The Lenape Stone; or, The Indian and the MammothMercer, Henry C.
History
The Lenape Stone; or, The Indian and the Mammoth
Mercer, Henry C.
Delaware Indians; Mammoths; Picture-writing, Indian
Bernard Hansell, the discoverer of the Lenape Stone, states that he
found the carved gorget (fig. 23) in this heap of earth on Thursday
the 8th of last month; his brother had previously found there several
flint chips, and Hansell had gone to the spot, on the day in question,
expressly to look for "Indian relics."
The day was warm and the trench full of water. The field was very
muddy. Hansell found the stone, the perforation in which had attracted
his attention, protruding a little from the mud on the outside of the
heap, and in the yellow earth last thrown out. Without displacing it,
he returned to the house, and brought his brother, William Hansell, to
the spot, that the latter might witness his discovery. Then removing
the stone from the mud, he washed it in the water of the trench, not
rubbing it, but holding it in the water for about five minutes. The
mud clinging to it, having melted and frozen several times within a
few days, was very soft and dissolved easily. On the same day Hansell
informed the writer of his discovery in a letter.
The stone is a soft, red shale, similar in appearance to the Lenape
Stone. Unlike the specimens (figs. 19 and 20) found on the surface of
the ground, its surface presents a very polished and rubbed appearance,
as if it had been subjected to long wear after the carvings had been
made. The lines, the edges of which are much worn and rubbed, do not
seem sharply and deeply cut, as those of fig. 20 or the Lenape Stone,
and the bottoms of the grooves, to which the soil still clings, appear
rounded, as if cut with a dull point--as in the case of the shallow
incisions upon fig. 19.
The discovery of this stone in the clayey soil, beneath the black
stratum above mentioned, and where it had lain for an indefinite
period beyond the reach of the ploughshare, would account for its
polished appearance and the absence of weathering upon its surface--the
conditions of its discovery generally corresponding with those in the
case of highly polished implements found in the mounds.
[Illustration: FIG. 23.--(Natural size) Carved "Gorget" Found on the
Hansell Farm, January 8, 1885.]
The design consists of: (_a_) three waving lines representative of
water; (_b_) three points between the perforations, referring probably
to wigwams--possibly an allusion to the triple clanship of the Lenapes
and their settlement by the _Lenape whittuck_ or Delaware River; (_c_)
a bow; (_d_) an arrow; and (_e_) a quiver.
The design on the reverse side, of which we here give a rough outline
(fig. 24) consists mainly of a series of circular waving lines,
representative probably of water; numerical dots and "tallies";
and three triangular outlines, common Indian symbols for the human
figure, and again suggestive perhaps of the Wolf, Turtle, and Turkey
brotherhood of the Lenapes.
[Illustration: FIG. 24.--Reverse of fig. 23.]
FOOTNOTES:
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[A] See Hansell's sworn statement in the appendix.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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