Indians of North America -- Ohio; Mounds -- Ohio; Ohio -- Antiquities
In this region the modifications begin, as heretofore shown, and
continue along the belt mentioned through West Virginia,
culminating in the modern form in western North Carolina and East
Tennessee.
As pipes of this form have never been found in connection with the
stone graves, there are just grounds for eliminating the Shawnees
from the supposed authors of the Ohio works. On the other hand,
the engraved shells are limited almost exclusively to the works of
the Shawnees and Cherokees (taking for granted that the former
were the authors of the box-shaped stone graves south of the Ohio
and the latter of the works in western North Carolina and East
Tennessee), but are wanting in the Ohio mounds. It follows,
therefore, if the theory here advanced (that the Cherokees
constructed some of the typical works of Ohio) be sustained, that
these specimens of art are of Southern origin, as the figures
indicate, and that the Cherokees began using them only after they
had reached their historical locality.
Other reasons for eliminating the Shawnees and other Southern
tribes from the supposed authors of the typical Ohio works are
furnished by the character, form, and ornamentation of the pottery
of the two sections, which are readily distinguished from each
other.
That the Cherokees and Shawnees were distinct tribes, and that the
few similarities in customs and art between them were due to
vicinage and intercourse are well-known historical facts. But
there is nothing of this kind to forbid the supposition that the
former were the authors of some of the Ohio works. Moreover, the
evidence that they came from a more northern locality, added to
that furnished by the pipes, seems to connect them with the Ohio
mound-builders. In addition to this there is the tradition of the
Delawares, given by Heckewelder, which appears to relate to no
known tribe unless it be the Cherokees. Although this tradition
has often been mentioned in works relating to Indians and kindred
subjects, it is repeated here that the reader may judge for
himself as to its bearing on the subject now under consideration:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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