Daily National Intelligencer

ANTIQUITIES OF MARIETTA.

MARIETTA, JULY 19.

In removing the earth which composed an ancient mound in one of the streets of Marietta, on the margin of the plain, near the fortifications, several curious articles were discovered, the latter part of June last. They appear to have been buried with the body of the person to whose memory this mound was erected.

Lying immediately over, or on the forehead of the body, were found three large circular bosses, or ornaments for a sword belt, or a buckler; they are composed of copper, overlaid with a thick plate of silver. The fronts of them are slightly convex, with a depression, like a cup in the centre, and measure two inches and a quarter, across the face of each. On the back side, opposite the depressed portion, is a copper rivet, or nail, around which are two separate plates, by which they were fastened to the leather. Two small pieces of the leather were found lying between the plates of one of the bosses; they resemble the skin of an old mummy, and seemed to have been preserved by the salts of the copper. The plates of copper are nearly reduced to an oxide, or rust. The silver looks quite black, but is not much corroded, and on rubbing, it becomes quite brilliant. Two of these are yet entire; the third one is so much wasted, that it dropped in pieces on removing it from the earth. Around the rivet of one of them is a small quantity of flax or hemp in a tolerable state of preservation. Near the side of the body, was found a plate of silver which appears to have been the upper part of a sword scabbard; it is six inches in length and two inches in breadth, and weighs one ounce; it has no ornaments or figures; but has three longitudinal ridges, which probably correspond with the edges or ridges of the sword—it seems to have been fastened to the scabbard by three or four rivets, the holes of which yet remain in the silver. Two or three broken pieces of a copper tube, were also found, filled with iron rust. These pieces, from their appearance, composed the lower end of the scabbard, near the point of the sword. No sign of the sword itself was discovered, except the appearance of rust above mentioned.

Near the feet, was found a piece of copper weighing three ounces. From its shape it appears to have been used as a plumb, or for an ornament, as near one of the ends is a circular crease, or groove, for tying a thread; it is round, two inches and an half in length, one inch in diameter at the centre, and half an inch at each end. It is composed of plates or pieces of native copper, pounded together; and in the cracks between the pieces, are stuck several pieces of silver; one nearly the size of a four penny piece, or half a disme. This copper ornament was covered with a coat of green rust, and is considerably corroded. A piece of red ochre or paint, and a piece of iron ore, which has the appearance of having been partially vitrified, or melted, were also found. The ore is about the specific gravity of pure iron.

The body of the person here buried, was laid on the surface of the earth, with his face upwards, and his feet pointing to the N. East, and head to the S. West. From the appearance of several pieces of charcoal, and bits of partially burnt fossil coal, and the black colour of the earth, it would seem that the funeral obsequies had been celebrated by fire; and while the ashes were yet hot and smoking, a circle of thin flat stones, had been laid around and over the body. The circular covering is about eight feet in diameter, and the stones yet look black, as if stained by fire and smoke. This circle of stones seems to have been a nucleus on which the mound was formed, as immediately over them is heaped the common earth of the adjacent plain, composed of a clayey sand and coarse gravel. This mound must originally have been about 10 feet high, and 30 feet in diameter at its base. At the time of opening it, the height was six feet, and diameter between 30 and 40. It has every appearance of being as old as any in the neighborhood, and was covered with large trees, at the first settlement of the Marietta, the remains of whose roots were yet apparent in digging away the earth. It also seems to have been made for this single personage, as the remains of one skeleton only were discovered.—The bones were much decayed and many of them crumbled to dust on exposure to the air. From the length of some of them it is supposed the person was about 6 feet in height. Nothing unusual was discovered in their form, except that those of the skull were uncommonly thick. The situation of the mound on high ground, near the margin of the plain and the porous quality of the earth, are admirably calculated to preserve any perishable substance from the certain decay which would attend it in many other situations. To these circumstances, is attributed the tolerable state of preservation in which several of the articles above described were found, after laying in the earth for several centuries. We say centuries, from the fact that trees were found growing on those ancient works, whose ages were ascertained to amount to between four and five hundred years each, by counting the concentric circles in the stumps after the trees were cut down; and on the ground beside them were other trees in a state of decay that appeared to have fallen from old age. Of what language, or of what nation were this mighty race, that once inhabited the territory watered by the Ohio, remains yet a mystery, too great for the most learned to unravel.

But from what we see of their works, they must have had some acquaintance with the arts and sciences. They have left us perfect specimens of circles, squares, octagons, and parallel lines, on a grand and noble scale. And unless it can be proved that they had intercourse with Asia or Europe, we now see that they possessed the art of working in metals.

N. B. The above described articles are in the possession of Doct. Hildreth, and can be seen by any one desirous of viewing them. American Friend.