While we know our northern friends may not feel it, in the South, Spring is
here. So we thought we'd share a few of our gardening sites appropriate
for this time of the year. Along with gardening, there's grilling, and getting
ready to diet so that you can fit back into that bathing suit this summer!
All these, I take it, were
made from copper obtained from Isle Royale
on Lake Superior.
4. Shell Ornaments. Traces are found in the
mound, of the fact that the decorative
taste, no doubt developed in all ages, and
in all climes, was possessed by the
Takawgamis.
(a.) Sea Shells. Important as pointing to
the home and trading centers of the mound
builders is the presence among the debris of
the mound, of sea shells. We have three
specimens found in the grand mound. Two of
them seem to belong to the genus Natica, the
other to Marginella. They have all been cut
or ground down on the side of the opening of
the shell, so that two holes permit the
passage of a string, by which the beads thus
made are strung together. The fact that the
genera to which the shells belong are found
in the sea, as well as their highly polished
surface show these to be marine; and not
only so but from the tropical seas, either
we suppose from the Gulf of Mexico or from
the Californian coast.
(b.) Fresh Water Shells. In all the mounds
yet opened, examples of the Unio, or River
Mussel, commonly known as the clam have been
found. They are usually polished, cut into
symmetrical shapes, and have holes bored in
them. We have one which was no doubt used as
a breast ornament, and was hung by a string
around the neck. In the bottom of a nearly
complete pottery cup, found in the grand
mound, which went to pieces as we took it
out, there was lying a polished clam shell.
The clam still abounds on Rainy River. Six
miles above the mound, we saw gathered
together by an industrious housewife
hundreds of the same species of clam, whose
shells she was in the habit of pulverizing
for the benefit of her poultry.
5. Pottery. (a.) Broken. It seems to be a
feature of every mound that has been opened
that fragments of pottery have been
unearthed. The Society has in its possession
remains of twenty or thirty pottery vessels.
They are shown to be portions of different
pots, by their variety of marking. The
pottery is of a coarse sort, seemingly made
by hand and not upon a wheel, and then
baked. The markings were made upon the soft
clay, evidently with a sharp instrument, or
sometimes with the finger nail. Some pieces
are found hard and well preserved; others
are rapidly disintegrating. As stated
already, in the grand mound, a vessel some
five inches in diameter was dug up by one of
the workers, filled with earth, which though
we tried earnestly to save it, yet went to
pieces in our hands. The frequency with
which fragments of pottery are found in the
mounds has given rise to the theory that
being used at the time of the funeral rites
the vessel was dashed to pieces as was done
by some ancient nations in the burial of the
dead. This theory is made very doubtful
indeed by the discovery of the
(b.) Complete Pottery Cup. So far as I know this is the
only complete cup now in existence in the
region northwest of Lake Superior, though
several others are said to have been
discovered and been sent to distant friends
of the finders. This cup, belonging now to
the Historical Society was found in the
grand mound, in company with charred bones,
skulls, and other human bones, lumps of red
ochre, and the shells just described. The
dimensions of the cup are as follows:
Mean diameter at top
of rim
2.09 inches
Greatest mean
diameter
3.03 inches
Height
2.49 inches
Thickness of
material
0.092 inches
Weight
-- oz.
Whether the cup was intended
for use as a burial urn, or simply for
ordinary use it is difficult to say.
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stereotypes reflecting the culture or
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