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THE RED MEN OF IOWA.
Period, or the Stone Age, and contemporaneous with extinct mammals. When the gigantic mastodon roamed over these prairies, if prairies there were in that ancient time, we may not unreasonably conjecture that their human contemporaries were engaged in fashioning the stone hatchets, the strange images, and specimens of ceramic art which remain to attest, that far back in the ages there were human hands here to model, and mould, and work with greater skill, patience and industry, than were possessed by the modern Indians of this continent.
The remains indicating the occupancy of Iowa by man prior to the advent of our modern Indian, a people of habits and acquirements not possessed by the latter, are numerous, though not so imposing or so elaborate in design as the mounds and earth-works found in the Ohio valley, and some other portions of the Northwest. They present, however, the same general characteristics. We
shall proceed to notice a few of these monuments of a prehistoric people in Iowa.
The two principal classes of these ancient remains are the mounds and the earth-enclosures, the former being by far the more numerous. Rev. J. Gass, and others, under the auspices of the Davenport Academy of Natural Sciences, have examined and explored a number of the mounds in the eastern part of the State, including several in Scott and Jackson counties. The published proceedings of that institution give account of the exploration of a mound in the vicinity of Davenport, Scott county. Excavation revealed in this mound the existence of a stone structure surrounding and covering a vault. This stone-work and vault were at the base of the mound. In the vault was a
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PREHISTORIC MAN IN IOWA.
stone tablet, lying face upward, on which were four flint arrow-heads, with their points directed to a common center. Lying on the tablet was also a shell containing some powdered red ochre. The surface of the tablet was inscribed with a number of figures or designs. Among them was an uncouth human figure seated astride of a circle, with radial lines extending from it, as if designed to represent the sun. This circle was but a little over two inches in diameter, and within it were the outlines of a human face. Above this face, and somewhat to the right, there was a crescent, as if to represent the new moon. The human figure astride of the circle held in his right hand some large object, and in the left a staff, or scepter. On the breast was the imperfect figure of a face, and above the head was a figure in the form of the copper axes found in some of the mounds. At each of the upper corners were the figures of a bird-pipe. There were on the tablet various other figures, all of which were formed by incised lines. The principal figures were colored a deep bright ochre red, the material for this painting evidently being the same as that found in the shell mentioned. In this instance all the figures seem to have been rudely and imperfectly drawn. Of their purpose we may only conjecture, but that there was an object important to the builders there can be no doubt. In the same vicinity have been found other relics, one of which was the stone figure of an animal with a broad flat bill, somewhat resembling that of the duck. The lower part of the body was carved so as to represent the tail and limbs. In the head were inserted a pair of eyes formed of crystal or quartz. Altogether the animal presents a ferocious appearance.
