American Antiquities: Corroborative of the Book of Mormon (25 February 1860)

AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES,

CORROBORATIVE OF THE BOOK OF MORMON.

(Continued from page 94.)

(From Squier’s “Antiquities of the State of New York," published in Buffalo in 1851.)

“Many evidences of ancient labour and skill are to be found in the western parts of New York and Pennsylvania, upon the upper tributaries of the Ohio, and along the shores of Lakes Erie and Ontario. Here we find a series of ancient earthworks, intrenched hills, and occasional mounds, or tumuli, concerning which history is mute, and the origin of which has been regarded as involved in impenetrable mystery. … One of the most interesting relics which has yet been discovered in the State is an axe of cast copper … four inches long by two and a half broad on the edge, and corresponds in shape with some of those of wrought native copper, which have been found in the mounds of Ohio. From the granulations of the surface, it appears to have been cast in sand. There is no evidence of its having been used for any purpose. Its history, beyond that it was ploughed up somewhere in the vicinity of Auburn, Cayuga County, is unknown. No opportunity has yet been afforded of analyzing any portion, so as to determine whether it has an intermixture of other metal. It appears to be pure copper. An inspection serves to satisfy the inquirer that it is of aboriginal origin; but the questions when and by whom made, are beyond our ability to answer. … The hill of Xochicalco is 300 feet in height and a league in circumference, surrounded at the base by a deep and wide ditch. Whether designed as a temple or fortress, is not apparent. It may have subserved both purposes. … The summit of the hill of Xochicalco is attained by five spiral terraces faced with cemented stones and supported by bulwarks, and is crowned by the ruins of edifices which rank among the most imposing remains of the continent. An ancient fortress, which no doubt well illustrates the character of the ancient Mexican defences, is figured and described by Du Paix:— ‘It occupies the summit of a steep isolated rock, about a league west of Mitlan. This rock is accessible only from the eastern side. The wall is of solid stone, 21 feet thick and 18 high, forming in its wide range, which is about a league in extent, several salient and retiring angles, with curtains interposed. On its assailable side, where is its principal entrance, it is defended by double walls which mutually flank each other. … On the plain surface of the rock are various ruins of square buildings, and edifices of considerable size, which were probably the ancient barracks.’ … Near the village of Molcaxac are the remains of an ancient fortress much resembling that here described. It occupies the summit of a mountain, and consists of four concentric wails of great strength and solidity. … Another fortress of similar character is mentioned by Clavigero as existing at Guatusco, 25 miles north of Cordova. It consists of high walls of stone, and is only entered by high and narrow flights of steps. . . La Vega describes the great fortress of Cuzco as constructed of three immense cyclopean walls, built rather of rocks than stones, surrounding a hill. Acosta measured some of the stones, and found them thirty feet in length, eighteen in breadth, and six in thickness. The outer wall is said to have been twelve hundred feet in compass. . . Under the towers were subterranean passages of great extent. . . The fortifications of Central America are very much of the same character with those already described. [Not all cited.] Juarros gives an account of one of these situated upon the river Socoleo. ‘The approach, as usual to such places, was by a single entrance, and that so narrow as scarcely to permit a horseman to pass it. … The citadel of this great fortification was in the form of a square graduated pyramid, rising twelve or fourteen yards from the base to the platform on the top. … Sepulchral mounds are abundant in many parts of Central America. In the vicinity of the ruins of Ichmul, in Yucatan, they are particularly numerous, covering the plain for miles in every direction. Some of these are 40 feet in height. … In Chili, sepulchral mounds of earth and stone are of frequent occurrence. …

In May, 1835, a cavern cemetery was discovered on the banks of the Ohio River, opposite Steubenville. It was thirty or forty feet in circumference, and filled with human bones. ‘They were of all ages, and had been thrown in indiscriminately after the removal of the flesh. They seemed to have been deposited at different periods of time, those on the top alone being in a good state of preservation.’ (Morton's Crania Americana, p, 235.)        … A similar cave was discovered some years ago at Golconda, on the Ohio river, Illinois. It contained many skeletons. (Crania Americana, p. 234.) … In the State of Durango, Mexico, some cave depositories have been discovered, which have given rise to very exaggerated accounts. Some of them have represented that as many as a million of bodies were found in a single cavern. … Among the South American nations, cave-burial seems to have been common. Humboldt describes a cave-sepulchre of the Atures, which he discovered on the sources of the Oronoco. It contained nearly six hundred skeletons, regularly arranged in baskets and earthen vases. Some of the skeletons had been bleached, others painted; and all, it is worthy of remark, had been deposited after the removal of the flesh. In Tennessee, as well as in Kentucky and Missouri, extensive cemeteries have been discovered. For a description of some of those of Tennessee, the public are indebted to Professor Troost, of Nashville. (Trans. Am. Ethnol. Soc., vol. i., p. 358.) One is mentioned by him in the immediate vicinity of that town, which is about a mile in length and of indefinite breadth. No less than six others equally extensive are found within a radius of ten miles. The graves are lined with flat stones, and occur in ranges. … Near Sparta, in Tennessee, are several extensive cemeteries, in which the bones of the dead were deposited, inclosed in short coffins or boxes made of flat stones. These coffins measure about two feet in length and nine inches in depth. … Similar burial places are found in Missouri, particularly in the vicinity of the Marimec river. … Other extensive cemeteries are found in various parts of the country. One near Alexandria, in Arkansas, is said to be a mile square. … Six miles N.E. of Bowling Green, Warren County, [Kentucky,] there is a cave which has a perpendicular descent of about thirty or forty feet. At the bottom are vast quantities of human bones. . . On the north bank of Green River, in the vicinity of Bowling Green, are a great many ancient graves, some of which are formed of stones set edgewise. A similar cemetery occurs near the mouth of Peter’s Creek, on Big Barren River. The bones are inclosed in stone coffins, which are about three feet long, and from one to one-and-a-half wide. On the same river, three miles above Glasgow, and on Skegg’s Creek, five miles S.W. of the same place, are caves containing human bones. Those in the last-named cavern seem to be exclusively the bones of small children. .  . Similar caverns are found in Union and Meade counties, all of which are said to contain human bones in abundance. A very extensive cemetery has been discovered in Bracken County, Kentucky, occupying nearly the whole of the 'bottom' or plain, on the south bank of the Ohio, between Bracken and Turtle creeks. The village of Augusta has been built upon it in latter times. … Cemeteries analogous to those in Tennessee and Kentucky, as already observed, exist in Ohio. One, in the extreme north-eastern part of the State, at Conneaut, on Lake Erie, covers about four acres. … A cemetery also occurs in Coshocton County, in the same State. … In 1830, it covered about ten acres. The graves were arranged regularly in rows, with avenues between them; and the heads of the skeletons were placed to the west. … Near this cemetery is a large mound. … The Narragansett Indians of New England and the natives of Virginia both kept up perpetual fires in their temples, as did also the Natchez and the other tribes which assimilated to the semi-civilized natives of Central America. … Adair, in his account of these Indians, [the ‘Creeks, Natchez, and affiliated Floridian tribes,’] frequently mentions ‘the Holy Square’ surrounding their temples, and within which their religious rites were performed. … He is so absorbed, however, in his favorite theory, that he cannot describe any feature except by the name borne by its fancied counterpart among the Jews. So we are not surprised in finding within ‘the Sacred Square,’ and standing near its western side, a Sanctum Sanctorum, or most holy place, inclosed by a mud wall about breast high. It was here that the consecrated vessels of earthenware, conch-shells, &c., were deposited. This sacred place, according to our authority, could not be approached by any but the magi, or priests. Indeed, so great a holiness was attached to the sacred squares themselves, that it was believed, if the great annual sacrifice were made elsewhere, it would not only be unavailable for the purposes required, but bring down the anger of the god to propitiate whose favour it was instituted—viz., the genial god, the god of almost universal adoration among rude people, the fountain of heat and light, the divine fire, the Sun! Within this square, at least at the time of the great festival, the women were not allowed to enter, nor those persons who had neglected to comply with certain prescribed purifying ceremonies, or who had been guilty of certain specified crimes. The deficiencies in Adair's account are supplied to a considerable extent by Bartram, in a MS. work on the Creek Indians, now in possession of Dr. S.T. Morton, of Philadelphia. He not only describes the ‘public squares’ alluded to by Adair, in which the religious ceremonies of the Indians were performed, and their deliberative councils held, but also communicates the interesting and important fact that they sometimes appropriated to their purposes the ancient inclosures and other monuments found in the country, and concerning the origin of which they professed no knowledge. … [Speaking of the Rotunda, Bartram says,] ‘Within this Rotunda they seem to keep the Eternal Fire, where it is guarded by the Priests. Within it the new fire is kindled on the occasion of the Feast of the First Fruits. No woman is allowed to step within the Rotunda, and it is death for any to enter. None but a priest can bring the sacred fire forth. The spiral fire in the centre of the building is very curious: it seems to light up into a flame of itself at the appointed time. But how this is done I know not. . . The clay-plastered walls of the Creek houses, particularly of the houses comprising the Public Square, are often covered with paintings. These are, I think, hieroglyphics, or mystical writings, of the same use and purpose with those mentioned by historians to be found upon the obelisks, pyramids, and other monuments of the ancient Egyptians.’ … Mr. Payne, in his MSS., thus describes the great Council House of the Cherokees, which corresponds with the ‘Rotunda,’ mentioned by Bartram. . . He proceeds:— ‘Every part bore a mystical reference to the sanctity with which they regarded the number seven. Seven posts were set deep in the ground, equidistant from each other, so as to form seven equal sides. . . Upon the seven posts seven very long beams were so placed as to rest one end on the ground, or periphery raised two or three feet with earth, while the other end stretched high in air, and all soon met at a point directly over the centre of the floor. . . The fire was in the centre. Anciently, they say, this was the sacred fire handed down from above. The Council House door was always on the eastern side. . . The space which was regarded as most sacred was that immediately back of the seat of the Uku. … Among the sacred things kept here were the sacred arks, and smaller arks of clay for conveying the holy fire.’ In the account of La Salle’s last expedition to the mouth of the Mississippi, published by the Chevalier Tonti, we have a brief notice of the Taencas or Tenzas. . . [La. Sale says,] ‘As to their religion, the prince told me that they worship the sun; that they had their temples, their altars, and their priests; that in their temple there was a fire which burned perpetually, as the proper emblem of the sun. . . The next day I had the curiosity to see their temple. . . As to the outside, it is encompassed with a great high wall, the space betwixt that and the temple forming a kind of court where people may walk. ’ . The prayers are three times a day— at sunrise, at noon, and at sunset. They made me take notice of a sort of closet cut out of the wall, the inside of which was very fine. I could only see the roof of it, on the top of which there hung a couple of spread eagles, which looked toward the sun. [Mr. Squier adds, in a foot-note:— “Adair speaks of ‘cherubimical figures in the Synhedria' of the Muscogulges, or Creeks.”] I wanted to go in; But they told me it was the tabernacle of their God, and that it was permitted to none but their High priest to go in.’