30 THE PKOBLEM OF THE OHIO MOUNDS. 



>stoiie graves of precisely tlic type attributable, wlieii Ibiuxl south of 

 the Ohio, to the Shawnees. They were uot iu a situatiou where they 

 could be ascribed to intrusive burials, but iu the bottom layer of a com- 

 paratively large mouud with a thick aud undisturbed layer of hard- 

 packed clay above them. It is also worthy of notice that the locality 

 is intermediate between the principal seat of the Shawnees in tlie Cum- 

 berland Valley, and their extreme eastern outposts in northeastern 

 Georgia, where both tradition and stone graves indicate their settle- 

 ment. The tradition regarding this settlement has been given else- 

 where.' 



In these graves were found the remarkable tigured copper plates aiid 

 certain engraved shells, of which mention has been made by Mr. W. 

 U. riolmes-^ and by myself^ in Science. It is a singular corroboration 

 of the theory here advanced that the only other similar coi)per plates 

 Avere found at Lebanon, Tenn., by Pi of. F. W. Putnam; in a stone 

 grave in a mound at Mill Creek, southern Illinois, by IMr. Earle; in a 

 stone grave in Jackson County, 111., by Mr. Thing; in a mound of Mad- 

 ison County, 111., by Mr. IE. 11. Ilowland ; and in a small mound at 

 Peoria, 111., by MaJ. J. W. Powell. All, except the specimens found by 

 Professor Putnam and Mr. Ilowland, were secured b}' the Bureau of 

 Ethnology, and are now in the National Museum. 



There can be but little doubt that the specimens obtained from simple 

 stone graves by Professor Putnam and Mr. Thing are to be attributed 

 to Indian burials, but surely not to Indian manufacture. 



We have, therefore, two unbroken chains connecting the Indians of 

 historic times with the " veritable mound builders," and the facts which 

 ibrm the links of these chains throw some additional light on the history 

 of that mysterious j)eople, the Shawnees. 



It may l)e stated here that in the report relating to the claim of the 

 Wabash Land Company' is a statement giving a list of articles fur- 

 nished the Indians, among which we notice nine ear-wheels. These we 

 suppose to be the same as the spool shaped ear ornaments found in 

 stone graves and elsewhere. 



The engraved shells also form a link which not only connects the 

 mound-builders with historic times but corroborates the view advanced 

 in regard to the Shawnees, and indicates also that the Clierokees were 

 mound-builders. But before introducing this we will give the reasons 

 for believing that the mounds of eastern Tennessee and western North 

 Carolina are due to the last-named tribe. 



' Am. Autiq., vol. 7, 1885, p. 133. 



- Science, vol. 3, 1884, pp. 436-438. 



3 Ibid., pp. 779-785. 



■"American State Papers, Land AffairM, Ai)pendix, p. 20. 



