Ancient Tumuli on the Savannah River, Visited by
William Bartram, In 1776
Near the close of a spring day in 1776, Mr. William
Bartram, who, at the request of Dr. Fothergill, of London, had been for
some time studying the flora of Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, forded
Broad River just above its confluence with the Savannah, and became the
guest of the commanding officer at Fort James. This fort was situated on
an eminence in the forks of the Savannah and Broad, equidistant from
those rivers, and from the extreme point of land formed by their union.
Fort Charlotta was located about a mile below, on the left bank of the
Savannah. The stockade of Fort James was an acre in extent.
Attended by the polite surgeon of the garrison,
Bartram made an excursion up the Savannah River, "to inspect some
remarkable Indian monuments," four or five miles above the fort. Of them
he writes as follows: "These wonderful labors of the ancients stand in a
level plain very near the bank of the river, now 20 or 30 yards from it.
They consist of conical mounts of earth, and four square terraces, &c.
The great mount is in the form of a cone, about 40 or 50 feet high, and
the circumference of its base two or three hundred yards, entirely
composed of the loamy, rich earth of the low grounds; the top or apex is
flat; a spiral path or track leading from the ground up to the top is
still visible, where now grows a large, beautiful spreading red cedar
(Juniperus Americana). There appear four niches excavated out of the
sides of the hill, at different heights from the base, fronting the four
cardinal points; these niches or sentry-boxes are entered from the
winding path, and seem to have been meant for resting places or
lookouts. The circumjacent grounds are cleared1 and planted with Indian
corn at present, and I think the proprietor of these lands, who
accompanied us to this place, said that the mount itself yielded above
one hundred bushels in one season. The land hereabouts is indeed
exceeding fertile and productive."
|
Unable satisfactorily to determine the precise object
the aborigines had in contemplation in the erection of this striking
monument, he hazards the conjecture that the Indians formerly possessed
a town on the river bank, and raised this mound as " a retreat and
refuge in case of inundations, which are unforeseen, and surprise them
very suddenly, spring and autumn."
What were the uses of the smaller elevations he does
not suggest.
Wishing to note the changes which might have occurred
during the past hundred years, we visited these tumuli a few weeks
since. The attendant mounds, which are mainly grave-mounds, had been
materially wasted by the plowshare and the influences of the varying
seasons. The tetragon terraces had lost their distinctive outlines, and
were little more than gentle elevations; their surfaces littered with
shreds of pottery and flint chips, and occasionally with fragments of
human bones. Freshets had sadly marred the level of the adjacent space.
Overleaping the river bank, the turbid waters had carved deep pathways
in the surface of the valley on both sides of the "great mount." There
it remained, however, wholly unaffected by these unusual currents. It
had evidently suffered no perceptible diminution in its recorded
dimensions. The Savannah River still pursued its long-established
channel, but "the four niches or sentry-boxes," if they formerly
existed, were entirely gone, and of "the spiral path or track leading
from the ground up to the top" we could discover no trace. On the south
a roadway, about 15 feet wide and commencing at a point some distance
from the base of the mound, leads with a regular grade to the top. This
manifestly furnished the customary means of ascent, as the sides are too
precipitous for convenient climbing. This feature seems to have escaped
Mr. Bartram's observation.
|
Not having been cultivated for many years, the apex
and sides of this truncated cone are now clothed in a luxuriant growth
of trees and swamp cane. Attired in such attractive garb, this tumulus
forms a marked object in the profile of the valley from which it
springs. Proofs of long-continued occupancy, by the aborigines, of the
adjacent territory are abundant. Ancient burial-places, the sites of old
villages, traces of open-air work-shops for the manufacture of
implements of jasper, quartz, chert, greenstone, and soapstone, refuse
piles, and abandoned fishing resorts, are by no means infrequent along
both banks of the Savannah River for many miles. Upon the advent of the
European the circumjacent valley was found cleared and in cultivation by
the red men, who here had fixed abodes and were associated in
considerable numbers. The Southern tribes, in the sixteenth century,
subsisted largely upon maize, beans, pumpkins, and melons. These they
planted, tended, and harvested regularly. Of their agricultural labors
at the dawn of the historic period we have full accounts.
So vast are the proportions of this largest mound
that we are persuaded it rises beyond the dignity of an artificial place
of retreat, elevation for chieftain-lodge, or mound of observation.
It appears entirely probable that it was a
temple-mound, built for sunworship, and that it forms one of a
well-ascertained series of similar structures still extant within the
limits of the Southern States. These Florida tribes, as they were called
in the days of De Soto, worshiped the sun and were frequently engaged in
the labor of mound-building. Over them ruled kings who exercised powers
well-nigh despotic. Often were the concentrated labors of the nation
directed to the accomplishment of allotted tasks. Hence, within the
territory occupied by these people, we find many traces of early
constructive skill of unusual magnitude.
The material employed in erecting this large tumulus
differs from the soil of the surrounding bottom. It is a dark-colored,
tenacious clay, while the surface of the valley is covered with a
micaceous loam readily dissolving into an almost impalpable powder.
Nearby are no traces of pits or excavations. Nor are there indications
that any earth was scraped up around the base. These facts afforded
confirmation of the statement made by the present owner of the
plantation upon which these tumuli are located, that the big mound had
been built with clay brought from the Carolina side of the Savannah
River. There clay abounds; and we were informed that in the side of the
hill immediately opposite, the excavations may still be seen whence the
tough material was obtained for heaping up this mound. This tumulus is
one of the finest within the limits of Georgia, and should be classed
with the truncated pyramids on Tumlin's plantation in the Etowah Valley,
with the largest of the East Macon mounds, and with that frustrum of a
four sided pyramid on Messier's place, in Early County.
Previous |
Next
Source: Aboriginal Structures In Georgia, By Charles C. Jones, Jr.,
Reprinted From The Smithsonian Report For 1877, Washington: Government
Printing Office,1878.
|