Martinsburg Gazette And Public Advertiser

ANTIQUITIES OF OHIO.

"From realms deceas'd
Wakes as from sleep, unspend'd or increas'd."

[Darwin.]

In excavating the earth for a lockpit, West of the Racoon Creek, about a half a mile West of the town of Newark, (Ohio,) a large number of human bones were destroyed by the plough, deposited in a manner, I believe, altogether peculiar to this cemetery. "The bones were deposited, or at least, found, not more than two feet below the surface of the earth, in a place where there was a slight elevation of the ground, or about thirty inches, but not sufficient to entitle it to the name of a Mound. They were all carbonised, or burnt, were of different sizes, and amounted to the number of ten or fifteen. What was peculiar in their mode of burial, was, they were all covered with a greater or less quantity of very beautiful transparent mica. One of the skeletons was completely covered with the mica, and was, it seems, by way of distinction, buried a short distance from the remainder. This was a large frame, and, like the rest, was carbonised. The quantity of mica would amount, according to the statement of a gentleman who was present at the time of the discovery, to eight or ten bushels. The pieces were of various sizes and shapes, though generally triangular; the bases of some were four or five inches in length. Several specimens of this beautiful mineral substance may be seen in this town. To what race did this people belong? When did they exist? And why were the tenants of this cemetery buried with such marked distinction? Advocate.