As yet, only one of these mounds has been opened. Judge West discovered a skeleton about two weeks ago, and made a report to other members of the society. They accompanied him to the mound, and not far from the surface excavated and took out the remains of two skeletons. The bones are very large-so large, in fact, when compared with an ordinary skeleton of modern date, they appear to have formed part of a giant. The head bones, such as have not rotted away, are monstrous in size. The lower jaw of one skeleton is in a state of preservation, and is double the size of the jaw of a civilized person. The teeth in this jaw-bone are large, and appear to have been ground down and worn away by contact with roots and carnivorous food. The jaw-bone indicates immense muscular strength. The thigh bone, when compared with that of an ordinary modern skeleton, looks like that of a horse. The length, thickness, and muscular development are remarkable. But the most peculiar part about the skeleton is the frontal bone. It is very low, and differs radically from any ever seen in this section before. It forms one thick ridge of bone about one inch wide, extending across the eyes. It is narrow but rather heavy ridge of bone which, instead of extending upward, as it does in these days of civilization, receded back from the eye-brows, forming a flat head, and thus indicates a very low order of mankind. It is of the opinion of the scientific gentlemen who are making these discoveries that these bones are remains of a prehistoric race of men.
History of Dunklin County, Missouri, 1896
The mounds and other ancient earthworks constructed by this people are abundant in Southeast
Missouri. Some are quite large, but the greater part of them is small and inconspicuous. Along nearly all of the watercourses that are large enough to be navigated by a canoe, the mounds are
almost invariable found, so that when one places himself in such a position as to command the grandest
river scenery he is almost sure to discover that he is standing upon one of these ancient tunnels, or in
close proximity thereto. The human skeletons, with skulls differing from those of the Indians that are
found in these mounds are usually accompanied by pottery and various ornaments and utensils showing
considerable mechanical skill.
Their axes were of stone; their raiment, judging from fragments which have been discovered,
consisted of the bark of trees interwoven with feathers, and their military works were such as a people
would erect who had just passed to the pastoral state of society from that dependent alone upon hunting
and fishing. They were no doubt idolaters, and it has been conjectured that the sun was the object of
their adoration. The mounds were generally built in a situation affording a view of the rising sun; when
enclosed in walls their gateways were toward the east and, finally medals have been found,
representing the sun rays of light. Dunklin County is an especially rich field for the archaeologist.
Situated on the farm of C.V. Langdon, one mile south of Cotton Plant, is one of the largest mounds in
the county, adjoining are smaller ones.
In the north part, and, in fact, nearly all over the county at comparatively short distances, these
mounds are very noticeable. Extra large-sized human bones, skulls, earthen pots, rude ornaments, and
various stone implements have been exhumed from many of these mounds
Daily Northwestern, October 30, 1923
Find Bones of a Prehistoric Civilization High Up on Ragged Bluff in the Ozark Mountains Richland, Mo. July 20 (By Associated Press)-Half way up a rugged bluff of the Ozarks which tower above the Gasconada river about three miles from here, have been found evidence of a prehistoric civilization which aroused the interest of archaeologist of the Smithsonian Institution who will arrive here soon to investigate.
About a year ago, in a large cave which opens to the river, A Steckle, the owner, who was enlarging it to make a resort for tourist, uncovered three human skulls and a number of bones. In addition to pottery and beads. The skulls are unusual in that they do not resemble Indian skulls, but have low receding foreheads and very thick skull bones. The teeth are large, sharp and well preserved.
The bones were uncovered in a bed of ashes directly below a large hole in the stone ceiling, evidently made by the section of fire. More than a foot of earth covered the ashes. Because of this earth, which apparently could have come there only through decomposition, it is believed the race lived 2000 years or more ago.
Morning Herald, Uniontown, Pennsylvania December, 27, 1934
Eight Giant Skeletons Unearthed Springfield, Mo., Dec. 26-Discovery of eight giant human skeletons arranged in four layers so that each pair formed a cross, in a shallow Indian mound near here apparently shed new light on religious customs of prehistoric tribes who once inhabited the Ozarks.
The Rev. E. P. Newberry, Springfield archaeologist, believed it “highly probable” that the crosses formed by the skeletons were of religious significance.
“The Indian cross,” he explained, “has always indicated a place of worship in this particular case it seems a reasonable supposition that the eight skeletons were those of a high priest of some cult, and his attendants.
“It was the custom of some tribes to sacrifice a priest's attendants when the priest died, and to bury them with him just as dead man's horse, dog and food were buried with him.”
In the crook of an arm of one of the skeletons was found an ancient stone sacrificial bowl, with markings which were exactly like four strange idols recently discovered by Mr. Newberry in the Coleman cavern north of Springfield.
Other evidence that a race of cultured people lived in this vicinity in prehistoric times, Mr. Newberry said consisted of a vault made of a high type of concrete, found on a farm near Odessa, and dental work in teeth of other skeletons which he has unearthed. American Indians, he explained, never made very good concrete, and never made dental repairs.
Montana
Logansport Reporter, September 3, 1903
GIANT SKELETONS Prehistoric Relics Unearthed in Montana
Wonderful finds of fossills and bones of prehistoric animals are being made in the Fish Creek country, Montana, by Professor Marchus S. Farr, and a party of students from Princeton college. The remains of a stone age city have been found in which the bones of animals of great size, along with stone implements of all kinds, many of which are ornamented with gems. In a mound near the creek were found the almost complete skeleton of a man. The bones showed that the man, when alive, measured nearly nine feet in height, and was of powerful build. Nearby was a skeleton of a woman, a trifle smaller in size, and at the foot was a skeleton of an animal that resembled the dog of today except the animal must have been as large as a small horse.
Nebraska
Lincoln Evening News, November 8, 1911
WHO WERE THEY?
Find of Skeletons Puzzles Junction City Farmers
An ethnologist mystery has been uncovered on the farm of John Noland several miles northwest of this city. In the center of Mr. Nolands’s wheat field was a mound which he decided to level, and while doing so he uncovered several human skulls and a large number of bones and teeth, says a Junction City dispatch to the Topeka State Journal.
One of the skulls and one of the thigh bones, apparently from the same person, were of gigantic stature. The big skull is pierced through the back with several small round holes, apparently such holes as would be made by small shot from a shotgun.
Persons who have examined the skulls say they do not resemble the ordinary Indian skull and the absence of Indian weapons and utensils would seem to indicate that the bones were not those of Indians. Although a careful search was made, no Indian relics were found within the cairn, although there was a brown powdery substance that might have been wood. The oldest settlers, however say that they do not remember of any white persons having been buried there. The question now is, of what race were those who were buried there?
; Lincoln Daily Star, November 30, 1913
Rare Collection To Medical School
Three Skulls Given to University Branch by Dr. Gilder
Types of Three Races Shown by Relics Found in Nebraska Mounds
(Special to the Star)
Omaha Neb., Nov.29, -A series of three prehistoric skulls, estimated as ranging from 100 years to at least 20,000 in age, and representing the three races of mankind, which have lived in the great Missouri valley since the advent of the human race upon this continent, has just been presented to the new medical college of the University of Nebraska by Dr. R. F. Gilder of Omaha, archaeologist in the field for the university. The three different specimens show upward movement in the human race in its march towards civilization as probably no other collection of prehistoric times does.
Accompanying each skull are implements of chase and war manufactured and used by the contemporaries, although not by the individuals whose crania Dr.Gilder unearthed from where they have laid undisturbed for so many centuries. For the man of 20,000 years ago, whose order of intelligence was the very lowest in the scale, there is an immense war club of stone, so rudely fashioned as to appear to the untrained eye, scarcely more than a rough boulder.
For the mound builder of 2,000 years ago, whose skull is of a decidedly higher grade than that of the “ loess man,” there are the beautifully polished, clean-cut axes and hammers. And for the American red man of 100 years ago, there are implements showing the magic touch of the master mind of the white man with whom this particular Indian had come in touch, as was shown by the glass beads and metal fringe which still encircled the bony throat.
Nebraska Loess Man
The oldest skull is technically known as “Nebraska Loess Man No. 8,” and is the eighth skull removed from the burial mound known as the “Long Mound,” This mound is located a few miles above Omaha and from the huge grave, Dr.Gilder removed twelve skulls, all of an order so low as to be scarcely above the ape in intelligence. Scientist made a careful and minute examination and declared the above this skull had never been disturbed by man, but had been deposited by nature when the hills were made. Geologist declared that this had taken place at least 20,000 years ago and that the age of this people could not be less than that number of years.
“Number-Eight” had almost no forehead at all. There is a supercilliary ridge over each eye as pronounced as the flange on a car wheel, while back of this ridge the skull slopes to the rear of the head. Nature did not fit this man to be the head of a modern trust company, but he was provided with a head and skull that would shed missiles like a duck’s back turns raindrops. The skulls from this mound have been subject of much interest to archaeologist all over the world and savants from France, Germany, and several other countries have journeyed all the way to Omaha especially to see and study them. Universities in all parts of the world have asked for cast and replicas.
North Carolina
Smithsonian Institute Bureau of Ethnology, 1890-1891 Located on the farm of Rev. T.F. Nelson, in the northwest part of the county, and about a mile and a half southeast of Patterson. It stood on the bottom land of the Yadkin, about 100 yards from the river, and was almost a true circle in outline, 38 feet in diameter, but not exceeding at any point 18 inches in height. The thorough excavation made, in which Mr. Rogan, the Bureau agent, was assisted by Dr. J.M. Spainhour, of Lenoir, showed that the original constructers had first dug a circular pit about 38 feet in diameter to the depth of 3 feet and there placed the dead, some in stone cist and others unenclosed, and afterwards covered them over, raising a slight mound above the pit. A plan of the pit, showing the stone graves and skeletons as they appeared after the removal of the dirt and before being disturbed, is given in figure. 207...No. 16 was unenclosed "squatter" of unusually large size, not less than 7 feet high when living. Near the mouth was an entire soapstone pipe; the legs were extended in a southwest direction upon a bed of burnt earth.
Beehive type tombs within the mound. Drawing of the mound by the Smithsonian Institute Bureau of Ethnology, 1890-1891.
New York
Mound at Tonawanda Island, from Harpers New Monthly Magazine, May, 1860 Notes on the Iroquois , Henry R. Schoolcraft
Skeletons found about Fort Hill (Auburn, N.Y.) and its vicinity, sustain the impression that the
former occupants of their military station, were of a larger and more powerful race of men than
ourselves. I learned that the skeletons generally indicated a stouter and larger frame. A humerus or
shoulder bone, of which one has been preserved, may safely be said to be one-third larger or stouter
than any now swung by the living. A resident of Batavia, Thomas T. Everertt, M.D., has in his cabinet,
a portion of a lower jaw bone, full one-third larger than any possessed by the present race of men,
which was found in a hill near Le Roy, some two years since.
History of St. Lawrence and Franklin Counties, New York, 1853 In the town of MaComb, St. Lawrence County, are found traces of three trench enclosures, and several places where beds of ashes mark the site of ancient hearths… One of these was on the farm of William Houghton, on the bank of Birch Creek, and enclosed the premises now used as a mill yard. It is somewhat in the form of a semi-circle; the two ends resting on the creek, and might have enclosed half and acre… On an adjoining hill, now partly occupied by an orchard, traces of an ancient work formerly existed, but this has also been obliterated…
In the pond adjoining there was found, many years since, a skeleton, said to have been of great size…
History and Directory of Yates County, New York, 1873 There was an Indian burial ground on the west shore (Lake Keuka) where large quantities of human bones were interred in a mound of conical shape on the top of which grew an oak tree, eighteen inches in diameter. Many of the skeletons were judged by Dr. William Cornwell and others, to have belonged to very large and stalwart men, some of them nearly seven feet tall. From the shore of the lake there appeared a drain-like structure about three feet in height and width, running towards the mound. A man could easily enter it but superstitious fears prevented its exploration. It was carefully walled up with flat stones and covered in the same manner.”
History of Seneca County, New York, 1876 There were several mounds on the Calver place, and we often plowed up bones and ancient crockery. In 1850 we opened one of these mounds, and found a very large skeleton, with a well-shaped skull, and a stone pitcher near the head. The pitcher seemed to have been made of sand and clay. Small vessels of the same material, filled with clam-shells, were placed inside of the elbows. Some of these pitchers would hold half a gallon. We gave them to Gen. Brish. These things were as wonderful to the Indians as to us.
History of Allegheny County, New York , 1879
“On the point of land between Philip’s Creek and the Genesee River at their junction was a circular
mound, fifteen or sixteen feet in diameter at the base, and several feet high. It was plainly visible as
late as 1828 and for years afterward. It stood in the midst of a thick growth of pine timber, which at
that time covered the whole area now occupied by the village of Belmont, and was covered with
mosses and wood-vines common to the locality. This mound has now entirely disappeared. In 1849
and 1850, when the railroad was constructed, human bones were exhumed in the vicinity in
considerable numbers. Some of them were of very uncommon size, evidently those of a very large
person.”
History of Cattaraugus County, 1879 About two miles south of the village of Rutledge, in the town of Connewango, on lot No. 45, at a point about sixty rods east of Connewango Creek and near the residence of Norman E. Ct. Cowen, there was discovered by the first pioneers of this section a sepulcher mound, nearly circular in form, and having an entire circumference of one hundred and seventy feet. The height of the mound was about twelve feet. Mr. Cheney spoke of this work as “having
some appearance of being constructed with the ditch or vallum outside of the mound as in Druid Burrows...”
Within the mound there were discovered nine human skeletons, which had been buried in a sitting posture and at regular intervals of space, in the form of a circle, and facing towards a common center. There was some sight appearance that a frame-work had enclosed the dead at the time of their internment. The skeletons were so far decayed as to crumble upon exposure to the atmosphere, but were all of very large size. An osfemur (the largest found here) was twenty-eight inches in length.
History of Cattaraugus County, 1879
Limestone Creek Area “Twenty years later, Mr. Older revisited the place, and found the work much changed by the hand of the white man. The smaller circle had been leveled, and a lumberman’s road crossed its enclosure. Some workmen were attempting to remove a stump of about two feet diameter, which stood at the two circles, and interfered with the excavation of a cellar which had been marked out. Oxen were attached and the stump was easily turned out from its ancient bed, disclosing a mass of human bones, from which the earth had been entirely removed by the small fibrous roots. ‘On examination,’ writes Mr. Older, ‘They proved to be skeletons entire, having been deposited there three or four in depth, with faces downward and heads to the east. A remarkable characteristic of these skeletons was their enormous proportions. Compared with my own stature and physical formation they must have been giants indeed! I am five feet eleven and a half inches in height, and I wear a hat seven and a half in size by hatters measure; but a skull of one of these skeletons would sit loosely on my head; a rib bone would pass round me from spine to colon, outside my garments, including an overcoat; a shin-bone would reach from my ankle two or three inches above the top of my knee joint; a thigh-bone reached from my knee to the upper part of the hip bone; and the sub-maxillary would encase my jaw like an easy-fitting mask. The teeth were enormous, particularly the molars. An attempt was made to preserve portions of these remains, but by exposure to the atmosphere they crumbled to a fine powder. These people must have been at least eight feet high, with other proportions corresponding.’ The earthwork here mentioned is still visible. Its location is on the land now owned by Job Moses.”
The Nephilim Chronicles: Fallen Angels in the Ohio Valley Page 35
