AND AMERICAN RURAL SPORTS. 
197" 
No. 1. 
No. 2. 
Notes of a Naturalist. By Jacob Green, M. D. 
INDIAN ANTIQUITIES. 
In the early part of June (1831,) I passed a day or two 
at Wheeling, in Virginia. My visit was rendered exceed- 
ingly interesting, by the examination of some of those curi- 
ous objects of antiquity which are among the few wrecks of 
the history of the former inhabitants of our country, and are 
certainly the work of a people much farther advanced in the 
arts, and greatly superior in power and civilization to the 
rude Indian tribes which now inhabit our western regions. 
These vestiges of the arts and manners of our aborigines are 
gradually disappearing, and, at no very distant period, the 
American antiquary will have to lament, that his predeces- 
sors, in this curious field of inquiry, did not rescue from 
oblivion more of these remarkable relics. 
There appears to have been no ancient fort, camp, or 
military work in the immediate vicinity of Wheeling, but 
on the western bank of the Ohio river, on the site of this 
flourishing town, there was once a village, a place of public 
worship, or perhaps merely the habitation of some distin- 
guished chieftain. 
A few years since, a little to the north of the town, a 
hearth or fire place was discovered, not many yards from 
the bank of the river, and about four feet below the surface 
of the ground. The floor of the hearth was composed of 
large flat stones, and was strewed with pieces of charred 
wood and with ashes. There were no bricks,* or any 
earthen ware found near the place. This spot, I concluded, 
must either have been an altar , where religious rites were 
* I saw part of a brick found some miles further down the river. Its surface 
was fluted, some mould being- impressed upon the clay before it was burnt. 
3 D 
performed, or a hearth for the ordinary culinary operations 
of a family. 
Some distance to the south of this altar or hearth, was the 
place of burial or cemetery. This was first noticed some 
years ago, by my friend, Dr. J. W. Clemens, an intelligent 
physician and a zealous antiquary, now residing in Wheel- 
ing. He informed me, that some workmen, while digging 
a cellar for him, in one of the principal streets of the town, 
observed a number of human bones, and some fragments of 
earthen ware. # On offering them a small premium, they suc- 
ceeded in getting out of the tumulus , three or four small 
earthen vessels, and a number of arrow heads, stone axes, 
and rude ornaments of clay; enough of the skeleton was 
also ascertained, to convince Dr. Clemens, that it was buried 
in a sitting attitude. Two of the earthen vases, or urns, I 
had the pleasure of examining. One of them is in the pos- 
session of a gentleman in Wheeling, and the other is now 
deposited in the Lambdin Museum, at Pittsburg, Pa. They 
were all nearly of the same figure and capacity, and would 
contain about one quart. Figure 1, of the accompanying 
sketch, is an accurate drawing of the vase in the Museum. 
It differs from the others, in being ornamented on the out- 
side near the brim, by a line of bead-like protuberances; the 
others were entirely plain. The symmetrical proportions 
of these vessels, and the smooth surface they present, ren- 
ders it highly probable that they were formed in a lathe, 
in the same manner as potters ware is now modelled. The 
inside of the urns appears to have been blackened either by 
smoke, or the articles which they contained. The compo- 
sition of which these vessels are made, is a mixture of 
talcose earth, clay, and pounded muscle shells, the unios of 
the Ohio river. They are without glazing, and have not 
been burned in a kiln, as our common earthen ware, but 
