King of the Mound-Builders

The greatest "find" concerning prehistoric man in America was just previous to the World's Columbian Exposition, held at Chicago in 1893. From September, 1891, to the middle of January, 1892, Professor Warren K. Moorehead, assisted by Dr. Cresson, was detailed by the Smithsonian Institute to investigate the tumuli of Mr. Cloud Hopewell's farm, a mile west of Anderson, Ohio.

There were found twenty-four mounds of various dimensions enclosed by an embankment.

Upon opening one of these mounds (five hundred feet in length, two hundred feet wide, and twenty-eight feet in height), at a depth of fourteen feet, near the center of the mound, they exhumed the massive skeleton of a man which was encased in a veritable copper armor.

The "Cincinnati Commercial Gazette," the morning after the discovery (November 17th, 1891), published the following graphic account of the largest skeleton of man yet found:

"At his head imitation elk horns, neatly made of wood, and covered with sheet-copper rolled into cylindrical form over the prongs. The antlers were twenty-two inches high and nineteen inches across from prong to prong. They fitted into a crown of copper, bent to fit the head from occipital to upper jaw. Copper plates were upon the breast and stomach; also on the back. The copper preserved the bones and a few of the sinews. It also preserved traces of cloth similar to coffee-sacking in texture, interwoven among the threads of which were nine hundred beautiful pearl beads, bear-teeth split and cut, and hundreds of other beads, both pearl and shell. Copper spool-shaped objects and other implements covered the remains. A pipe of granite and a spear-head of agate were near the right shoulder. The pipe was of very fine workmanship and highly polished. At the side of the male skeleton was found a female skeleton, the two being supposed to be man and wife. It is impossible to estimate the age of these bodies; it might be six hundred years or six thousand years; scientists can only approximate time. Professor Moore-head and Dr. Cresson Consider this 'find' one of the most important that has been made on the continent, and believe that the King of the Mound-Builders has been found." ("Mound-Builders," C. Q., Vol. I., page 233.)

Out of these tumuli were taken 8138 disks, most of them circular and leaf-shaped, a number of large-shouldered spear-heads, forty skeletons, and tons of other evidences of prehistoric man. Fifteen of the skeletons were accompanied by objects or ornaments. Two large altars of good form were found.

The magnitude of the "find" surpassed any discovery yet made. The excavated specimens covered a space fifteen feet long, eight feet wide and three feet high, and weighed sixty-eight hundred pounds.

In the "Effigy Mound" were several hundred pieces of copper. These were sheets worked into fantastic designs, squares and semicircles, effigies of birds and fishes, anklets and bracelets, combs and pendants, large and small celts (weapons widely used among primitive races), one weighing thirty-eight pounds, and, in short, every known form of copper implement or ornament. Carvings upon the copper and upon bones showed very considerable aptitude for artistic execution and a high degree of manual skill.

There were bolder outlines, representing panthers, skeletons, and other animals.

The "find" discloses a strong mixture of two races-a short-headed (brachycephalic) and long-headed (dolichocephalic) race. From an inspection of the crania and the implements found, the conclusion was reached that the short-heads were superior in numbers and intelligence, and that the long-heads were subservient to them. For further particulars, see "Primitive Man in Ohio," by Moorehead.