GenWise News  |  August 12, 2010

The Burial Mound of the Mississippians
by Stephanie Lincecum

Take a look at this photo:

Archeologists estimate this mound that appears to be just dirt and grass contains about 100 human remains. It is a funeral mound of the Muscogee (Creek) Native Americans that settled along the Ocmulgee River more than one thousand years ago in what is today Macon, Georgia. This mound and several others are located within the boundaries of protected lands known as the Ocmulgee National Monument.

It is estimated that people have lived in the Macon area for thousands of years, dating back to the Ice Age. For the purposes of this article, we are focusing on a much later era. The “Mississippian Period” approximately dates from the year 900 to 1650. At the earliest it was a new way of life on the Macon Plateau, believed to have originated in the Mississippi River area. The Native people of this time and place are sometimes referred to as “mound builders,” as they constructed large ceremonial centers with huge earthen temple, burial, and residential mounds and earth lodges. Their economy was supported by agriculture, with crops such as corn and squash planted in the rich river floodplain.

I was very interested in learning more about the funeral mound during my recent trip to visit the Ocmulgee National Monument. The park rangers were very nice and attentive. The information was plentiful, and they were great “gurus.”

The funeral mound pictured at the beginning of this article was the burial place for village leaders and important people. Archeologists discovered over 100 burials within the mound, as well as log tombs (including a massive one on the lower level) and other structures at different levels. Log tombs are so named because of the rows of massive log posts running down the walls of the tombs, presumably supporting a low roof.

Evidence suggests that this mound was built in seven stages. A structure was built on top of each stage, probably to prepare the dead for burial and the accompanying ceremonies.

The present height is at the third stage. At the seventh and final stage of construction, it is estimated that the mound may have measured as much as 280 feet long, 100 feet wide, and 25 feet high.

Significant artifacts found during the archeological investigations of the 1930s uncovered a part of a human figure effigy and the remnant of a necklace. These further imply that high-ranking officials of the community were buried here. Copper and shell ornaments were found as well.

The Mississippian culture also used burial houses in their funeral practices to bury their elite members. The bodies would decompose in the house, then the bones would be cleaned and placed into burial urns or wooden tombs. Occasionally, grave goods would have been buried along with the body. These might include ornaments, tools, pottery, and food. Common people were buried underneath the house of their family.

Respect and Preservation

The Muscogee (Creek) Nation consider this land to be sacred and, as with all ancestral burial grounds, should be preserved and treated with respect. The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990 states: “Whoever knowingly sells, purchases, uses for profit, or transports for sale or profit, the human remains of a Native American without the right of possession to those remains…shall be fined in accordance with this title, or imprisoned not more than 12 months, or both, and in the case of a second or subsequent violation, be fined in accordance with this title, or imprisoned not more than 5 years, or both.” — The same public law applies to Native American cultural items.

The road to demanded protection, preservation, and respect was a long one. In 1828, the “Old Ocmulgee Fields,” including the mounds, was surveyed and laid off into land lots incorporated into the city of Macon. Manufacturing enterprises arose, railroad lines were established, huge oak trees on the mounds were cut for timber, clay for brick manufacturing was mined near the Great Temple mound, and a fertilizer factory was constructed nearby.

Specifically, in the 1870s, the Central of Georgia Railroad destroyed a portion of the northeast corner of the funeral mound during its construction. Here is an old photo, as well as a new one. During my visit a train went right through the sacred lands. I was standing atop the temple mound, looking back to the earth lodge.

Even as late as 1933, a large portion of a mound was removed to use as fill dirt for a main street. Motorcycle hill-climbing left scars on the slopes and summit of the Great Temple Mound.

Finally a group of local citizens were convinced the mounds were of great historical significance and should be preserved. They sought assistance from the Smithsonian Institution, and the next year a bill was passed by Congress authorizing the establishment of a 2,000 acre Ocmulgee National Park.

In 1936, President Franklin D. Roosevelt established Ocmulgee National Monument and directed the National Park Service to preserve and protect 2,000 acres of “lands commonly known as the Old Ocmulgee Fields.” Unfortunately, only 678 ½ acres were acquired. Later an additional five acres were added, and the total is what is protected today — only a fraction of what was originally desired.

Lands unprotected were destroyed in the 1960s for highway I-16 and again in the 1970s for a Sheriff’s Department firing range. Progress trumped history and sacredness once again.

More than 180 years ago, in 1828, a local newspaper reported on the mounds. Some would say the sentiment was more than 300 years too late, but if heeded, the mind set could have saved 150 years of desecration and destruction.

“The site is romantic in the extreme; that, with the

Burial mounds adjacent, have long been favorite haunts of our

Village beaux and belles, and objects of curiosity to strangers.

We should regret to see these monuments of antiquity and of

Our history leveled by the sordid plow — we could wish that

They might always remain as present, sacred to solitude, to

Reflection and inspiration.”

Kayaker finds dozens of veterans grave markers in Lehigh River

Such markers often stolen for metal; still “pretty sad sight.”

Joe Brozowski of Allentown found 46 veteran’s grave markers, dating from the Civil War to World War II, while kayaking on the Lehigh river near the Pine Street bridge. (Emily Robson, The Morning Call / July 5, 2010)

A kayaker from Allentown found in the Lehigh River a cache of 46 grave markers used to commemorate military service.

Joe Brozowski said Sunday he was kayaking near Catasauqua‘s Pine Street bridge on June 25 when he noticed dozens of markers under about two feet of water.

“I noticed exactly what they were,” he said. “The number of them was a pretty sad sight.”

Veterans groups and local governments typically place small markers, which come in various shapes and are made of various materials, at the graves of veterans to honor their military service.

Brozowski said there are no individual names on the markers to indicate whose graves they were taken from, although some have references to Allentown of a certain war. Some of the markers appear to commemorate service going back to the Civil War, he said.

The markers themselves don’t appear to have been dumped in the river long ago, he said, because there was no sign of corrosion or anything growing on them.

Brozowski loaded them into his kayak and lugged them home. He hasn’t reported the thefts to police, he said, in part because he doesn’t want them to wind up sitting in an evidence locker. Instead, he wants to figure out where they came from so he can return them.

“I’m an American, [I] appreciate the veterans,” he said. “These guys did their service.”

Finding out where the markers were originally placed could be difficult, though, in large part because the theft of such items has become relatively common.

“It’s been going on for four or five years now,” said Paul Fiske of Allentown, who helped organize the Lehigh Valley Veterans History Project Round Table. “If they’re old markers … they can be sold for the value of the metal.”

Fiske said he’d try to help Brozowski figure out where the markers came from. Even if they can’t, though, there’s still some hope: Fiske said veterans groups are used to replacing such items, so the graves they came from should get replacement markers.

Brian.callaway@mcall.com

610-820-6168

Copyright © 2010, The Morning Call

The Revolutionary War 1776-1781

One of Jeffersons most lasting reforms as a legislator was to introduce a workable balance of powers into the governmental structure. By establishing separate executive, judicial and legislative wings, Jefferson created a model later adopted in the Constitution of the United States (See the Constitution SparkNote). Though Jefferson was always more comfortable in a legislative position, his political skills repeatedly thrust him into executive roles. On the strength of his impressive record in the Virginia Assembly, Jefferson was catapulted from legislator to chief executive when his colleagues elected him to a one-year term as governor on June 1, 1779.>Partly by Jeffersons own design, the executive was granted few powers in the overall structure of the Virginia government. Thus, upon promotion, Jeffersons hands were tied by virtue of his own decree. Such limitations were all the more frustrating in the face of the difficult war at hand.

The first years of the war had not gone entirely favorably for the Americans. Initially, they were sorely outnumbered by British forces. On the brink of defeat, George Washingtons brilliant crossing of the Delaware River on Christmas night 1776 rallied the cause. The 1778 entry of the French into the war on behalf of the Americans also provided a much-needed military boost. But when the long winter of 1778 at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania depleted Washingtons forces severely, he turned to Virginia to call up reserve forces.

Most of the early fighting had been done in Canada, New England, and New York, and when Jefferson assumed his governorship Virginia was still largely untouched by warfare. Still, Jefferson was hard-pressed when ordered to recruit within Virginia. The domestic force had already been thinned out by then-Governor Patrick Henrys ambitious foray into the Great Lakes region, where a task force of troops attempted to secure a hold on lands that had been claimed by Britain under the Quebec Act.

Under Jefferson, these efforts were redoubled. A secret expedition led by George Rogers Clark set out to re-conquer the disputed territory for keeps. Retreat came only in 1780 when Jefferson promised to cede the newly secured territory to the United States. Out of these lands, the present-day states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin were formed.

Closer to home, Virginia suffered a setback when the British made a successful blockade of Chesapeake Bay in 1779, limiting trade severely and essentially paralyzing the economy. In an effort to revive flagging finances, Jefferson began a severe flurry of loyalist confiscations, claiming land and property of all citizens suspected of maintaining an alliance with British interests.

To combat the impending coastal threat, Jefferson made good on his long-standing plan to move the capital inland from Williamsburg to Richmond, where it remains to this day. While this change was ostensibly made to weaken the tactical advantage of Britains blockade, it also permanently altered the balance of power within Virginia, transferring significant political influence from the Tidewater aristocracy to the Piedmont frontiersmen in line with Jeffersons democratic agenda.

Toward the close of 1779, the British navy landed at Charleston, South Carolina, which they quickly seized. The southern wing of the continental army was left in shambles, and support for the loyalist cause began to mount. Sensing a positive swing in momentum, the British army began to push north through Georgia and the Carolinas.

In the midst of this threat, Jefferson was elected to a second one-year term as governor in the spring of 1780. Attempting to improve Virginias defenses, he called for the creation of an autonomous state army. However, his weak executive claim was rejected by the council of state, which distrusted this move toward a stronger centralization of government power. Again, this was partly by his own doing, and to his own philosophy, by which he viewed the establishment of a temporary dictator in time of emergency as fundamentally against the principles of democracy.

Because of this intensely democratic streak, when British forces led by turncoat Benedict Arnold and Lord Cornwallis entered the Virginia interior in January of 1781, Jefferson and company were particularly powerless to defend themselves. Many of their ablest fighters had been sent elsewhere in the service of Washington. Due to the continued decentralization of government power , only a disorganized and inexperienced force remained to fight for the home cause. Thus, the British arrived unchecked at Richmond, and considerable damage was done to the area before Jefferson and his family were able to escape.

With the focus of the war shifting more squarely to the southern states, the Americans shifted its emphasis accordingly. Washington sent French reinforcements under the command of Marquis de Lafayette to help defend Virginia. Jefferson made fast friends with Lafayette, and the two maintained a transatlantic friendship throughout their lives. But while Jefferson was at home in the company of military masterminds, he himself was ill-equipped to negotiate the perils of war. Recognizing this fact, he stepped down as governor in June 1781 at the conclusion of his second term, out of deference to the sitting commander of the state militia, General Thomas Nelson.

Jeffersons nearest brush with war came mere days later, when British troops under Banastre Tarleton attacked Charlottesville. Jefferson, who was staying at one of his outlying estates, was warned of the attack just in time, and was able to disperse family and visitors to various shelters. He himself fled to safety just as the approaching British arrived within sight.

American fortunes took a dramatic swing for the better in the late summer and early autumn of 1781, as a force including three French troops to every American moved into Virginia waters and launched an amphibious assault upon the British forces stationed there. In unexpectedly swift fashion, Lord Cornwallis was brought to his knees by the onslaught, resulting in the British surrender at Yorktown on October 19, 1781. The United States, with ample help from several European allies, had made its case for true independence, turning back the most powerful imperial force of the eighteenth century.

Unhappily, Jefferson shared no large part of the glory at the time. In fact, he was roundly criticized in Virginia for his fumbling administration and for the near-debacles that had almost led to his capture. A formal inquiry into his conduct as governor ensued, and although he was later cleared of all suspicion, the resulting stain on his integrity was significant. Jefferson, convinced that the inquiry had been precipitated by a jealous Patrick Henry, cut all ties with his former ally and resolved to be forever done with the trials of public office.

Thus, at the age of thirty-eight, Jefferson retired to Monticello with the intention of leaving political life permanently behind. Many of his smaller estates had been left in disarray by the ravages of war, and his crops and livestock had been uniformly destroyed. Among the ample property that had been stolen was a group of thirty slaves. So, with reputation tarnished and remaining holdings in shambles, Jefferson set out to attend to the care of his personal fortunes, which had been neglected so severely in his devotion to the cause of revolution.

Shereen Dindar June 9, 2010 – 5:10 pm

A team of international archeologists have discovered the world’s oldest leather shoe in an Armenian cave.

The perfectly preserved 5,000 year old shoe has blown away researchers due to its excellent condition relative to its age.

“We thought initially that the shoe and other objects were about 600 to 700 years old because they were in such good condition,” Ron Pinhasi, lead researcher and archeologist from University College Cork in Ireland, said in a statement.

“It was only when the material was dated by two radiocarbon laboratories in Oxford, U.K., and in California, U.S. that we realized the shoe was older by a few hundred years than the shoes worn by Ötzi, the Iceman.”

The researcher have received funding from a handful of organizations, including the National Geographic Society and UCLA.

Discovered by Armenian PhD student, Ms. Diana Zardaryan, the shoe’s cow hide dates back to ~ 3,500 (the Chalcolithic period) and is made of a single piece of leather shaped to fit the wearer’s foot.

“I was amazed to find that even the shoe-laces were preserved,” said Ms. Zardaryan in a media statement.

Alexi Smith/Reuters

University College Cork archaeologist Ron Pinhasi photographs an area of a dig in the Armenian cave where what is believed to be the world’s oldest leather shoe.

The researchers suspect cool and dry temperatures inside the cave resulted in exceptional preservation. Other items were found as well, including large containers, many of which held well-preserved wheat, barley and apricots.

UCLA archeologist Gregory Areshian, who was there at the time the shoe was found, described the items as “fresh dried, like they were put in a can.”

It is unclear whether the shoe was made for a man or woman. While it is a U.S. size 7  women, it could have easily fitted a man’s foot during that era.

The shoe contained grass, although the archaeologists were uncertain as to whether this was to keep the foot warm or to maintain the shape of the shoe.

Interestingly, the shoe is very similar to the ‘pampooties’ worn on the Aran Islands (in the West of Ireland) up to the 1950s.

“In fact, enormous similarities exist between the manufacturing technique and style of this shoe and those found across Europe at later periods, suggesting that this type of shoe was worn for thousands of years across a large and environmentally diverse region,” said Mr. Pinhasi.

To date, the oldest known footwear in the world are sandals made of plant material found in the Arnold Research Cave in Missouri.

Posted in: Posted, Science & Health, World

A story broke today saying that tombstones at Arlington National Cemetery were found piled in a creek. A reporter sniffing around the cemetery found old headstones piled up in the bank of a creek to stop erosion. However, the first one checked on, turned out to be a worn replacement and a new stone for that person was in its proper place.

Not too long ago, the Cemetery changed its rules about old or defective tombstones that have been replaced. Prior to the policy change, a stone that had deteriorated, broken or was engraved wrong was disposed of in unspecified ways. The stones in this story probably were of that type and were used rather than discarded. The policy has been changed and all defective stones which have been replaced are to be ground up.

But the real story here is how our society has become disrespectful of the dead, veterans and civilians a like. I know many, many, instances of Veteran’s tombstones in civilian cemeteries that are highly denigrated, vandalized, or worn beyond recognition. There are families today, who never visit the graves of their friends and relatives, much less try to be mindful of the responsibility to their heritage or lives of others who have gone on.

Many people today really have no compassion or respect for their living family or ancestors. Some are just self absorbed and heartless, others succumb to what has been described as “Toxic Family Syndrome” which is just another form of avoiding coming to grips with reality and facing their own problems. But at the bottom of it all, is a culture that ever increasingly has come to ignore the world around them, the past and their own blood. Cemeteries and nursing homes are there to facilitate the “Out of Sight, Out Of Mind” national mental disease.

PS. Tonight Anderson Cooper referred to the graves at Arlington National Cemetery as the graves of “those who paid the ultimate sacrifice for our country”. Actually, the majority of graves in Arlington National Cemetery belong to people who did NOT die while they were in the service or serving the country. They are heroes, none-the-less, for having served, but this was a case of Andersons being born with a silver foot in his mouth and his youthful ignorance.