506 



GRASSWOEK GRAVE CREEK MOUND 



[B. A. E. 



nial purposes, only two are provided, one 

 on the E. to serve for the morning, and 

 one on the w. to go in and out of when 

 the sun is in that quarter. The fireplace 

 was a circular excavation in the center of 

 the floor, and the smoke found egress 

 through a hole left high up in the roof 

 toward the e. The four projecting beams 

 at the peak pointed toward and were 

 symbolic of the four points of the com- 

 pass, where were the paths down which 

 the powers descend to help man. The 

 spire typified the abode in the zenith of 

 the mysterious permeating force that ani- 

 mates all nature. The fireplace was 

 accounted sacred; it was never treated 

 lightly even in the daily life of the family. 

 The couches of the occupants were placed 

 against the wall. They consisted of a 

 framework on which was fitted a woven 

 covering of reeds. Upon this robes or 

 rush mats were spread. The grass house 

 is a comely structure. Skill is required 

 to build it, and it has an attractive appear- 

 ance both without and within. It is 

 adapted to a warm climate only, and is 

 still in use among the Wichita. Tempo- 

 rary dwellings of poles covered with grass 

 were common among the Plains tribes, 

 and similar houses for storage purposes 

 were used by tribes on the coast of Ore- 

 gon (Boas).' See Earth lodge, Habitations. 



Consult Catlin, No. Am. Inds., i-ii, 

 1841; Winship, Coronado Exped., 14th 

 Rep. B. A. E., 1896; G. A. Dorsey, Mythol- 

 ogy of the Wichita, 1904; Manzanet 

 Diarv in Tex. Hist. Ass'n Quar., ii, 303, 

 1899." ■ (a.c. F.) 



Grasswork. The Indian found the 

 widely diffused grasses of the United 

 States of great value, almost a necessity, 

 and adapted them in numerous ways to 

 his needs. The obvious needs supplied 

 by loose grass were for house building 

 (see Grass house), bedding, for lining 

 caches, etc. ; it was also worked into bas- 

 kets (southern Indians, Hopi, Pima, Tlin- 

 git, Aleut, Eskimo), mats, leggings 

 (Ntlakyapamuk), socks, towels (Eskimo), 

 and other articles. The polished yellow 

 or white stems were used by various tribes 

 to ornament basketry, and by the Hupa 

 of California as fringes of garments. 

 Stiff stems were gathered into bundles 

 and used as hair and floor brushes by the 

 Pueblos and cliff-dwellers. Slender, flat 

 grass stems, sometimes dyed, wereapplied 

 to dressed skins by some tribes with 

 sinew thread for ornamental purposes, 

 just as were porcupine quills (Grinnell). 



Grass was generally found useful as tin- 

 der; some species furnished excellent 

 fiber for cord, and some were employed 

 as perfumery. The Cheyenne burned 

 grass and mixed the ashes with blood and 

 tallow to produce paint. So far as is 

 known the Indian invented no implements 



for cutting grass; basketry fans, gathering 

 baskets, etc., were used in harvesting 

 seeds for food. In ceremony grass had 

 an important place. It was a component 

 of various prayer-sticks and wands of the 

 Hopi, and the sacred buffalo skull of some 

 of the Plains tribes was thought to be 

 made to live by stuffing balls of grass in- 

 to the eye sockets and nose. Sweet grass 

 was also burned to produce consecrating 

 smoke and for lighting the pipe in sacred 

 rites of the Plains Indians. The sod used 

 in the Hako altar of the Pawnee, described 

 by Miss Fletcher (22d Rep. B. A. E., 

 1903) was in Indian thought a symbol 

 of life and growth. (w. h. ) 



Grave Creek mound. A noted prehistoric 

 Indian mound, situated near Mounds- 

 ville, Marshall co., W. Va., at the point 

 where Grave cr. unites with Ohio r. It 

 was visited as early as 1734, as appears 

 from this date cut on a tree growing from 

 its summit, but was first described by 



' i"5"t)"'#UJ!'V!U^»"n* wtt 



GRAVE CREEK MOUND AND SECTION. (SQUIER AND DAVIs) 



Hart in 1797 (Imlay, Topog. Desc. W. 

 Ter. N. Am., 296-304), since which time it 

 has been repeatedly described and figured, 

 attention of scholars having been called to 

 it chiefly by an inscription on a small stone 

 which was reputed to have been found in 

 the mound during its excavation. The 

 mound is conical inform, being probably 

 the largest example of this type in the 

 United States, having a diameter at the 

 base of about 320 ft, a height of 70 ft, 

 and 1,870,000 cu. ft of solid contents. It 

 is symmetrical in form and has a dish- 

 shaped depression in the top. It was ex- 

 cavated in 1838 by the proprietor, who 

 first carried a horizontal drift at the base 

 to the center and a shaft from the top to 

 connect with the drift. Two burial vaults 

 were discovered, one at the base and an- 

 other 30 ft above, each constructed of logs 

 and covered with stones, which had sunk 

 as the wood decayed, leaving the depres- 

 sion in the summit. Squier and Davis 

 (Anc. Mon., 169, 1848) assert that imder 

 the center of the mound there was a slight 

 natural elevation into which the lower 



