Additional mounds of Duval and of Clay counties, Florida

Our investigation of aboriginal mounds on the east coast of Florida, south of St. Johns County, occupying three months of the Winter of 1895-1896, included such territory as borders the Halifax river; the Hillsboro’ river, including the Mosquito lagoon; the Indian river and Lake Worth; as well as the tributary streams, Tomoka creek, Spruce creek, Banana river and St. Lucie river.

In addition, certain mounds in the neighborhood of the town of Fernandina were examined and the St. Mary’s river, separating portions of Florida and of Georgia, was gone over so far as the head of navigation. To this work additional time was devoted.

The Halifax, Hillsboro’ and Indian rivers, so-called, are not rivers strictly speaking, but long and comparatively narrow stretches of salt water, connected with the Atlantic Ocean by various inlets and separated from the sea by a comparatively narrow strip of sand, at no place five miles in breadth. They extend north and south and their total length in a direct line is about 187 miles.

The Banana river is simply a portion of the Indian river, lying east of Merritt’s Island.

Tomoka and Spruce creeks and St. Lucie river, at a certain distance above their outlets, are fresh water streams.

The aboriginal mounds bordering the Halifax, Hillsboro’ and Indian rivers, while examined with considerable care, were by no means so exhaustively investigated by us as have been the mounds of the St. Johns river and of other parts of Florida, and our conclusions must not be regarded as final but rather taken as indications.

It would seem that the mounds of this region, considerable in number and some of great size, were mostly erected for other than sepulchral purposes, inasmuch as human remains appear to be absent from the bodies of the mounds though in some cases numerous interments were present near the surface, sometimes associated with art relics of European manufacture, such as glass beads, silver beads and the like.[1] These burials we look upon as intrusive, made by Indians coming later than the makers of the mounds.

In certain cases smaller mounds contained human remains down to the base, but in every case these remains, where any other objects were found at all, were associated only with bits of shell or of coquina.

Mr. Andrew E. Douglass, of the Museum of Natural History, New York, who has spent a number of seasons on the east coast and has published various valuable papers descriptive of his work,[2] reached virtually the same conclusions as ourselves, and we are strongly of opinion that a more thorough investigation of these mounds, though earnestly to be desired, will not be fruitful of results.

Another point strongly impressing itself upon us was the almost entire absence of stone (unless coquina[3] may be so termed) in the territory bordering the Halifax, the Hillsboro’ and the Indian rivers, the mounds being entirely free from chips, cores, and other refuse material of chert so abundant in mounds of the St. Johns river.

Large fields of shell, denoting aboriginal dwelling sites, are numerous, yet upon them we found not a single arrowhead or fragment of hard stone, while persons cultivating these fields invariably expressed ignorance as to the discovery of stone upon them. Upon similar fields and shell heaps of the St. Johns arrowheads and flint chips are abundant; this absence of stone on the east coast is certainly worthy of remark considering its comparative abundance on a river not over thirty, and at one point only five, miles away.

Mr. Douglass has remarked the absence on the east coast of the polished stone hatchet, or “celt,” from mounds south of St. John County, or about where the Halifax river begins, and we have not in our experience learned of the occurrence of this implement on the east coast south of the point referred to by him, though on the St. Johns river a number were taken by us from Thursby Mound, about twenty-seven miles farther south, while one small hatchet was found on the surface not far north of Lake Monroe. Beyond this point, even on the St. Johns, the stone “celt” seemed to be absent with the exception of one rude cutting implement of the polished “celt” type[4] taken by us from the island shell heap known as Mulberry Mound, situate where the St. Johns river leaves Lake Poinsett, about six miles west of Cocoa on the Indian river.

As we have said, exhaustive work was not done by us on the east coast and as various lists of the earthworks of that section have already appeared, we shall not go into a detailed account but shall give results obtained in certain of the mounds examined by us which, so far as our investigation has extended, were typical of the whole.

Spruce Creek enters the Halifax river opposite the town of Ponce Park. About 1 mile up Spruce Creek, turning into Murray’s Creek and following the stream about 1 mile, the Murray dwelling is reached, from which the mound is distant about 1.5 miles inland, in a southwesterly direction. The mound, in thick “hammock,” and covered with palmetto and other trees, has a height of 20 feet, a diameter at base of 144 feet. The trench made by Mr. Andrew E. Douglass,[5] was the only previous investigation apparent on the mound.

Parts of two days, with nine men to dig, were devoted to investigation. Neither burial nor artifact rewarded our labors—a result similar to that attained by Mr. Douglass.

Two feet beneath the surface, such parts of the mound as were dug into by us, were encased in heavy slabs of coquina. This curious feature was noted also by Mr. Douglass in the portion investigated by him.

The settlement of Courtenay, on Merritt’s Island, which here forms the eastern shore of the Indian River, is about eight miles north of the town of Cocoa.

On the property of Mr. John H. Sams, at Courtenay, is a mound which was cordially placed at our disposal for investigation by the owner. The mound, entirely surrounded by a trench, presents a striking appearance, giving the impression of greater altitude than it really possesses. Its height is 11 feet; its diameter at base about 100 feet, making allowance for a certain amount of sand evidently washed from the mound.

An excavation 28 feet in diameter and from 5 to 6 feet deep, was made in the central portion of the mound. A few scattered human bones were present immediately below the surface. At a depth of 5 feet was a sherd of considerable size. Loose in the sand was one fragment of chipped chert. Beyond these, nothing was encountered and the sand, coarse and yellow, had the raw look peculiar to mounds containing no organic remains.

In the southern extremity of the settlement of Courtenay, in thick “hammock” land, on the property of Mr. H. J. Tiffin, of Montreal, Canada, was a mound about 2 feet in height and 35 feet in diameter. The central portion of this mound was completely dug through at the courteous invitation of the owner. At two points were fragmentary human remains which, with one small sherd, were the entire yield of the mound.

The Banana river, as we have stated, is simply a portion of the Indian river separated from the main body by Merritt’s Island. On the east side of the river, about 7 miles south of its northern extremity, at or near De Soto, is the estate of Mr. F. Y. Hanna, an unoccupied house with a landing. About one-half mile in a northeasterly direction from the landing, on Mr. Hanna’s property, is an irregular mass of sand 6 feet 4 inches in height and 75 feet across the base. An excavation made in the center, 18 feet by 24 feet by 4 feet deep, yielded four burials in anatomical order, none over 18 inches from the surface. With one skeleton were two bits of looking-glass, with another was a fragment of conch-shell. About one foot from the surface were parts of an undecorated bowl. This mound, at a short distance below the superficial portion, was composed of that raw-looking bright yellow sand, in which, as we have stated, we have never yet met with interments.

Near the southern extremity of Merritt’s Island is the settlement of Tropic. On the property of Mr. M. F. Dwyer, of New York, in a cultivated pineapple patch, was a symmetrical mound of white sand, 3 feet 8 inches in height and 48 feet across the base. It was practically demolished. No stratification was noticed. A considerable number of fragmentary human remains, very badly decayed, including a number of isolated crania, were present at all depths. A number of bits of plain earthenware and several stamped in squares, were loose in the sand.

Eight small shells (Dosinia discus) were found together, while masses of coquina and smaller bits were present in the mound. An occasional fragment of Fulgur was met with. Beyond this, greatly to our disappointment, for the mound had a very promising appearance, nothing was discovered.

On the eastern bank of the Banana river, a short distance above its union with the Indian river, in full view from the water, is a great shell-heap mainly composed of the shells of marine bivalves (Dosinia discus), a section of which has been laid bare by the river. In the “scrub,” about one-eighth of one mile in a northerly direction from this heap, is a mound on the property of ex-Governor Gleason, of Eau Gallie, who courteously placed it at our disposal.

The mound, which is not symmetrical and had suffered from much superficial investigation, has a height of about 10 feet and a diameter at base of about 150 feet.

The mound, which was thickly covered with undergrowth, was cleared by us near the center of the summit plateau, giving a space about 32 feet in diameter, which was dug through to a depth of from 5 to 7 feet. In addition to this, considerable work was done on the northern and eastern slopes.

The sand, whitish in color, was unstratified.

Burials—all superficial and all in anatomical order—were numerous, about thirty being met with.

With the majority of the bodies no relics were found. With others were flat bits of coquina; portions of clam shells, showing wear, and occasionally a mass of coquina.

Near human remains were three large glass beads and a round bead of silver, apparently of European make.

With a burial about two feet from the surface was a small gorget of silver, oxidized, having three perforations, two apparently made with a sharp cutting tool, the other bored from one side and countersunk (Fig. 4), representing the head of a duck.

With another superficial burial, lying near the lower jaw, was a somewhat similar ornament of brass (Fig. 5).

Ornaments of this type are not uncommon in Florida, though we have met with none on the St. Johns.[6]

Loose in the sand throughout the mound were a few bits of ornamented earthenware; one Fulgur carica, much worn at the beak, but without the usual perforation; and one large marine shell (Fasciolaria). A considerable number of these shells, all more or less broken as to the body whorl, lay near previous excavations.

Five feet from the surface were the remains of an undecorated bowl of considerable size, which had been interred whole or nearly so. No human remains were found in the neighborhood of this bowl, and it lay at a much greater depth than any other discovered by us. It had probably been lost or broken during the construction of the mound.

From the eastern slope, with human remains, were taken two imperforate drinking cups of shell, one within the other; another alone; and two beads of silver seemingly of European workmanship.

As no burials or indications of interment (and discoloration of sand usually shows where bones have been) were met with in the Gleason mound at a depth of over 2 feet, we are of opinion that later Indians utilized for burial a pre-existing mound.

On the property of Mr. John Aspinwall, of New York, about one-half mile south of the Gleason mound, 50 yards apart approximately, were two mounds in thick “scrub.”

The smaller mound, about 4 feet in height, was dug through as to the central portion, yielding a number of superficial burials of the bunched variety. With some of these were small bits of coquina and of shell.

The larger mound, about 7 feet in height, yielded nothing to an investigation conducted through the central portion.

About one and one-half miles above the railroad bridge, or six and one-half miles, approximately, from the river’s mouth, near the southern bank of the south fork of the St. Lucie River, is a mound in the pine woods in full view from the stream.

Its height is about 6 feet above the general level on the south and west, while on the other two sides deep depressions, made by the removal of sand for the mound, give it the appearance of much greater altitude.

The diameter of its base is about 80 feet.

A considerable section was dug out from near the margin to the center and the base of the central portion was carefully explored.

Several superficial burials were met with toward the center and two at different points about 3 feet from the surface.

With the remains were no artifacts whatsoever.

Loose in the sand, separately, were two fragments of undecorated earthenware, two bits of Hematite and a number of pieces of charcoal.

At Spruce Bluff, up the north fork of the St. Lucie river, is a large mound which we did not investigate. Considerable digging had been attempted in the central upper portions. Residents reported no discoveries during these investigations.

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By turning into Sisters creek near the mouth of the St. Johns river, an inland passage by water can be made to Fernandina. This inland route has been carefully searched by us for mounds upon two occasions.

Low mound at the Sawpit, Duval County. Low mound at Dr. Harrison’s, Amelia Island, Nassau County. Mound south of Suarez Bluff, Amelia Island, Nassau County. Mound northeast of Suarez Bluff, Amelia Island, Nassau County. Light-house mound, Fernandina, Nassau County.

A small mound at the Sawpit, about 10 miles north of the St. Johns river, 4 feet in height and 35 feet across the base, was completely dug through by us as to its central portion. A few crumbling skeletons in anatomical order were discovered unassociated with any art relics whatsoever.

On the southern end of Talbot Island, Duval County, on the property of Mr. Spicer Houston, of Mayport, are two symmetrical sand mounds about one-half mile apart. This gentleman values the right to investigate at one thousand dollars and is still owner of undisturbed aboriginal earthworks.

On the property of Dr. Robert Harrison, about one-half mile in an easterly direction from his house, which overlooks the Amelia river at a point about one mile, in a southerly direction, from Suarez Bluff (Amelia City, Nassau County) was a mound 1.5 feet high and 30 feet across the base. It had sustained little if any previous investigation and was totally demolished by us.

It was composed of yellowish sand with pockets of white sand, and through the central portion a layer of white sand several inches in thickness ran considerably below the level of the surrounding territory.

Interments, probably a dozen in all, were, curiously enough, marginal and beneath the slope, no remains being met with in or near the central portion of the mound. Both forms of burial, the bunched and that in anatomical order, were present. In one case the remains were in part calcined, while other portions of the skeleton were charred in places only. No charcoal or fire-whitened sand lay with these bones which consequently must have been exposed to flames elsewhere.

A number of the burials lay beneath deposits of oyster shells.

The remains were in much better state of preservation than is usually the case in the mounds. One skull, almost intact, was preserved.[7]

With two crania, at different points, were numbers of longitudinally perforated shells (Olivella).

With human remains was found a portion of the shaft of a large pin of shell, showing recent fracture. The remaining part doubtless escaped us.

But two sherds were brought to our attention.

In a large shell field about three-quarters of one mile in a southeasterly direction from Suarez Bluff, on property belonging to Mr. Scott of that place, was a mound 6.5 feet high and 44 feet across the base. It had probably lost about 2 feet in height through previous investigation.

The mound was built on a shell heap of irregular surface. A thickness of 6 feet of solid sand was at certain portions of the mound and scarcely 2 feet at others.

About two-thirds of the mound was dug down.

Nineteen burials, from 1 to 6 feet from the surface, all in anatomical order, were discovered.

Occasional pockets of sand colored with Hematite were near the base. A few bits of pottery lay loose in the sand and at one point were fifteen marine univalves (Fulgur carica, Fulgur perversum, Fasciolaria). A few shell beads, lying with a skeleton, were the only artifacts discovered.

About 1.5 miles from Suarez Bluff was a mound 5 feet 2 inches in height with a diameter at base of 68 feet. About one-half of this mound, which was kindly placed at our disposal by Mr. Jonathan Buzzell of Suarez Bluff, or Amelia City, as it is now called, was demolished by us. It was composed of yellowish sand with little, if any, intermingling of charcoal. A layer of oyster shells and midden refuse, such as fragments of bones of the turtle and of the deer, but apparently with no sherds, occupied a central position in the mound. This deposit began about 18 feet from the margin and was then a little over 2 feet from the surface, and apparently so throughout. Its thickness was about 2 feet (see diagram), increasing toward the center. There were no oyster shells in the marginal portion of the mound.

At one point in the marginal, or sandy portion, 1.5 feet from the surface, was a deposit of calcined fragments of bone, some belonging to the turtle. This mound was evidently not a shell heap covered with sand, since the mass of shells, when encountered, did not present a sloping surface but showed an abruptly vertical surface 2 feet in height, very much as though the shells had been thrown into an excavation.

No human remains or art relics, with the exception of one arrow head, were met with.

The Light-house[8] mound, in a shell field and in the neighborhood of others, about 150 yards south of the light-house, probably one mile east of the town of Fernandina, was kindly placed at our disposal by Mr. E. D. Lukenbill of the Fernandina Development Company. Our thanks are tendered for numerous courtesies also to Mr. H. L. Linville, port warden of Fernandina.

The height of the mound, which was totally demolished by us, was 12 feet; the diameter of its base, 75 feet. It presented a very symmetrical appearance when stripped of the dense growth of vegetation which covered it, the ascent at some points being at an angle of 44°. Excavations 3 to 4 feet deep to the west and northwest of the base showed whence the material was derived. There had been some previous investigation on the immediate summit.

Structurally the mound was of considerable interest, the strata well defined. Immediately in a central position was a cone of white sand, surrounded and surmounted by the regular strata of the mound.

The stratification of the mound from the top downward, a little north of the center, was as follows:

At various points in the mound were pockets of sand artificially colored with Hematite.

The distance between the summit of the mound at the center to the yellow sand at the base, where charcoal and human remains were wanting, was 15 feet.

Exclusive of loose bits of bone, doubtless thrown from the previous excavation, seventy-four skeletons, all seemingly in anatomical order, were met with, and one deposit of charred and calcined human remains. We are, of course, unable to estimate the number of skeletons thrown out or carried away prior to our visit. The first interment was encountered 10 feet in from the southwestern margin of the base. With very few exceptions no art relics lay with human remains, and if we except a stone hatchet found with a skeleton 8 feet from the surface and some beads of shell with another interment, no art relics were associated with burials in the body or on the base of the mound.

In no previous mound work have we found so great a percentage of pathological specimens as in this mound, and, as has not been the case in other mounds, entire skeletons seemed affected, and not one or possibly two bones belonging to a skeleton. The pathological conditions were so marked and cranial nodes so apparent that, in view of the fact that no objects positively indicating White contact were discovered in the mound, though the utmost care was exercised by a trained corps of assistants, we are compelled to regard the bones with the greatest interest since evidence of contact with the whites being wanting we must look upon these bones as of pre-Columbian origin. We may state here that all bones preserved by us came from depths in the mound which insure their derivation from original burials. These bones, found 8 to 12 feet from the surface, and lying beneath numerous undisturbed layers are as unmistakably of an early origin as any yet described and much more reliable than most.

Dr. Washington Matthews, whose memoir on the human bones of the Hemenway collection is so well known, has kindly consented to study and to report upon these bones from the Light-house mound.

Perforation of the humerus

		Left	Right
Male	Perforated	3	3
	Not Perforated	7	14
Female	Perforated	6	4
	Not Perforated	2	3
Uncertain	Perforated	3	4
	Not Perforated	2	3

Professor Wyman, as we have stated in a former paper, found no remains of dog during his researches among the shell heaps of the St. Johns river. In point of fact no practical work was done among the sand mounds by this pioneer of the archæology of Florida.

In a shell-heap near the bank of the Econlockhatchee creek, Orange County, we discovered a canine lower jaw which Professor Cope minutely examined, giving his results, with figures, in the American Naturalist.[9]

Professor Cope concluded that the jaw under examination belonged to an unknown kind.

A canine jaw from another shell-heap examined subsequently, presented features with which Professor Cope was unfamiliar.

On the base of the large sand mound at Tick Island, Volusia County,[10] the skeleton of a dog was found by us, the skull and certain other bones of which, forwarded to Professor Cope, were passed upon as follows by that eminent authority: “The bones you send are those of a dog but of what species I am not sure. It is no wolf or coyote but differs from ordinary breeds of domestic dogs. Nevertheless, it may be some form domesticated by the Indians, with which I am not familiar.”

Fifteen feet from the surface of the Light-house mound, or 3 feet below the level of the surrounding territory, was discovered the skeleton of a dog.

The cranium has been submitted to Dr. C. Hart Merriam, who was, unfortunately, unable to spare time for an exhaustive examination, being about to leave town for the summer. According to Dr. Merriam the skull is not that of a coyote, nor does it belong to any type of domestic dog with which he is familiar.

Professor Cope is of opinion, after an examination of the skull, that it belongs to neither wolf nor coyote, but is probably that of a domestic dog, though by no means of necessity one obtained from Europeans.

There are, however, according to Professor Cope, certain domestic dogs whose crania cannot be distinguished from those of wolves.

Professor Cope also made an examination of a canine skull from the great shell deposit at Damariscotta, Maine, in which no articles of European origin have ever been met with at a depth greater than a few inches from the surface. The Damariscotta skull, according to Professor Cope, strongly resembles that from the Light-house mound.

Professor Putnam, who has made a careful study of the skull from the Light-house mound, writes as follows:

Three varieties of dog are found with the dead in the Necropolis of Ancon, Peru, one of which strongly resembles the collie.[11]

Sherds were infrequently met with, the majority being undecorated, though several from marginal parts of the mound bore cord-marked and stamped decorations. One bowl of about one pint capacity, with incised marginal decoration, lay apparently unassociated on the base. It unfortunately received a blow from a spade.

In all, eight stone hatchets, or “celts,” were met with, as a rule, in caved sand and probably from upper strata. One lay with a skeleton 3 feet from the surface. With it were two large barrel-shaped beads of shell.

No arrow heads, whole or fragmentary, were met with, nor were any fragments of chert, so numerous in many mounds, apparently present in this one.

Loose in the sand, separately, were two fine large marine shells (Fasciolaria), while at various depths were several heavy conchs (Fulgur carica) worn and chipped down at the beak and with a round or oblong perforation opposite the aperture in the body-whorl between the shoulder and suture.

It has been customary to regard such shells as having served as war clubs. We have elsewhere pointed out that in the great majority of cases they must have been put to other uses, and give here some of our reasons:

1. The beak shows wear as by constant use.

2. The margin of the perforation is frequently smoothed as by continued motion against a handle, which would not be so in the case of a club.

3. Some specimens are entirely too small to have been of any avail as weapons of offense.

4. The hole is usually so placed that the handle would not be at right angles to the shell as would be the case with a war club.

5. The perforation is frequently too small to admit a handle of sufficient size to deliver a heavy blow without danger of breaking.

Moreover, Mr. Frank Hamilton Cushing, who has recently explored certain shell deposits of the southwestern coast of Florida, and who was fortunate enough to find a number of these implements with handles in place, informs us that in his opinion our position in this matter is the correct one.

These perforated Fulgurs were probably in use as picks, hoes, chisels, and the like.

With a skeleton were three gouges of shell, and a similar implement was found loose in the sand.

A drinking cup of shell (Fulgur perversum) lay loose in the sand.

Two shell pins were met with separately, and so far as could be determined, unassociated, though, in our opinion, they must have rolled from the neighborhood of some skeleton.

Three feet from the surface, with human remains and a bone implement, was a marine shell (Murex spinicostata).[12]

A bone piercing implement, with a length of 6.5 inches, closely resembling the one to which reference has been made, was taken from a different portion of the mound.

A canine tooth of a large carnivore lay loose in the sand.

Two very minute fragments of sheet copper, found separately, showed the former presence of this metal in the mound.

As we have stated, nothing that was necessarily the product of Europeans came from the Light-house mound, and when a mound of this size, containing so many skeletons, shows no contact with the Whites, it is justly regarded by archæologists as having a pre-Columbian origin.

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St. Mary’s river, having its source in the Okefenokee swamp, enters Cumberland sound near the town of Fernandina, and serves as boundary between portions of Georgia and of Florida.

The stream, which hardly averages over 75 yards in breadth, a few miles distant from the sea, is navigable for other than small boats to the second railroad bridge, a distance of about 30 miles by land, though probably double that distance by the river.

At first the river runs through marsh land, though farther up it is bordered by firm and at times high ground, mainly wooded with a thick growth of pine. The river is famous for the excellent quality of its water, and one would believe its banks to have been a chosen dwelling site for the aborigines.

The river was carefully searched by us on either side, all landings and settlements being visited, and diligent inquiry made, resulting in the conclusion that no mounds of importance, and an extremely limited number of any size, were present.

One small mound, partly dug through, was found on the Florida side on the property of Mr. Haddock, and another, about 2 feet in height, was seen at the “Brick Yard” a few miles east of King’s Ferry. So well known along the river was this insignificant earthwork that it was evident that no mound of importance is likely to have escaped our inquiries, made as they were at all points where habitations were apparent.

No shell-heaps were noticed on the banks.

Numbers of stones and fragments of rock proved to be ballast from timber schooners, and not indigenous to the territory.

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