Animal Carvings from Mounds of the Mississippi Valley

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Animal Carvings from Mounds of the Mississippi Valley

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Mississippi Valley, by Henry W. Henshaw This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
Title: Animal Carvings from Mounds of the Mississippi Valley Second Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1880-81, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1883, pages 117-166
Author: Henry W. Henshaw
Release Date: April 17, 2006 [EBook #18184]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION----BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY.
ANIMAL CARVINGS
FROM
MOUNDS OF THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.
BY
HENRY W. HENSHAW.

CONTENTS.
Introductory 123 Manatee 125 Toucan 135 Paroquet 139 Knowledge of tropical animals by Mound-Builders 142 Other errors of identification 144 Skill in sculpture of the Mound-Builders 148 Generalization not designed 149 Probable totemic origin 150 Animal mounds 152 The "Elephant" mound 152 The "Alligator" mound 158 Human sculptures 160 Indian and mound-builders' art compared 164 General conclusions 166

ILLUSTRATIONS.
Fig. 4.--Otter from Squier and Davis 128 5.--Otter from Squier and Davis 128 6.--Otter from Rau. Manatee from Stevens 129 7.--Manatee from Stevens 129 8.--Lamantin or Sea-Cow from Squier and Davis 130 9.--Lamantin or Sea-Cow from Squier 130 10.--Manatee (Manatus Americanus, Cuv.) 132 11.--Manatee (Manatus Americanus, Cuv.) 132 12.--Cincinnati Tablet--back. From Squier and Davis 133 13.--Cincinnati Tablet--back. From Short 134 14.--Toucan from Squier and Davis 135 15.--Toucan from Squier and Davis 135 16.--Toucan from Squier and Davis 136 17.--Toucan as figured by Stevens 137 18.--Keel-billed Toucan of Southern Mexico 139 19.--Paroquet from Squier and Davis 140 20.--Owl from Squier and Davis 144 21.--Grouse from Squier and Davis 144 22.--Turkey-buzzard from Squier and Davis 145 23.--Cherry-bird 145 24.--Woodpecker 146 25.--Eagle from Squier and Davis 146 26.--Rattlesnake from Squier and Davis 147 27.--Big Elephant Mound in Grant County, Wisconsin 153 28.--Elephant Pipe. Iowa 155 29.--Elephant Pipe. Iowa 156 30.--The Alligator Mound near Granville, Ohio 159 31.--Carvings of heads 162 32.--Carvings of heads 162 33.--Carvings of heads 162 34.--Carving of head 163 35.--Carving of head 163

ANIMAL CARVINGS FROM MOUNDS OF THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.
BY H. W. HENSHAW.

INTRODUCTORY.
The considerable degree of decorative and artistic skill attained by the so-called Mound-Builders, as evidenced by many of the relics that have been exhumed from the mounds, has not failed to arrest the attention of arch?ologists. Among them, indeed, are found not a few who assert for the people conveniently designated as above a degree of artistic skill very far superior to that attained by the present race of Indians as they have been known to history. In fact, this very skill in artistic design, asserted for the Mound-Builders, as indicated by the sculptures they have left, forms an important link in the chain of argument upon which is based the theory of their difference from and superiority to the North American Indian.
Eminent as is much of the authority which thus contends for an artistic ability on the part of the Mound-Builders far in advance of the attainments of the present Indian in the same line, the question is one admitting of argument; and if some of the best products of artistic handicraft of the present Indians be compared with objects of a similar nature taken from the mounds, it is more than doubtful if the artistic inferiority of the latter-day Indian can be substantiated. Deferring, however, for the present, any comparison between the artistic ability of the Mound-Builder and the modern Indian, attention may be turned to a class of objects from the mounds, notable, indeed, for the skill with which they are wrought, but to be considered first in another way and for another purpose than mere artistic comparison.
As the term Mound-Builders will recur many times throughout this paper, and as the phrase has been objected to by some arch?ologists on account of its indefiniteness, it may be well to state that it is employed here with its commonly accepted signification, viz: as applied to the people who formerly lived throughout the Mississippi Valley and raised the mounds of that region. It should also be clearly understood that by its use the writer is not to be considered as committing himself in any way to the theory that the Mound-Builders were of a different race from the North American Indian.
Among the more interesting objects left by the Mound-Builders, pipes occupy a prominent place. This is partly due to their number, pipes being among the more common articles unearthed by the labors of explorers,