Mound No. i 89 



"From one of the mounds, numbered 1 in the plan of the great 

 enclosure on the North Fork of Paint Creek, were taken several singu- 

 larly sculptured tablets, of one of which the figure here presented is a 

 copy, so far as it has been found possible to restore it from the several 

 fragments recovered. It represents a coiled rattlesnake: both faces of 

 the tablet being identical in sculpture, excepting that one is plane, the 

 other slightly convex. The material is a very fine cinnamon-colored 

 sandstone, and the style of the sculpture is identical with that displayed 

 in the tablet from the Cincinnati mound already noticed. The original 

 is bYs inches -long, i^g inches broad, and a quarter of an inch thick. 

 The workmanship is delicate, and the characteristic feature of the 

 rattlesnake perfectly represented. It is to be regretted that it is im- 

 possible to restore the head, which, so far as it can be made out, has 

 some peculiar and interesting features — plumes or ornamental figures 

 surmounting it. Previous to the investigation of the mound by the 

 authors, an entire tablet was obtained from it by an individual residing 

 near the spot, who represents it to have been carefully and closely 

 enveloped in sheets of copper, which he had great difficulty in removing. 

 Incited by a miserable curiosity, he broke the specimen, to ascertain 

 its composition, and the larger portion, including the head, was subse- 

 quently lost. The remaining fragment, from its exceedingly well- 

 preserved condition, confirms the statement of the finder respecting 

 its envelopment. It seems that several of these tablets were originally 

 deposited in the mound ; the greater portions of four have been recovered, 

 but none displa} T mg the head entire. The person above mentioned 

 affirms that the head, in the specimen which he discovered, was sur- 

 rounded by 'feathers;' how far this is confirmed by the fragment, 

 the reader must judge for himself. The tablets seem to have been 

 originally painted of different colors; a dark red pigment is yet plainly 

 to be seen in the depression of some of the fragments; others had 

 been painted of a dense black color." 



We hoped to find something of interest hc:C, but the mound had 

 been completely ploughed down. At the time of their visit, about 

 1845 or 1846, it was three feet high. A Civil War veteran, living in 

 the neighborhood, had earnestly begged for work. He was unable to 

 use the shovel, but he was set to work with a hand trowel, and for six 

 weeks he dug to a depth of six to ten inches on the site of No. 1 over an 

 area a hundred yards in diameter. This man found more than two 

 hundred fragmentary bone carvings, some fragments of graphite or 

 terra-cotta rings, and other interesting objects. This indicated that 

 Squier and Davis had not taken all the objects out of the mound, but 



