1900 ] 
Mills — Baum Prehistoric Village Site 
5 
under the direction of the Smithsonian Institution of Washington. 
A complete report of the explorations is found in the 12th Annual 
Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, 1890-91. At this time the village 
site was not explored but it was known to exist, as the following ex- 
tract from the 12th Annual Report will show: “This mound is 
situated upon the edge of the first general bottom of Paint Creek, 
which though protected by a huge levee is annually inundated. In 
overflow times the smaller circle of the adjoining enclosure is almost 
entirely submerged, and the summit of the mound is the only land 
visible above a broad expanse of water. Around the mound upon 
all sides, particularly to the east, are traces of former Indian occu- 
pation. Numerous fragments of pottery similar in fabrication and 
ornamental feature to those found in the mound bestrew the plowed 
ground. These were intermingled with the valves of mussel shells, 
pitted stones, shell disks, human bones, arrowheads, pieces of per- 
forated stone gorgets, and a large quantity of chipped flint.” Di- 
rectly north of this village site, about one mile distant is the 
noted hill top enclosure known as Spruce Hill, which overlooks the 
valley of Paint Creek for many miles north and south. The hill on 
which this enclosure is situated is about 500 feet high, and is a long 
narrow spur projecting from the tableland and extending to the 
south. 
The wall of this enclosure is composed entirely of boulders and 
broken pieces of sandstone which had been collected along the 
margin of the summit of the hill. These sandstones are the result 
of disintregation of the sandstone strata which is near the surface 
on the hill top. Directly east from the village site, a little more 
than 1300 feet, is what is known as the Baum works, which was sur- 
veyed by Squier & Davis in 1846. They described this work as the 
best preserved, and possessing gateways that are wider than those 
of any other earth-works found in this valley. They also made a 
survey of the mound which is situated in this village site and 
they described it as a large, square, truncated mound, with a base 
of 120 feet and having a flat top, with an area 50 feet square. The 
mound at that time being 15 feet high. They also say that quanti- 
ties of coarse broken pottery were found on and around the mound. 
Thus it will be seen that the early investigators found pottery 
surrounding the mound and later explorations by the Smithsonian 
Institution show that the broken pieces of pottery found on the 
surface surrounding the mound were very much like the pottery 
found in the mound and placed with the buried dead therein. 
The object of the investigations carried on by the Archaeological 
and Historical Society is to show the connection between the occu- 
pants of the prehistoric village and those who built the mound. 
This has been done by carefully comparing the contents of this 
village site with the contents of the mound as reported by the 
