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Silver Band or Ornament. From the Marietta Mound. Fig. 11, under, flat surface; fig. 12, upper, corrugated portion.

four near the ends are nearly opposite to each other, while the two near the central portion are placed one slightly above the other. These holes were probably intended for the purpose of fastening the edges together by strings, or else for securely fixing the band to some other

object. On the opposite surface are the three longitudinal elevations,

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Opposite surfaces of Copper Band. From Mound in Franklin, Tenn.

2

In the Fifteenth Report of the Peabody Museum, p. 106, I have given a description of an ornament almost identical with this in shape and size, but which was made of native copper. It was found in the same mound in Tennessee with the two ear-ornaments already referred to. For the purpose of showing the similarity of the silver and copper bands the figures of the Tennessee specimen are here reproduced as figures 14, 15.

In the account of the specimens obtained from the mound in Cincinnati explored in 1794, to which I have already referred in connection with the ear-ornaments, Col. Sargent describes and figures1 a similar corrugated band made of copper, which is nearly identical in size with the one of silver obtained by Dr. Hildreth.

Col. Sargent's description of this copper band is as follows:-" Fig. 10. A piece of sheet or plate copper, which seems to have been wrought into an ornament for the hair; this, however, only conjecture: No. 1 shows the back and folding parts with four perforations. No. 2 is intended to give an idea of the other side, which is swelled longitudinally into three pipes or divisions. The remains of some smaller pipes enclosed and now almost mouldered away, seem to destroy the idea of its being originally meant as a mere hair ornament."

The "smaller pipes enclosed and almost wasted away" were very likely portions of the inner layers of the copper separated by oxidation of the metal. The figure given in the Philosophical Transactions probably represents the object more as the discoverer supposed it appeared when perfect, as the edges and surface are altogether too even and smooth for a piece of copper containing other pieces which had almost wasted away." The suggestion that the ornament was one for the hair is worthy of consideration, as in one of the terra-cotta figurines from the altar of a mound in the Little Miami valley, to which I have already referred, the hair is represented as done up in three parallel plates crossing the back of the head, just as it would appear were the hair passed through such a corrugated band as here described. In the specimen from a mound in Tennessee there were the remains of pieces of wood from which fact I was led to believe that the copper band may have been fastened to wood and attached as an ornament to a belt or some other part of the dress of its owner.

To these three specimens I have now the opportunity of adding a fourth. This is made of meteoric iron, and was found in the mass of materials from the altar of a mound in the Little Miami Valley to which allusion has several times been made. It is represented of full size in fig. 16, and was made by hammering a mass of meteoric iron, in the

1 Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. IV., p. 180, figs. 10, 102. 1799.

same way that masses of silver and copper were hammered in making the three already mentioned.'

FIG. 16.

It is worthy of note that all four of these corrugated bands of identical pattern were found associated with stud-like earornaments.

The next object from the Marietta mound is mentioned by Dr. Hildreth as follows:"Two or three broken pieces of a copper tube were also found, filled with iron rust. These pieces, from their appearance, composed the lower end of the scabbard, near the point of the sword. No sign of the sword itself was discovered, except the appearance of rust above mentioned."

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These pieces of "a copper tube" are represented of full size in fig. 17, and consist of fragments of a small copper cylinder, or bead, such as have been very often found in the mounds and in graves in various parts of the country. In my article on copper objects in the Peabody Museum, several lots of similar cylindrical copper beads are described and figured. In every case they were made by simply rolling a thin piece of hammered native copper upon itself, and the one from the Marietta mound is no exception to this method of manufacture. In this specimen the copper has changed to a red carbonate, and has become very brittle from oxida tion. In places, particularly in the fragment shown on the right of the figure, the surface is covered by a green carbonate of copper and here and there bits of charcoal and other extraneous materials have been

Corrugated Band made of Meteoric Iron.
From Altar in Mound, Little Miami

Valley, Ohio.

A full account of the interesting group of mounds in the Little Miami Valley, with descriptions and illustrations of the many objects found, will be given in the memoir prepared jointly by Dr. C. L. Metz and myself and to be published by the Peabody Museum.

2 Fifteenth Report, Cambridge, 1882.

united to the copper during its change to the carbonate. The central portion of the cylinder has been crushed together and the portion on the left of the figure has been broken lengthwise into two pieces. FIG. 17.

Broken Bead or Cylinder of Copper. From the Marietta Mound.

Not a particle of iron rust could be found in the folds and cavities of the bead, and it can hardly be doubted that the oxide of copper was mistaken by Dr. Hildreth for oxide of iron.

In this instance we see how easily it is to let our imagination run away with our facts. Not a shadow of a sword can be traced in this connection; the point of the supposed scabbard is a common copper bead; the supposed upper part of the scabbard is an ornament of a particular pattern, of which three others almost identical in shape are known from other mounds; and the "bosses" or supposed ornaments of a sword belt are ear-rings. Yet for over sixty years archæologists have had the mythical swords from the Marietta and Circleville mounds held over them as proofs that all the mounds were of recent date, and that these in particular were erected after contact of the Indians with the whites.

Dr. Hildreth's account continues "Near the feet was found a piece of copper, weighing three ounces. From its shape it appears to have been used as a plumb, or for an ornament, as near one of the ends is a circular crease, or groove, for tying a thread; it is round, two inches and a half in length, one inch in diameter at the centre, and half an inch at each end. It is composed of small pieces of native copper, pounded together; and in the cracks between the pieces, are stuck several pieces of silver; one nearly the size of a fourpenny piece, or half a dime. This copper ornament was covered with a coat of green rust, and is considerably corroded. A piece of red ochre, or paint, and a piece of iron ore which has the appearance of having been partially vitrified, or melted, were also found. The ore is about the specific gravity of pure iron."

The copper "plumb".mentioned by Dr. Hildreth and here represented as fig. 18, is a very interesting specimen, and is the only instance, so far as I know, of copper having been used in making objects of this character. Hundreds of similar form, made of different kinds of stone, and of hematite, have been found in mounds or on the surface all over the western and southern states, occasionally in New England, and have been generally classed as sinkers, although I am personally more inclined to regard many of them as having been used for other pur

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