some im- portant results were obtained, the relicsbeingof unusual interest. Eleven skeletons were exhumed, with a large number of burial vases; stone implements in great variety and of superior workmanship, consisting chiefly of axes, spears, arrow-heads, chisels, drillers, and sinkers; pipes; ornaments of shell and stone; also, a peculiar implement of unknown use formed from an antler; and two articles manufactured from copper, one the remains of a necklace, consisting of a number of beads; the other a needle several inches in length. One of the skulls is noticed by Professor Wyman as remarkable for its diminutive size, though adult, its capacity being only 56 cubic inches, or less than 67 per cent, of that of the average Indian cranium, which is given as 84 cubic inches by Morton and Meigs, the minimum observed by them being 69 cubic inches. In speaking of this skull, Professor Wyman says: "In ordinary skulls the ridges of the temporal muscles on the two sides of the head are separated by a space of from 3 to 4 inches, seldom less than 2, while in the Detroit-mound skull this space measures only three-quarters of an inch; and in this respect it presents the same conditions as the skull of a chimpanzee."* It is interesting to remark here that " the flattest tibia? on record," already referred to, were taken by me from this mound. I regret to have to add that in the rude method pursued in opening this mound many choice relics were destroyed; a large number also were carried away, scattered, and lost. In the following table I give the dimensions of a few of the tibia?., of which I was able to obtain measurements, from the great mound on the Rouge River and the circular mound on the Detroit River. All these bones have more or less saber-like curvature: Table I.-Dimensions, <fc., of tibicefrom the Rouge and Detroit Rivers, Michigan. Mean .... Number. w 00 14.6 15.0 14.7 14.9 Length, in inches and decimals. 2.73 2.8 2.7 2.9 2.7 Transverse diame- ter, proximal end, in inches and deci- mals. 2.87 2.7 2.9 2.7 2.65 2.8 w ca Least circumference, in inches and deci- mals. 150 by 72 vl Ul C: r- O Ci *-tOQDlOOD-4<C>CaM tfo'c'tfc'tf cctf M «<j << «< •< << t< © 05 (X' Ci Cl C. -4 <© iOrfkO'©»4acoOM Antero-posterior di- ameter and trans- verse diameter of shaft, in inches. 0.185 p p O QD W 4* p p 00 GO Ca © Perimetral index, in decimals of an inch. p ppppppppp 4x *- »U >U CH Ca rfk. ta XO'TCO <□ >- ci c« to »a ® ro 5 Latitudinal index, in decimals of an inch. * Sixth Annual Report of the Trustees of the Peabody Museum of American Archaeol ogy and Ethnology. 1873. American Journal of Science and Arts, third series, vol vii, p. 1, January, 1874. MOUND-BUILDERS AND PLATYCNEMISM IN MICHIGAN. 369 In this table the latitudinal index expresses the amount of the com- pression of the shaft, while the perimetral index represents the thick- ness. In this connection I wish to call attention to the fact that the perfora- tion of the humerus is a characteristic which I have observed to pertain to the platycnemic specimens from the river Rouge mound. This is of great interest, as the peculiarity referred to is most frequently met with in the negro race, has also been observed in the Indian, and, though not always present, is quite general in the apes, while it is seldom seen in the white races. The ridge on which Fort Wayne is built, once nearly a mile in length, on the bank of the Detroit River, and which occupies a commanding position, was, I am satisfied, previously occupied by the ancient people we are discussing. Their bones and implements have been dug out at that part of the ridge immediately above the fort. The leg-bones from this point also exhibited in a remarkable degree the flattening. It is to be regretted that various circumstances prevented my obtain- ing in many instances the dimensions of the bones; otherwise I should be able to present an array of facts still more valuable. Though the stone and other implements from the upper lakes cannot in general boast of the high degree of ornamentation observable in those relics from the southern portion of the United States, yet there are not wanting specimens evincing considerable cultivation in this direction. The difficulties of manipulation involved in the material used prevented the indulgence of much art. The pottery, therefore, seems to have been chosen especially for a display of such taste as those primitive workmen possessed in this field. The objects of this material from the lake-mounds present a remarkable variety of devices. Fig. 2 Stone Pipe from Grosse Point, Lake St. Clair, Michigan. Half size. Figure 2 is an illustration of a stone pipe from Grosse Point, Lake Saint Clair,Michigan, which, as an object of this kind, is worthy of some admi- 370 ETHNOLOGY. ration. Though wanting in symmetry in its details, in its general ap- pearance it is almost elegant, and even graceful. It is formed of green- stone, and is beautifully polished; the workmanship, as a whole, display- ing much skill. This singular relic is in perfect preservation, with the exception of that part of the base, the restoration of which is attempted to be shown by the dotted lines. Of the bowl, which in shape resembles a half-closed tulip, a small portion is also wanting. The date, 1G97, inscribed on one side of the base, is of interest. The antiquity of the pipe is in my opinion much greater than this would imply. Such relics are highly valued by the Indians, and handed down from generation to generation. The date of the settlement of Detroit is 1701; but the Jesuits and other white men had already penetrated to this region many years before. It is possible that some white person of note may have been presented with this pipe by its Indian possessor as a mark of respect, and that the former cut the date on this already- antique object. The four numerals, though distinct, are yet rudely cut, and are in marked contrast with the rest of the carving, being evidently the work of another hand. Tig. 3 Section, at'base, showing oblique "borings. <fcc. Stone ornament from Grosse Point, Lake St. Clair, Michigan. Pull size. A stone ornament from the same place is shown in Fig. 3. This is formed from a beautiful piece of variegated slate, of a grayish green, interstratified with veins of a darker shade, and is neatly made and finely polished. Similar ornaments have been found throughout the MOUND-BUILDERS AND PLATYCNEMISM IN MICHIGAN. 371 United States; and as there has been considerable discussion as to their use, I will here state that I have learned, through an aged Indian, that in olden time these ornaments were worn on the heads of Indian women, but only after marriage. I have thought that these peculiar objects, which are always made of some choice material, resemble the figure of a brooding bird; a familiar sight to the "children of the for- est;" that thus they are emblematic of maternity, and as such were designed and worn. Fig. 4 Mounds at the Head of St. Clair Biver, and on Black Biver, Michigan. TRUE MERIDIAN LAIC JI JHJJiOA MICHIGAN O N T A B I O Black River Msund. Statute Miles. In the year 1872 I made the discovery of one of the most remarkable and extensive series of tumuli which are known to exist in this part of the lake region. I refer to the mounds situated at the head of the 372 ETHNCLOG Y. Saint Clair River, and which extend from a point south of Fort Gratiot for about one and one-half miles northward, along the west shore of the river and of Lake Huron. [Fig. 4.] A collection of a large number of relics was made by me from the location, and were forwarded, accom- panied by a report on the subject, to the Peabody Museum. My paper, embodying the principal facts, subsequently formed a part of the annual report of the trustees,* and was afterward copied into several of the leading periodicals of the country, including the American Journal of Science.! The generar publicity thus given the discoveries precludes the necessity of more than a passing notice here. Those numerous mounds are, with few exceptions, of similar charac- ter, and were largely used for burial purposes. One of them presented some features distinctive of the ''refuse-heaps" of our Atlantic coast and of the North of Europe, a wide area at one end being covered with " a solid crust of black ashes, from eighteen inches to two feet thick, containing the bones of various animals used for food, broken pottery, and stone implements." The relics from the mounds, in addition to those usually found, con- sisted of an extraordinarily large number of broken stone-hammers of the rudest kind ; a plate of mica five by four inches; and two necklaces, one made of small bones, stained a beautiful green color, resembling enamel, the other composed of the teeth of the moose, alternating with well-wrought beads of copper; and the bones of birds, stained green, as in the first instance. In the mound containing the last-mentioned ornaments several interments had been made, and the decayed stump of a scarlet oak, (Quercus coccinea Wang,) two feet in diameter, sur- mounted the summit, the roots spreading above the contents in all directions. The human bones were all very tender from decay, and in most instances crumbled to pieces. All the tibia noticed by me exhibited the characteristic platycnemic compression. In dwelling on this cir- cumstance, in connection with my previous discoveries in the same direction, I may remark that " I cannot but believe, from what I have seen, that future investigation will extend the area in which this type of bone is predominant to the entire region of the great lakes, if not of the great West; or, in other words, that at least the northern 'mound-builders' will be found to have possessed this trait in the degree and to the extent denoted ;" which prediction recent discoveries in Wisconsin and Iowa would seem in a fair way to fulfill. In the following table I present an exhibit of a few of the tibia; though I am convinced they do not show the extreme cases of com- pression occurring here, as most of the flattest bones fell to pieces before they could be measured. But such as it is, even, it is valuable, * Sixth Annual Report of the Trustees of the Peabody Museum cf Archaeology and Ethnology. Boston, 1873. f American Journal of Science and Arts. :d series, vol. vii, pp. 1-9. January, 1874. MOUND-BUILDERS AND PLATYCNEMISM IN MICHIGAN. 373 as a proof of the prevalence of this strange peculiarity. The mounds here and those on the Rouge River are over GO miles apart. Table II.-Dimensions, S-c., of tibice from the head of the Saint Clair Hirer, Michigan. Mean .... CH rfk W 10 Number. ci? 14.5 15.0 Length. to to to Transverse diame- ter, proximal end. 2.75 2.5 2.6 2.9 2.9 Least circumference. O' o W £ tn tn tn O» O K) Ci tn O'O'C* O'O' M M -4 -4 00 00 CO 07 -4 Ci tO W Antero-posterior di- ameter and trans- verse diameter of shaft. 0.200 0. 200 0.200 Perimetral index. 0. 548 □ Oppp tn tn <07 tn cn Cl 0*7 Ci to 5*5 to o Cl co Ql Latitudinal index. These tibice were all taken from mound No. 3 of the report; which see for additional information of interest. On the west bank of the Black River, a tributary of the Saint Clair River, is a burial-mound, which exhibited some unusual features. [Fig. 4.] A road having been cut through the easterly slope of this mound, the excavation consequent on grading, &c., revealed a large number of human bones, pottery, stone implements, and other relics. Stone-lance or spear-heads of great length were taken out, two of them being over a foot long, and one sixteen inches in length. But the most interesting feature of this repository of relics was a grave, the interior of which was described to me as being lined with pottery similar to that of which the vases, pots, &c., are formed. This was so peculiar a circumstance, no other instance of the kind having come to my knowl- edge, that at first I considered the statement rather doubtful. But not long after I availed myself of an opportunity of visiting the locality and making an examination. Though the construction of the road through the mound had destroyed most of the original features, and scattered a multitude of valuable re- mains, further excavation revealed a considerable quantity of fragments of the pottery above referred to as having been said to have lined the grave. This certainly appeared to confirm the statement. I found this pottery to be of rather a coarser description than usual, and marked abundantly with the cord pattern, found to be of such frequent employment; but in this instance made with a large cord or small rope. The side so orna- mented was invariably concave, while the other side was convex and unsmoothed; different from any other specimens 1 have seen elsewhere. So rough and unfinished was the unornamented side, that it had every appearance of having been pressed upon the ground while yet plastic, and sand, and even small pebbles, adhering to it sustained this impres- sion. After having viewed the evidence, I had no longer any great difficulty in receiving the statements previously made. My chief informant was perfectly uneducated in such matters, and 374 ETHNOLOGY. even attributed the peculiar formation lining the sides of the grave to the coagulation and final hardening of blood, accounting for its pres- ence in such large quantity by presuming a battle to have been fought in the vicinity. The few fragments of human bones which on this occasion were exhumed with the pottery were in the last stages of decay. A large mound, which stands near the northwest shore of Chambers Island, in Green Bay, Wisconsin, I have thought worthy of mention here from having been the burial-place of platycnemic men, and as belonging to the lake region, though lying outside of the State of Mich- igan. It has been explored by a friend of mine of much experience in such operations, and I have had opportunity to examine the contents. The accompanying sketch [Fig. 5] sufficiently shows the location, surroundings, &c., of this mound, which unquestionably is of great age. Among a large number of relics of the description generally found in the burial-mounds, there were exhumed here human remains, mostly in the latter stages of decay; a few rude stone implements; an urn (pro- vided with a lid) of the old pottery, of uncommon design and curious indented pattern, formed largely of curved lines in a sort of scroll-work; and a broad, pointed copper-knife, well wrought, and resembling those found in the works of the " ancient miners " of Lake Superior. Frag- ments of prepared hide, like rough leather, adhered to the knife; prob- ably the remnants of a rude sheath. One of the skulls, in fair condition, presented decided indications of artificial flattening, while the tibiae al. exhibited the peculiar compression already referred to, though not to the extent found to pertain to the tibiae of the mounds along the Detroit, Rouge, and Saint Clair Rivers. The bones of one of the earliest of the interments gave unequivocal evidence that cremation had been practiced here. Large pieces of charcoal, well preserved, remained in the vicinity of the burnt bones. The annexed table gives the dimensions of some of the tibia preserved from this mound, from measurements which I have carefully made. The platycnemism of those bones is of importance, as still widening the area over which the peculiarity prevailed. Table III.-Dimensions, <$'c., of tibia; from Chambers Island, in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Mean .... CO 10 Number. X CO Ci pi no ■- cn OCX*- Length. CO © co w co co t-l M- o O o on o ct Transverse diame- ter, proximal end. s co coco co © © o © 4-. © -4 O Least circumference. 153 by 90 153 by 95 155 by 86 152 by 88 155 by 93 Antero-posterior di- ameter and trans- verse diameter of shaft. 0.205 poop WW-** JO 1- © © OKJGCO Perimetral index. CT no oc ppp© © On on e*> O on to O © rft o Latitudinal index. MOUND-BUILDERS AND PLATYCNEMISM IN MICHIGAN. 375 The mound shown on the southwest side of Chambers Island [Fig. 5] was noticed and partially examined by me several years ago. It was then much undermiued by the waters of Green Bay; the contents, prin- cipally human bones, being somewhat exposed by the giving way of the high bank. I have lately learned that within the last few years this mound has totally disappeared, owing doubtless to the cause just referred to. It belonged unquestionably to the larger class of burial- mounds, and was probably of like age and origin as the mound at the northw est end of the island. Fig. 5 Mounds, Chambers Island, Green Bay, Wisconsin. TRUE MERIDIAN GREXIT BA Y Milos. In this connection it is of importance to refer to the late discovery by Mr. Dawkins of platycnemic men at Perthi-Chwaren, in Denbighshire, Wales, and to Prof. G. Busk's valuable notes on those ancient remains.* Professor Busk and Dr. Falconer were the first, I believe, to call atten- tion, in 1863, to this particular conformation of the leg-bone in the * Journal of the Ethnological Society of London, January, 1871. 376 ETHNOLOGY. human remains from the cave on Wind-mill Hill, Gibraltar,* giving to it the name of " platycnemic." M. Broca, in May, 1804, independently, observed the same condition in tibice from Chamant and Maintenon, in France.! Similar bones were noticed at Montmartre, by M. Bertrand. Professor Wyman found the same peculiarity in tibice from the Florida mounds, in this country, and it was through the last-named gentleman that my attention was called to the subject, some bones which I had procured from the mound on Rouge River, in Michigan, first establishing the fact that this platycnemism was a characteristic of the northern tribes of aboriginal man on this continent. Discoveries of flattened tibice have also been made in Kentucky and Tennessee; while the mound I have mentioned as occurring on Chambers Island adds Wisconsin to the list; and I have lately been informed of like discoveries having recently been made at Davenport, Iowa. The following table gives the proportions of the tibice from Denbigh- shire, as taken by Professor Busk, with slight corrections, which I have made in revising the computations: Table IV.-Dimensions, <fc., of tibia from Perthi-Chwaren, Wales. K CD So D ©00-400x4*00 10 ►- Number. STI p p W W jU © O tO -4 © Length. to -4 to to GO to to OX OX © -4 00 Transverse diame- ter, proximal end. a. 87 to to w to w *4 OX © © to OI Least circumference. 129 by 79 WC44*O.*©tOCCtO»U OiOOOXOOlOiO© <<*•■< 4 %•< 00-4©©-4-40D-4QP ClO C O C CO yi o Antero-posterior di- ameter and trans- verse diameter of shaft. 0.212 p © © © p J2SJ8i2J2 W GC -4 H- 4*. Perimetral index. 0.612 p p p p p © p p p ©Ox©©-4OxO»©Ox <c r. c o <c -j O OO tO C © >- l£ Ou -* Latitudinal index. As before explained, the latitudinal index designates in each instance the amount of flattening of the bone; the perimetral index represent- ing, with some approach to exactness, the thickness or bulk of the shaft; and on a comparison of the preceding table, giving the proportions of those ancient tibice from Wales, with the tables in which I have given the dimensions of the tibice from the mounds on the Detroit and Rouge Rivers, the greater platycnemism of the latter bones will at once be apparent. A further comparison with the normal form of the ordinary English tibice is afforded by the subjoined table, prepared by Professor Busk, * Transactions of the International Congress of Prehistoric Archaeology for 1868. p. 161. sur les ossemens des Eyzies : Paris, 1868. Reliquiae Aquitanicae, p. 97. MOUND-BUILDERS AND PLATYCNEMISM IN MICHIGAN. 377 which gives the dimensions of " thirteen leg-bones taken indiscriminately from a drawer in the College of Surgeons, London." I have made a few corrections, however, in re-computing from Professor Busk's elements Table V.-Dimensions, <fc., of ordinary English tibice. Mean .... WK)»-©<0Q0-lOV»i*kttl0H Number. 15.0 p w cc w ca w pi ci pi pt pi © © Length. 2.80 to to jo co to jo JO co jo J© jo co w C3-»00©©©0D©©©©t0'-' C< Cl o< cn Transverse diame- ter, proximal end. to jo to to JO JO JO JO co to to co co co Least circumference. 127 by 92 ©tOtOt©tOi©.U4i.COiUtOClCO ©©©©©©©©©©©©© o'5'Cc'cJc'c'c'cJcJcJc'oJ oooo©©©oc©©©©©-'© CiO<©Cn©Cn©©©©©Ci© Antero-posterior di- ameter and trans- verse diameter of shaft. 0.195 ppppppppppppp - GCOh- GOODGCCC - OCCOCCI- O Perimetral index. pppocopcopppp oo -J -J -t -1 -1 © Ci © Ci -J -4 Ct O ©t © Cl © »u >£- o 4- C3 © © © 00 © © 00 tO tO tO tO © © © Latitudinal index. While the tibia? from the Detroit and Rouge Rivers show a degree of platycnemism somewhat iu excess of that of the tibice from tire head of the Saint Clair River, the latter have more of this peculiarity than the Chambers Island specimens, which, in turn, have this compression to an extent slightly greater than the bones from other (more southerly) parts of the United States, as given by Wyman; the last mentioned being of about the flatness of the Welsh bones from Perthi-Chwaren, which, as we have seen, are much flatter than the ordinary English tibice. The data for determining the perimetral indices are in some cases hardly sufficient for establishing any positive statement; but, at least in the American and Welsh tibice, the slenderness of the bone appears to be related in some degree to the flattening; i. e., the more platyc- nemic tibice (taking the means) are the more slender. In individual instances, however, this does not hold good. The ordinary English tibice, it will be noticed, are not so thick as the Perthi-Chwaren speci- mens, but in this respect come between the tibice from the Detroit and Rouge Rivers and those from the Saint Clair. Excepting the tibice from Chambers Island, a remarkable uniformity, it will be observed, exists in the means of the " transverse diameters of the proximal end;" and the same may be said of the ''least circumferences." In length the ordinary English tibice (modern) are in excess; the Michigan and Wis- consin specimens come next; while the ancient Welsh tibice are much the shortest. For convenience of reference, I append a table exhibiting a compari- son of the means of the different tables already given. 378 ETHNOLOGY. Table VI.-Means of the dimensions, <fc., of tibice. Locality. Length. Transverse diam- eter, proximal end. Least circumfer- ence. Antero-posterior diameter and transverse di- ameter of shaft. Perimetral index. Latitudinal index. Detroit and Rouge Rivers, Michigan.. 14. 80 2.73 2.87 150 by 72 0.185 0. 486 Head of Saint Clair River, Michigan.. 14. 75 2.70 2.9 147 by 80 0. 200 0.548 Chambers Island, Wisconsin... 14. 74 3.07 3. 02 153 by 90 0.205 0. 588 Perthi-Chwaren. Wales 13.5 2.7 2. 87 129 by 79 127 by 92 0. 212 0.612 Ordinary1 English, College of Surgeons, London. 15.1 2.86 2.9 0.195 0.727 I refrain from indulging in any extended deductions which will natu- rally be suggested by the comparison of the different tables here given. Professor Busk and M. Broca have pointed out so fully the various relations of this conformation of the leg-bone as to leave little room for general comment. I would simply add, that the platycnemism which I have observed in Michigan all appears to belong to what is termed " anterior;" that is, this abnormal expansion of the bone is in front of the interosseous ridge. In this respect the Michigan specimens resem- ble the tibice from Denbighshire rather than those from Gibraltar and from Cro-Magnon ; in the two latter instances the expansion being pos- terior. " The occasional and not infrequent platycnemism observed in the shin-bones of negroes," Mr. Busk states, "is what may be termed 4 anterior.'" He is not prepared to discuss what this difference may indi- cate, though he considers that, "in all probability, it is connected with a difference in the cause of the deformation, (if it be deformation.)" As to the ethnological value of this platycnemism, he considers " we are as yet very much in the dark," doubting the probability of its being a race-character, "though it may undoubtedly be considered a character betokening remote antiquity." After referring to certain distinctions between the human and the simian foot, he concludes with asking: "Would it not, then, be admissible to inquire how far, at any rate, pos- terior platycnemism may be connected with the greater freedom of motion and general adaptability of the toes enjoyed by those peoples whose feet have not been subjected to the confinement of shoes or other coverings, and who at the same time have been compelled to lead an active existence in a rude and rugged or mountainous and wooded country, where the exigencies of the chase would demand the utmost agility in climbing and otherwise1?" Further observations of abundant material from different parts of the country, and perhaps of the world, are wanted to afford the requisite testimony as to the ethnological significance of this peculiarity. In the year 1856, I found a small burial-mound on the west shore of Ottawa Point, Michigan, (Lake Huron.) [Fig. 6.] It occupied the bank, close to the beach, and the washing of the lake in storms had under- MOUND-BUILDERS AND PLATYCNEMISM IN MICHIGAN. 379 mined it, causing it to cave away on one side, and partially disclosing the contents. Fig. 6 Mound, at Ottawa Point, Michigan. TRUE MERIDIAN. Tawas City On examination, nothing was found establishing for the work any great age. The utensils, trinkets, &c., were all of a period subsequent to the advent'of the white man. There was, in fact, no point of resem- blance between this place of sepulture and those of the " mound-build- ers." The bones exhumed apparently belonged to one body-probably that of a woman. On visiting the same point some sixteen years afterward, (June, 1872,) all trace of the mound had disappeared, doubtless through the en- croachments of the lake. 380 ETHNOLOGY. A mound similar to this was seen by me at Oqueoc River, Lake Hu- ron, [Fig. 7;] and another at Point La Barbe, in the Straits of Mackinac. [Fig. 8.] No opportunity was afforded in either case for a thorough Fig. 7 TRUE MERIDIAN. ZMoimd; Oqueoc River, Michigan. examination of the contents. In fact, sncli mounds are frequent all along the lake shore, and seem to be invariably of more recent origin than the first-described works. They are generally quite small; and it is observable that they are frequently situated in such places as present some features of natural beauty. At old Fort Mackinac, opposite Point La Barbe, on the south shore of the Straits of Mackinac, occur several interesting mounds, |Fig. 8,] which have never to my knowledge been thoroughly examined. Long before the European selected this point for a fort, or even the present MOUND-BUILDERS AND PLATYCNEMISM IN MICHIGAN. 381 Indian race had frequented those shores, man had here taken up his habitation; evidence of which was seen in the usual mounds. Fig. 8 Mounds at Old. Fort Mackinac, and Ft. La Barbe, Michigan. TRUE MERIDIAN, When the writer, in 1851, visited the site, attractive from its histor- ical associations, nothing remained on the bleak, sandy point to denote the original works of any of the races who had dwelt there save a few mis shapen mounds and the remnants of the pickets which once had formed the sally-port, near which was the stump of the flag-staff, projecting about two feet above ground. These last were fast being undermined by the waters of the straits, which washed within a few feet of them; and, as in stormy weather the waves must have swept clear over them, in all probability they have long since disappeared. The 382 ETHNOLOGY. great massacre and capture of the fort occurred on June, 17G3; and till within the last few years the place has not been occupied since ten years after that event. A remarkable series of mounds occurs at Beaver Harbor, on Beaver Island, in Lake Michigan. [Fig. 9.] They are at present chiefly occu- pied by the town of Saint James, which was built by the Mormons, under their leader, James Strang, ("King Strang,") about the year 1852-'53. The mounds, which overlook the harbor, are extensive; and though, so far as 1 am aware, they have never been systematically investigated, they doubtless present a rich mine for research. Fig. 9 Mounds at Beaver Harbor, Beaver Island, Michigan. TRUE MERIDIAN. IAXE XICIIIGAX A very limited and hurried examination which I made of them in 1871 sufficiently satisfied me as to their ancient origin. They appear to be of the same character as the mounds on the Detroit River and at the foot of Lake Huron. They were probably largely used for purposes of sepulture, and until a comparatively recent period even the present race of Indians has continued to inter the dead, though not perhaps in the same reposi- tories, at least in their immediate vicinity. From the success attending MOUND-BUILDERS AND PLATYCNEMISM IN MICHIGAN. 383 my brief labors, it would appear that the more valued relicsof the "mound- builders" have been here deposited in unusual abundance. Highly- wrought stone implements, many of them being of uncommonly skillful workmanship, are frequently encountered. These consist of axes, chisels, fleshing-tools, sinkers, spear-points, arrow-heads, &c., formed of a great variety of stone, such as diorite, sienite, greenstone, shale, and chert, many of them being finely polished. One of the handsomest stone-axes I have seen was taken out at this place. It is made from sienite, a favorite material for this implement, and the handicraft displayed in its construction is of high order. An- other ax, of diorite, is exquisitely polished. Fig. 10 Stone implement,-Beaver Harbor Mound, Michigan. Full size. Sections at the tliree grooves, c-d, a-T), and. e-/. The implement [Fig. 10] found here, and presumed to be a frz/xer, I have thought it worth while forwarding a sketch of. The groov es shown at its middle and at each extremity, though shallow, are distinctly marked, and the entire implement is elegantly finished ; apparently too much so by far for the purpose for which it is supposed to have been designed. It is made from a grayish shale, and is slightly polished. Another stone implement from those mounds is the large circular upper stone of the utensil conjectured to have been employed for grind- ing the grain used as food. This stone,-which is also of sienite, is finely worked, being much smoother on one side than on the other. It is possible it may have been employed for another purpose than that suggested. Immense amounts of the fragments of pottery of the usual description and patterns (the well-known cord-pattern being frequent) are found here 384 ETHNOLOGY. In quality it compares favorably with that from the Detroit and Saint Clair River mounds. I think it of importance to state here that on exhibiting some of the pottery to several of the more intelligent of the Indians at present resident on one of the neighboring islands, they professed their igno- rance as to its manufacture, but attributed it to an ancient people, who preceded them in the occupation of this country. Among the Indians so questioned was the chief, a man of large stature, striking personal appearance, and much dignity of manner, and who is noted for his knowledge, intelligence, and judgment. I also specially remarked the indifference with which they beheld the examination of the mounds (which they appeared to have no knowledge of) and the abstraction of the relics. When it is considered how sen- sitive and jealous the Indian is as to any interference, even of the most trifling kind, with the burial-place of his people, this would afford another argument toward establishing proof of the distinctness of the mound-build- ing race from the North American Indian. I have known Indians evince the greatest anxiety and anger on the displacement of the little slip of wood on which the totem of the deceased was painted. When the rem- nants of the Pottawatomies, once resident on the Detroit River, migrated westward, they consigned with the strictest injunctions the care of the burial-place of their people to friends among the white inhabitants, making certain concessions or grants in return for the most solemn promises of the observance of this protection. But this trait of char- acter is so well known to pertain to the Indian as to require no special illustration here. The "ancient mining" on Lake Superior was first brought to notice in the winter of 1847-48. The first discoveries were made on Keweenaw Point, and extended to Ontonagon, which afterward proved to be the center of the great copper region of Michigan. As is well known, various accounts of those works have been given to the public. Sub- sequently some " ancient diggings" were found on Isle Royale,Michigan, near the north shore of Lake Superior; but the isolated position of the island operated to prevent any extensive knowfledge of the field. In the year 1872 some of the most remarkable of the ancient works yet encountered were brought to light by a party of mining explorers on Isle Royale. The amount and character of the work here revealed was something so extraordinary as to almost exceed belief. The facts, as ascertained during a brief visit I made to Isle Royale in May, 1873, were embodied by me in a short paper, entitled "Ancient Works at Isle Royale, Michigan/' which was some time afterward pub- lished in Appleton's Journal, attracting considerable attention.* A subse quent visit to the island, made by me in August of the same year contributed additional discoveries of interest. The works referred to are generally pits of from a few feet to thirty * Appleton's Journal, August 9, 1873, vol. x, p. 173. MOUND-BUILDERS AND PLATYCNEMISM IN MICHIGAN. 385 feet in diameter; some being quite shallow, while many reach a depth of from twenty to sixty feet. They are scattered throughout the island, wherever the amygdaloid copper-bearing rock is found, and are invari- ably on the richest veins; great intelligence being displayed in locating and tracing the veins and in following them up when interrupted, &c. To quote from my paper, "This has elicited the astonishment of all who have witnessed it-no mistakes apparently having been made in this respect. The excavations are connected under ground, drains being cut in the rock to carry off the water. Stopes one hundred feet in length are found. A drain sixty feet long presented some interesting features; having been cut through the surface-drift into the rock, it bad evidently been covered for its entire length by timbers felled and laid across. When opened, the timbers had mostly decayed, and the center portions had sunk into the cavity, filling it for nearly its entire length with the rotted wood." The amount of mining on three sections of land, at a point on the north side of the island, is estimated to exceed that of one of dur oldest mines on the south shore of Lake Superior, "a mine which has been constantly worked with a large force for over twenty years." When we compare the tedious methods of the primitive miners, and all the disadvantages under which they must have labored, with our modern improvements in mining appliances and all our resources, this may well appear almost incredible. At another point the excavations extend, in nearly a continuous line, for more than two miles, the pits being often "so close together as barely to permit their convenient working. Even the rocky islets off the coast have not escaped observation, and where bearing veins of copper are generally worked." But it is probable that, including all the discoveries, not one-tenth of the excavations have been disclosed. " The method of mining pursued by this people was, evidently, on turning back the overlying drift, to heat the rock by the application of fire; then, when by dashing on water the rock was sufficiently disinte- grated, to break and pulverize it with their great hammers." The rude stone-hammers or mauls, weighing from ten to thirty pounds, are found in surprising quantities. With this exception no tools of stone have been observed. A large part of a wooden bowl, originally about three feet in diameter, which had probably been used for bailing water, was taken from one of the pits. Fragments of charcoal abound. The tools formed of copper consist principally of chisels and knives. Arrow-heads of the same material are frequently collected. Having seen the remark that the copper tools of the " ancient miners" are of rough and not polished exterior, inferences being drawn there- from as to their rude construction, I wish to say that, having examined a large number of the tools, I believe this roughness to have been mostly caused by corrosion. In many cases this is quite palpable, the original surface being apparent in places, and evidently confirming the fact that at least the external faces of the tool were originally approx- imately smooth, if not polished. 386 ETHNOLOGY. Various arguments have been advanced by Mr. Foster to prove that the "mound-builders" understood the art of fusing copper, and that at least some of their copper tools were made by being cast or molded.* From the method pursued by this people in mining, in which the agency of fire bore so prominent a part, it would seem improbable they conld have long remained ignorant of the fusibility of the metal; yet in most cases the evidence appears conclusive that the rudely-fashioned tool was simply wrought by being beaten into the desired form, often in the roughest manner. It is possible the two classes of tocls here referred to may mark two distinct eras in the history of this manufacture, and that the molded tool designates an advance from the primitive method of hammering the metal into shape. Some of the copper beads taken from the "mounds" display a wonderful degree of neatness in the manipulation of the metal, the junction of the bead being in many cases almost imperceptible; yet the agency of fire was here evidently not employed. , As to the time occupied by the operations, and the interval which has elapsed since the suspension of work at the mines, approximate estimates are made from data which are given by me in the paper already quoted from, and to which I must refer the reader for this and other information. That the latter period may extend from seven hundred to eight hundred years does not appear to me to be far from the truth. The present growth of forest covers, unbroken, the pits, the debris excavated from and surrounding them, and the detritus at the bottom, containing stone, copper, and other implements; all the timber being of the same character as that on the adjacent land. Several gen- erations of trees have probably grown there since the desertion of the works. On the debris at the mouth of a pit an old stump of an oak, (probably Quercus coccinea, Wang.,) which had grown and decayed there, was examined, which, from the calculation made by counting the annual rings, &c., must have reached the age of five hundred and eighty-four years before it ceased to grow. A copper knife and other implements were found beneath this stump. Piues of the present forest (Pinus strobus, L.) have frequently been cut in the pits, which trees the number of the cortical layers make three hundred and eighty years old. The absence of the btmes of man is a remarkable feature. Accepting the identity of the "mound-builders" with the "ancient miners," it may be supposed that, through some superstitious belief, they had the habit of removing their dead to burial-mounds farther south. It is evident that such extensive operations as are here described re- quired a system and organization of no mean order for those days. Besides the animal food afforded by the land and the water of the sur- rounding region, it is likely that, as the Mound-builders were essentially * Phreistoric Races of the United States of America: Chicago, 1873, p. 259. MOUND-BUILDERS AND PLATYCNEMISM IN MICHIGAN. 387 an agricultural people, and largely dependent on cereals for sustenance, grain-food was transported to the island in sufficient supply from a more southern latitude. The so-called "Garden-beds," covering so wide an area of the Saint Joseph River and Grand River Valleys, Michigan, as well as similar grounds of other places, demonstrate the agricultural habits of the ancient people of this region. The remains of those cul- tivated fields also afford a clue as to the source of the chief part of the supplies required for the mining adventures in the northern country. true meridiaM. Fig. 11 Sketch, showing position of Triangle Island, Isle Boyal, Michigan. Triangle Id. Of the excavations on the small islands lying off Isle Royale, an interesting example was discovered by me on the rocky islet which, for the purpose of distinguishing it, I have named, from its general outline, 388 ETHNOLOGY. Triangle Island, it being hitherto unnamed on any of the maps. This island lies about three-quarters of a mile southwest of Washing- ton Island, the largest of the islands off the southwest end of Isle Royale, and forming a part of the boundaries dividing Grace from Washington Harbor. [See Fig. 11.] i Ancient Works, Triangle Island, Isle Boyale, Michigan. Fig.12 TRUE MERIDIAN. A A K E SUPERIOR Triangle Island is a sandstone rock, with very little soil on any part of it. The rock, which is full of inequalities, fissures, and clefts, is exposed over the greater part of the island, though the northeast end, the highest part, (18 feet above the lake-level,) is partially covered with bushes of Cornus stolonifera and a few stunted trees of very small size (little better than bushes) of mountain ash and poplar. The sides of the island rise abruptly, and there is no landing for even small boats, except for a short space on the northeast side and also in a cleft-like indentation on the south side, [Fig. 12.] The natural conditions of MOUND-BUILDERS AND PLATYCNEMISM IN MICHIGAN. 389 this last-mentioned landing appear to have been improved by artifi- cial means. It is 20 feet wide by about CO feet in length, and has a gradual slope to the lake, the rock being generally smooth through- out. On each side are perpendicular walls of rock. Small boats could easily be hauled out here, particularly with the aid of timbers laid for the purpose. Near it, and all along it, wherever there are indications of copper-veins, are the circular pits of the "ancient mi- ners." Though of small size, (from 2 to 5 feet in diameter and about as many feet deep,) they are remarkably distinct. At this place the rock is mostly as level as the floor of a room, and the well like pits are imme- diately perceived to be the work of human agency. Though the pits were carefully searched, no relics were met with, other than the angular fragments of the rock, broken off by the usual methods pursued by those rude miners. The fragments occasionally contained copper. One of the small pits, a little over two feet in diameter and nearly two feet deep, had a large, irregular slab of rock covering its mouth. It required two men to remove this. We found the pit more than half-full of the angular fragments above alluded to, ranging from less than a cubic inch up to more than two cubic inches in size. From the indica- tions we hoped to find this the repository of some valuable relics ; but, though the hole was emptied of its contents, nothing other than already mentioned was encountered. Had any tools or other utensils been deposited here as a place of safety, they had long since disappeared; probably decaying through the lapse of ages. From appearances, and the isolated character of the island, I am inclined to think that my hands were the first to touch these objects since the departure of the primitive workmen. At two places, at each end of the circular pits, the copper-veins in the wall-like cliff had been attacked and partly excavated. The rock was discolored as if from the action of fire, and at the base of the more cen- tral point the sandstone was considerably hollowed. All those works exhibit the same roughish surface, totally unlike that produced by the action of water. Immediately at the end of the southern landing, already described, is a marked depression, occupying nearly the center of the island, and presenting some indications of artificial origin. But about 35 feet northwestward of the head of the landing occurs a more remarkable excavation. This is of rectangular form, 25 feet by 20 feet, and with an average depth of nearly four feet. It is filled with water, as are the pits. The sketches already referred to [Figs. 11 and 12] supply such further information as 1 was able to obtain. It may not be uninteresting to state, in this connection, that I found the rare fern, Botrychium lunaria, Swartz., flourishing, and rather abun- dant on the exposed rock of this island. It grew i" tufts of Potentilla tridentata, Ait., grass, and other dwarfed plants. 390 ETHNOLOGY I shall conclude with the following quotation from my paper on Isle Eoyale, to which I have already had occasion to refer: " The discoveries on Isle Eoyale throw a new light on the character of the ' mound-builders giving us a totally distinct conception of them, and dignifying them with something of the prowess and spirit of adven- ture which we associate with the higher races. The copper, the result of their mining, to be available, must, in all probabilty, have been con- veyed in vessels, great or small, across a stormy and treacherous sea, whose dangers are formidable to us now, being dreaded by even our largest craft, and often proving their destruction. Leaving their homes, those men dared to face the unknown, to brave the hardships and perils of the deep and of the wilderness, actuated by an ambition which we to-day would not be ashamed to acknowledge." The question will not fail to suggest itself, Were these vast opera- tions accomplished through slave-labor ? That a conquered people were kept at this isolated place by their victors, and in this thraldom obliged to work the copper-mines, is an opinion, however, which " cannot be received without further confirmation." CERTAIN CHARACTERISTICS PERTAINING TO ANCIENT MAN IN MICHIGAN. Henry Gillman. Iii a former paper, entitled "The Moundbuilders and Platy cnemism in Michigan," and which was printed in the Smithsonian Report for 1873, reference was made to the discovery by the writer of perforated humeri in the mounds on the Detroit and Rouge Rivers, Michigan. In a subse- quent paper* occasion has been taken to give some further statements in regard to this peculiarity ; its being a characteristic of platycnemrc man, as thus absolutely established, being dwelt on as of importance. The humeri from these mounds presenting the curious feature referred to I have calculated as being, at the least, 50 per cent, of the entire; which is of much interest taken in connection with the fact of the ex- traordinary development of platycnemism afforded from the same source. The perforation is considered tobeloug to only 31 percent, of the humeri from the mounds in other parts of the country, and, as has been stated, is a Simian characteristic, which, significantly enough, is found to per- tain in the largest degree to the lower races of man, while it is very rare or almost absent in the Caucasian. The term "perforation" of the humerus, as applied to this form of arm- bone, in which the fossa) at the lower end are found to communicate, is certainly an unfortunate one, a misnomer, and, as suggestive of artificial origin, calculated to mislead, though it is not easy to propose a substi- tute. In this connection I have thought it may prove of interest to figure some of these specimens found by me at the Rouge River ; and in the accompanying cut (Fig. 1) I give a representation of the lower extremity of a perforated left humerus from the Great Mound there, to which I have so often had occasion to refer. It is of full size, and the posterior sur- face is shown. This is a good example of the peculiarity, the opening being large and strongly defined; and though the bone is apparently of great antiq- uity and much decayed, the proximal end having totally disappeared, the articular surface is well preserved all along the outline of the aper- * "The Ancient Men of the Great Lakes," by Henry Gillman. Read before the De- troit meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, August 16, 1875. See note, " Perforation of the Humerus conjoined with Platycnemism," American Naturalist, vol. ix, p. 427. 234 CHARACTERISTICS PERTAINING TO ANCIENT MAN 235 ture, clearly defining its nature, and establishing the genuineness of the specimen as an instance of the characteristic. In Fig. 2 is illustrated the inferior extremity of a right humerus from the same mound. In this, the opening, though smaller, is as well devel- oped as in the first example, and the bone, though of about the same Fig. 1. Fig. 2. Inferior extremity of perforated left humerus, from Great Mound, Rouge River, Michigan. Posterior surface ; full size. Inferior extremity of perforated right humerus from Great Mound, Rouge River, Michigan. Posterior sur- face ; full size. 236 ETHNOLOGY. age and greatly decayed, (being equally defective as to the loss of the upper end,) from the various evidences presented by it apparently belonged to a different individual. It is remarkable that so many of the humeri from this mound are fractured at or toward the middle of the shaft, the proximal end being wanting. An entire humerus is extremely rare, and the upper end is seldom found. This cannot in every instance be due to decay. Such cumulative testimony can hardly be relegated to the category of mere coincidence or accident. But as to whether it may point to cannibal propensities, or some superstitious rite or custom, perhaps connected with the sepulture of the deceased, I am unable at present to determine. As I have elsewhere stated, " I also find in the liouge Mound transi- tional states, if I may so call them; that is, instances in which the communication between the fossae is not quite completed, the dividing wall being reduced in some cases to a very thin partition, almost trans- parent. Even where the perforation is accomplished, there is a great variation in the size and shape of the aperture." I think I may safely say that the more marked cases of the peculiarity are afforded by the more ancient of the humeri; while the instances in which the opening is greatly reduced in size, or the partition separating the fossae is more or less strongly defined, are witnessed chiefly in the more modern of the bones; thus indicating the gradual elimination of a characteristic of, I believe, unquestionably degraded affinities. It might be of importance could this singular characteristic be traced to its origin. The predominance of the perforation (associated with other degraded traits) in the chimpanzee and gorilla, as well as in the lower races of mankind, would suggest, if not a common ancestry in the remote past, at least some predisposing cause common to both the ape and the savage, and this connected with the use of the arm. For example, man, in a barbarous state, has, as is well known, under certain circumstances largely the habit of " going on all fours." In the adult of the higher races, this is never seen. (It is needless to refer to the suggestiveness of the creeping propensity as displayed in the infant offspring of even civilized man.) The invention of various mechanical appliances forbid, and cause to be abandoned forever, the grosser uses to which this noble member of the body had been formerly applied; so that at length, with the ameliorating influences of civilization, a more highly and finely educated hand and arm are produced, with cor- responding development. But, perhaps, it may be considered that (without implying such were wanting) it is unnecessary in this case to insist on any special cause or causes; that the gradual disappearance of the peculiarity under con- sideration is only part and parcel of the general grand evolution, that moving onward and upward, in which, as the great poet of our day has expressed it, we "Let the ape and tiger die." CHARACTERISTICS PERTAINING TO ANCIENT MAN. 237 In here presenting some illustrations of the artificially-perforated skulls, of which I gave an account in my paper on "The Ancient Men of the Great Lakes," and from which a notice was printed in the "Ameri- can Naturalist" for August, 1875, I shall not scruple to avail myself of a part of the material there used, adding such further information as has since come to my knowledge. This artificial perforation of the top of the cranium, made after death, seems to me to betoken a singular practice connected with the burial- ceremonies of the aboriginal inhabitants of this country, and of which I can find nothing on record in the books, notwithstanding the remark- able nature of the custom and the indubitable marks which would remain to testify in instances where it had been adhered to. The circular aperture, evidently made by boring with a rude (probably stone) implement, varies in size, in some skulls having a diameter of one- third, in others one-half or three-quarters of an inch or more, and beveled or flaring at the surface. It is invariably placed in a central position at the vertex of the skull. x The first instance of its being brought to my knowledge was in the year 1869, when I took from the Great Mound on the Rouge River two fragments of crania, each of which exhibited this perforation. A skull recently presented to the museum of our scientific association by Mr. A. C. Davis, and which was exhumed from a mound on Sable River, Fig. 3. Perforated skull from mound at Sable River, Michigan, (Lake Huron,) one-fourth size. Lake Huron, Michigan, also has this mark. From ten to fifteen skulls were taken from this same mound, all being similarly perforated, and there being, as I am informed, no other remains interred with them. During last summer (1874) in some further excavations made in the Great Mound at the Rouge River, Michigan, among other relics exhumed were eight crania, two of which had this aperture. Of the remaining bones pertaining to the two skulls in question, I specially noticed that many were wanting, and that those present were heaped en masse and not in the usual manner of burial, seeming to imply that they were 238 ETHNOLOGY. interred subsequently to being denuded of the flesh and the other soft parts of the body. Besides the foregoing instances of this curious custom which have been brought immediately to my knowledge, I have since been informed of a skull having been found at Saginaw, Mich., which presented the peculiarity; but in this case there were three perforations, arranged triangularly-cocoa-nut fashion. Fig. 4. Perforation, Sable River skull, full size. F, frontal. All inquiry which I had made of learned societies or individuals in regard to this observance elicited an utter disclaiming of all knowledge on the subject. The two largest collections in ethnology in this country, the Smithsonian Institution and the Peabody Museum, contain no evi- dence of it. Prof. Joseph Henry, in replying to my queries, stated that the only information he had procured in relation to perforated skulls was the following note from Professor Mason, of Columbian College, Washington: "It is an interesting coincidence that the head hunting Dyaks of Borneo have a house in the center of their village, in an upper story of which they keep the heads which they capture suspended by a CHARACTERISTICS PERTAINING TO ANCIENT MAN. 239 string which passes through a perforation in the top of the skull.'' [This custom of the Dyaks is, I believe, no longer adhered to, having been abandoned shortly after their becoming semi-civilized.] The late Professor Wyman, in a letter written me the day before his death, emphatically states that the fact of this perforation was new to him, adding: "There is nothing of the kind in any of our skulls in the museum, nor have I seen it mentioned as existing elsewhere." A friend has learned for me that an educated Indian makes the state- ment, in reply to our inquiry, that he remembers hearing his father say that formerly the heads of distinguished men and chiefs were honored by this mark after death. I mention this for what it may be worth. The skull from the Sable River mound (Fig. 3) is of a dark color, and its latitudinal or cephalic index, 0.770, w'ould place it within the ortho- cephalic or medium range, the altitudinal index being inferior, or exactly 0.745. The foramen magnum approaches a central position, its index being 0.445. Fig. 4 shows the perforation of the skull, full size. The two perfect specimens from the Rouge River are decidedly brachy- cephalic crania, the cephalic indices being respectively 0.822 and 0.853, the altitudinal indices being inferior, or respectively 0.733 and 0.828, while the indices of the foramen magnum are, in the one case, 0.465, and, in the other, 0.397. In Fig. 5 is given the first mentioned of these crania; Fig. 6 ex- Fig. 5. Artificially-perforated skull from Great Mound, Rouge River, Michigan, (No. 1,) one fourth size. hibiting its perforation of the actual size, from which it will be seen that the incision has been made at the exact junction of the sutures, which, singularly enough in this case, occupies a central vertical position, as do the perforations in every instance which has come to my knowledge. That the position of the junction did not influence, much less control, the location of the perforation, is evident, however; for in the other Rouge River skull, (Fig. 7,) the incision is, as usual, exactly centered, though the junction of the sutures occurs but 0.2 of an inch in advance of the 240 ETHNOLOGY. selected position. This constantly-recurring central location of the hole would apparently imply that the suspension of the skull was, at least, Fig. 6. Perforation, Rouge River skull, (No. 1,) full size. F, frontal. one of the objects sought by this observance, the even balance of the head when thus treated being, of course, most desirable. This latter skull presents the smallest of the perforations which I have as yet seen ; this as exhibited in Fig. 8 is but little more than one-third of an inch in diameter. Frcf. 7. Artificially-perforated skull from Great Mound, Rouge River, Michigan, (No. 6,) one- fourth size. The numbers (No. 1, No. 6) appended to these figures refer to the numerical order of these skulls iu the " Table giving<the dimensions of crania from the Great Mound at the Rouge River," and which forms a part of the paper to which I have already referred. They are used in this connection for the convenience of those who shall have access to the Report of the American Association for 1875. CHARACTERISTICS PERTAINING TO ANCIENT MAN. 241 And here I wish to remark that but two rejoinders were elicited by my notice on u The Artificial Perforation of the Cranium*' in the Ameri- can Naturalist. One of these was from Dr. Ford, who subsequently kindly forwarded for inspection a perforated skull, (Fig. 9,) the only one Fig. 8. Perforation, Kongo River skull, (No. 6,) full size. F, frontal. in the medical museum at Anu Arbor. The specimen was taken from a mound at Devil River, Michigan, by Rev. Dr. Pilcher. This peculiar keeled cranium, of which only the upper portions of the frontal and parietals remain, presents, I find, the extraordinarily low cephalic index of 0.557. In obtaining this, I have allowed only 0.25 of an inch for the additional Fig. 9. Perforated skull from mound at Devil River, Michigan, (Lake Huron,) one-fourth size. length which the occipital (that bone being totally wanting) would have given. This probably gives the quantity rather under than over the true length. The breadth is barely 4.07 inches. The perforation, shown at full size in Fig. 10, is elliptical in form, (the diameters 0'.8 x 0'.7;) the major diameter running right and left, or latitudinally, as if to heighten the narrow aspect of the skull. S. Mis. 115 16 242 ETHNOLOGY. So far, all that I had learned directly or indirectly in regard to this singular custom confined it within the limits of the State of Michigan/ But lately I have received the second rejoinder, called forth by my note in the Naturalist. This is a letter from the Bev. Stephen Bowers, dated Santa Barbara, Cal, September'G, 1875. The writer proceeds to say* Fig.'IO. Perforation, Devil River skull, full size. F, frontal. that he had read my article on perforated skulls with interest; that during the past four months he had exhumed from 500 to 1,000 skele- tons, and found but one such as I describe. It was that of an old man, and the hole, about one-third of an inch in diameter, was in the top of the skull. It was the only skeleton found in that place. In fact, from the description, it was clearly an additional example of the custom, and one of much importance, as so widely extending the area in which the practice was observed, if we may consider a single instance sufficient proof of this. The skull was, however, unfortunately broken by acci- dent, and destroyed. Since sending my notice to the Naturalist in April last, (printed August, 1875,) my attention has been called to a note in Harper's Magazine for May, 1875, and issued since my remarks were written, which states that "a communication made by Dr. Pruni&res (de Marve- jols) before the meeting of the French Association for the Advancement of Science, at Lille, treated of the curious artificial perforations common among the Neolithic skulls of the Lozere. These perforations vary in CHARACTERISTICS PERTAINING TO ANCIENT MAN. 243 the pieces exhibited from an inch to an inch and a quarter in diameter. Near the perforated skulls were found rings of cranial bone, which seemed to be designed as amulets. These were evidently worked with flint tools. The men of the polished stone age practiced trepanning ; for if some of the skulls appear to have been perforated after death, others were treated during life, and the patients bad lived for years afterward. One skull presented three perforations, made near each other on a line fore and aft. There is no distinction of age, the excisions occurring upon infants as well as upon adults. The motive of this strange custom was either medical or superstitious. They probably attributed disease to supernatural agencies; the evil spirit escaping through the opening made by the sorcerer, who wrapped the operation in a shroud of mys- tery by preserving the detached piece as a precious relic. From the appearance of these facts reported by the learned archaeologist of Lozere, he said that a new light had been shed upon the intellectual state of man in the polished stone age. It explained his religious con- ceptions, and confirmed the discovery of the figure of a goddess in the caverns of Baye, (Marne.) M. Broca remarked that perforated skulls were also found at the last-named station. Among the skulls dug up by General Faidherbe were found two in the same condition. Dr. Chi], from the Canary Islands, said that perforated skulls had been found in the ancient burial-places of his country. Notice was also called to an example from the Grotto of Lorde, upon which M. Hamy and M. Cha- plain-Duparc gave some interesting details. A similarly perforated or trepanned skull was found by Mr. E. G. Squier among some ancient Peruvian crania collected by him." I have not seen the origipal report; but the concluding remark on the Peruvian skull removes some doubt as to the kind of perforation described. In the well-known instance discovered by Mr. Squier, the character and the meaning of the operation (trepanning, the excision having been made during the lifetime of the individual) are so evident, and the shape (rectangular) and the position (on the left side of the frontal bone) so different from that of the perforations which I have described in the crania from Michigan, that I never for a moment associ- ated them, and therefore made no reference to the Peruvian skull. The same view, we may presume, was taken by the learned persons to whom I referred my discoveries, who could scarcely be supposed ignorant of the case in question. I find no positive statement as to the position of the perforations men- tioned at the meeting of the French association, but judge from certain remarks that (again unlike our instances from Michigan) there was no constant position observed. In certain cases of trepanning, the position, of course, must have varied with the location of the injury to be operated on. In short, the perforation which I find in Michigan crania is exceptional, rarely present; it is simply a circular hole about half an inch, more or 244 ETHNOLOGY. less, (about y to £',) in diameter, apparently rudely bored, invariably in the top of the head of adults, and made after death ; while those cases described in France, though only so recently brought to notice, are quite numerous, and appear to be what may be more correctly termed trepan- ning ; that is, the part of the skull operated on was removed entire, and all ages are represented. It has suggested itself to me that the superstition of the modern North American Indian in regard to there being two souls, one of which visits the body after death, may be of illuminative tendency in this di- rection. We know that the roof-like coverings of their graves, made of wood or bark, always have a perforation at one extremity for the sup- posed entrance and egress of the soul. But the question arises, Why, then, is not the perforation of the skull constant, or at least more fre- quent, in our mounds? The accompanying table gives the dimensions of the perforated skulls which have come before me, and to which special reference has been made in this paper: Table giving dimensions, fc., of perforated crania from mounds in Michigan. Rouge River, Michigai Rouge River, Michigai SAble River, Michigan Devil River, Michigan Locality. Rouge River, Michigan Rouge River, Michigai Sable River, Michigan Devil River, Michigan Locality. ; P P ' i, (No. 1) ... i, (No. 6) .... rrp o S 5 Frontal arch. GO QC GO O K) Ci Ci W Cl Capacity.* Parietal arch. eoooo Length. O', o o O O Cl Occipital arch. ►U Cl Cl Ci CC1CDO -4 CO O O Breadth. -1 CD O C' c< o Longitudinal arch. Ci Cl Cl WC1W Cl W Cl Height. ci ci pi pi o ci o o Length of frontal. CI CO Cl o Breadth of frontal. o co ci o o o o Length of parietal. p p p p Latitudinal index. Cl jU ;U. to CO •- O Cl o Length of occipital. -a -> Ci to >4©WiO p pp -1 CO -J ►u to co ca GO CO : p* • • Ci • ; o• Zygomatic diameter. Altitudinal index. 19. 00 24. 40 20. 30 Circumference. ppp W .U CO Ci Cl M Cl Index of foramen magnum. * Only comparative. Time did not permit to obtain the exact (absolute) capacity. In this connection, and in concluding, I have considered worthy of being mentioned the fragment of carved bone represented in Fig. 11, a side-view of which is seen in Fig. 12. This was lately taken by me from the Great Mound at tbe Rouge River, and it is the only relic of the kind which I have seen exhumed from the mounds in Michigan. Though but a small fragment remains, it is sufficient to prove the workmanship to have been of no mean order and of remarkably neat finish, surpris- CHARACTERISTICS PERTAINING TO ANCIENT MAN. 245 Ingly so when we consider the rude implements which, in all probabil- ity, alone were available for its manufacture. The illustration scarcely Fig. 11. Carved bone (fragment) from Great Mound, Rouge River, Michigan, full size. Fig. 12. Fig. 13. does it justice. The front or carved surface is convex, as shown in Fig. 13, while the back is flat and perfectly plain and smooth. In its perfect state, it was probably intended to be worn as an ornament, the remains of a finely-drilled hole at one side appearing to have been one of the means for its attachment to the person.