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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
archaeologists. 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 archaeologists 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, but more to the fact that in the construction of their pipes
this people exhibited their greatest skill in the way of sculpture. In
the minds of those who hold that the Mound-Builders were the ancestors
of the present Indians, or, at least, that they were not necessarily of
a different race, the superiority of their pipe sculpture over their
other works of art excites no surprise, since, however prominent a place
the pipe may have held in the affections of the Mound-Builders, it is
certain that it has been an object of no less esteem and reverence among
the Indians of history. Certainly no one institution, for so it may be
called, was more firmly fixed by long usage among the North American
Indians, or more characteristic of them, than the pipe, with all its
varied uses and significance.

Perhaps the most characteristic artistic feature displayed in the pipe
sculpture of the Mound-Builders, as has been well pointed out by Wilson,
in his Prehistoric Man, is the tendency exhibited toward the imitation
of natural objects, especially birds and animals, a remark, it may be
said in passing, which applies with almost equal truth to the art
productions generally of the present Indians throughout the length and
breadth of North America. As some of these sculptured animals from the
mounds have excited much interest in the minds of archaeologists, and
have been made the basis of much speculation, their examination and
proper identification becomes a matter of considerable importance. It
will therefore be the main purpose of the present paper to examine
critically the evidence offered in behalf of the identification of the
more important of them. If it shall prove, as is believed to be the
case, that serious mistakes of identification have been made, attention
will be called to these and the manner pointed out in which certain
theories have naturally enough resulted from the premises thus
erroneously established.

It may be premised that the writer undertook the examination of the
carvings with no theories of his own to propose in place of those
hitherto advanced. In fact, their critical examination may almost be
said to have been the result of accident. Having made the birds of the
United States his study for several years, the writer glanced over the
bird carvings in the most cursory manner, being curious to see what
species were represented. The inaccurate identification of some of these
by the authors of "The Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley" led
to the examination of the series as a whole, and subsequently to the
discussion they had received at the hands of various authors. The
carvings are, therefore, here considered rather from the stand-point of
the naturalist than the archaeologist. Believing that the question first
in importance concerns their actual resemblances, substantially the same
kind of critical study is applied to them which they would receive were
they from the hands of a modern zoological artist. Such a course has
ob