Controversy about who built the earthen mounds of eastern North America has been around for a long time. One popular idea, long since discarded by reasonable people, was that the "Mound Builders" were a giant people not related to present-day Native Americans. In 1832, William Cullen Bryant published a poem called “The Prairies.” The poem describes “a race, that long has passed away” and says that “the red man came-the roaming hunter tribes, warlike and fierce, and the moundbuilders vanished from the earth.” Although the Mound Builder myth enjoyed a lot of support in the mid 1800's, the idea of a non-Native American origin of the mounds was not universally accepted. In 1855, Increase Lapham argued that the mounds of Wisconsin were built not by giant foreigners, but by late 17th century Native Americans. Increase Allen Lapham (1811-1875) is considered “Wisconsin’s first great scientist and the “Father of the U.S. Weather Service.” Not only did Lapham work on the mounds located in Wisconsin he also worked on the Miami Canal and he discovered the Panther Intaglio Effigy Mound located in Wisconsin. He published works such as A Geographical and Topographical Description of Wisconsin, Geological Map of Wisconsin, and Opening an Ancient Mound Near Madison, Wisconsin. He was, apparently, kind of a big deal. Especially in Wisconsin. Lapham’s Antiquities of Wisconsin (1855) was focused on artifacts and other evidence found in Wisconsin and Illinois, noting several times the evidence that the mounds were built by . . . guess who? Native Americans. Lapham also states that Indians were buried in the mounds. The bones that were found and examined were fragments of skulls and teeth. He noted (page 7) that "The teeth of the adult skeletons were much worn, but sound and firm. . . . the muscles of the jaws must have been unusually large and strong." It is not unknown that individuals who led a hunter-gatherer life style had worn teeth and robust jaw muscles. Native Americans had a tough diet which included eating foods like buffalo, deer, elk, wild rice, corn, etc. Tough diets were likely responsible for the heavily worn teeth and muscular jaws of the skeletons from the Wisconsin mounds. Lapham describes the cheek bones as more obtuse than is typical for Native Americans but he does not describe how obtuse the zygomatic arch is (page 10): “the zygomatic arch has not the same projection, the angle of the cheekbone is more obtuse, and the orbits are rather less angular than in the modern Indian. The heavy, projecting jaw, and flattened occiput, are quite characteristics of these ancient mound skulls.” Measurements of a skull are provided on page 81. What stood out the most to me is Lapham's description of the flattened occiput. I think that it is important to keep in mind the Native American culture when thinking about flattened occipital bones. Could this flattened occipital bones have been product of intentional cranial deformation during infancy? Occipital flattening can cause facial deformities especially frontal asymmetry which could correlate to different facial shapes than those typical of Native Americans. Examples of skulls with occipital flattening can be seen here. Lapham's sober appraisal of the Wisconsin mounds stands in contrast to other ideas about the "Mound Builders" that were popular at the time. Many though that Native Americans were simply not intelligent enough to construct such impressive works: the evidence found, such as stone, metal, and clay artifacts were too “evolved” for any American Indian to have created. here seemed to be other evidence that a different "race" built the mounds, as well: Caleb Atwater's stratigraphic work led him to believe that the skeletal remains of Indians were found close to the surface and that the artifacts, which had symbols inscribed on them, were found even deeper in the earth which would have lead to the explanation that something or someone older than the Indians was there first. Meanwhile, popular publications fed the belief in giants during the mid- to late-1800's. A great example of someone who fueled the fascination with giants is William Pidgeon. Pidgeon made up fake surveys of mounds and stated that the mounds were created by an “ancient race that predated Native Americans.” Thanks Pidgeon for the surveys of mounds. Not. Lapham argued convincingly that Native Americans did occupy the Wisconsin Mounds and most likely built the mounds as well. Here is a list by Lapham of all the known Native American peoples in Wisconsin. If anything should be taken from this posting it is that Native Americans were most certainly intelligent individuals who should be given credit where credit is due. Although I am not sure which tribes or how many tribes occupied Wisconsin throughout time, it is obvious their creation of these mounds should be preserved. Lastly, I would like to leave off with a video of the Indian mounds in Mound Cemetery in Racine, Wisconsin.
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In a two-part 2015 article titled "The Establishment Has Already Acknowledged The “Lost Race of Giants,"" Jason Jarrell and Sarah Farmer argue that Adena mounds preserve evidence of a "Unique Physical Type" of giant human that inhabited the prehistoric eastern woodlands: "One of the most controversial subjects regarding the ancient prehistoric cultures of North America concerns what we refer to as the Unique Physical Types (UPT). For the purposes of what follows, these UPT are often gigantic humanoid skeletons with high-vaulted crania, occasional extra or pathological dentitions (including several reports of double or triple rows of teeth), and are usually discovered in the burial mounds and associated graveyards of the Adena-Hopewell, Archaic Cultures, and Southeastern Ceremonial Complex." Jarrell and Farmer argue that these UPT existed as "an elite race within Late Archaic/Early Woodland societies who were often buried in the mounds," stating that "dental and bone anomalies have been used to establish a genetic connection between individuals at mound sites. Some components of Jarrell and Farmer's argument are plausible: Early Woodland people often did bury their elite in earthen mounds, for example, along with other material objects that might be important to them in the afterlife. The accounts of skeletons chosen by Jarrell and Farmer, however, do not support their contention that there is a "Unique Physical Type" with a genetic basis. They provide not a single example of a skeleton that has all three of these "unique" features (gigantic stature, high-vaulted cranium, and extra/pathological dentition) that define their "UPT," and at least two of their "genetic" features (high-vaulted crania and extra/pathological dentition) probably have little to do with genetics. Gigantic Stature There are several accounts from the 19th and 20th centuries that report skeletons of relatively tall stature in Adena mounds. Jarrell and Farmer provide several of these as evidence. The account from a "Professor Holbrooke" is typical: “Judging by the thigh bone he must have been seven feet tall. The skull was much larger than usual, very thick, the forehead unusually receding, the top flattened. The jaws were extremely strong, full of large, perfect teeth.” This account is an example of what was probably a common practice: estimating the height of an individual based on a single bone (the femur), perhaps using the common "height = 4x femur length" formula that would tend to overestimate height. Examples of the evidence for "gigantic skeletons" is shown in the following table: High-Vaulted Crania In The Adena People, William Webb and Charles Snow remarked that “Approximately 89% of the adult males, 92% of the adult females are brachycephalic.” A brachycephalic skull is a skull with a cephalic index greater than 90%. The cephalic index indicates, “a number expressing the ratio of the maximum breadth of a skull to its maximum length.” The amount and degree of brachycephaly in the prehistoric Ohio River Valley was almost certainly related to artificial cranial deformation, a cultural practice that has occurred in many different parts of the world. Artificial cranial deformation or cradle boarding has been described as an intentional distortion of a baby’s skull by administering force. Historically, one would start the process directly after birth up until the infant was about 6 months old. The skull would then be perceived as flattened, elongated, or rounded. One idea is that Adena people used artificial cranial deformation to indicate social status. Due to the nature of the process, only the elite were subjected to skull deformation because it was seen as aesthetically pleasing and with a greater capacity of intelligence. Extra/Pathological Dentition The third component of Jarrell and Farmers UPT is extra/pathological dentition. Other than the skeleton from Louisiana with extra incisors and some accounts of supernumerary teeth, they don’t provide any real evidence of these features. The description of "perfect teeth" by Holbrooke contradicts the idea that the UPT is characterized by abnormal dentition. Andy White has written extensively about the "double rows of teeth" phenomenon, which appears to be related to a set of linguistic idioms rather than a real biological peculiarity In summary, Jarrell and Farmer provide little evidence for the existence of a gigantic "Unique Physical Type" among the prehistoric peoples of the eastern woodlands. They describe some burials that were reported as taller than average, but do not make a convincing case that those burials are of a different "race" or "type." The tall burials, if they really were tall, may have been a social elite but were certainly not of a "Unique Physical Type."
In summary, Jarrell and Farmer provide little evidence for the existence of a gigantic "Unique Physical Type" among the prehistoric peoples of the eastern woodlands. They describe some burials that were reported as taller than average, but do not make a convincing case that those burials are of a different "race" or "type." The tall burials, if they really were tall, may have been a social elite but were certainly not of a "Unique Physical Type." The concept of a unique "type" of people building the earthen mound of eastern North America harkens back to 19th century ideas associated with the Mound Builder Myth (i.e., that the mounds were not built by Native Americans). However wrong, the idea lives on. |
AuthorThese blog posts were written by students in Forbidden Archaeology (Fall 2016) ArchivesCategories
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