Animal Carvings from Mounds of the Mississippi Valley

Animal Carvings from Mounds
of the Mississippi Valley

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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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CARVINGS FROM MOUNDS ***

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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
archæologists. 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 archæologists 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