Transactions of the Academy of Science of St. Louis.

The —_
Whelpley Collectiotf
of Indian Artifacts

The
Whelpley Collection

of Indian Artifacts

missOUR! BORANIAL
Leonard W. Blake and
JUL 18 1988

James G. Houser

GARDEN LIBRARY

Transaction of the Academy of Science of St. Louis
Volume 32 Number 1
FEBRUARY 1978

Dr. Henry M.Whelpley

Dr. Henry Milton Whelpley was one of those extraordinary individuals whose accom-
plishments and interests seemed too numerous to fit into the span of one life. He was
at once a teacher of medicine on the faculty of two colleges, a college dean, an editor,
a collector, lecturer and nationally known authority on the American Indian.

Dr. Whelpley was born in Battle Creek, Michigan, on May 24, 1861. His father, who
joined the Union Army during the Civil War, moved the family to Cobden, Illinois,
shortly after the war ended. It was there that young Henry first became interested in
Indian artifacts. Undoubtedly, he was encouraged by his father who was also a collec-
tor. Later the family returned to Michigan where Henry Whelpley finished high school.
He attended the St. Louis College of Pharmacy, graduating in 1883 at the age of 22.
Whelpley was a bright student, winning the alumni medal for the best scholastic
record in his graduating class. For the first two months following his graduation, he
managed the company pharmacy at Mine LaMotte, Madison County, Missouri. He
returned to St. Louis in 1884 to become the associate editor of the St Louis
Druggist. \n 1890 he graduated from Missouri Medical College, and two years later
he completed his work at the St. Louis Postgraduate School of Medicine. In June of
1892 he married Laura Eugenia Spannagel.

Whether lecturing on Indian lore to a group of Rotarians or teaching physiology to
college students, Henry M. Whelpley was first and foremost a teacher. His ability to
communicate with others was evident to the board of directors of his high school
who provided young Henry with a year’s tuition for teaching a class in algebra that
could not be accommodated in the regular curriculum. At the St. Louis College of
Pharmacy, Whelpley was Dean and professor of pharmacognosy, materia medica,
and physiology. He was also secretary of the faculty, professor of physiology and
histology and Director of the Biological Laboratory of the Missouri Medical
College.

In addition to his teaching duties, Dr. Whelpley served a term as President of the
American Pharmaceutical Association and was treasurer of that group from 1908 to
1921. He was President of the American Conference of Pharmaceutical Faculties
from 1905-1906 and was Secretary of the Missouri Pharmaceutical Association for
30 years. He was also instrumental in organizing professional groups such as the
National Association of Boards of Pharmacy.

This is only a partial list of his activities; yet for all his endeavors, Henry Whelpley
found time to laboriously put together one of the largest and finest collections of
Indian artifacts in the Midwest. Many he collected himself in the fields near his
Illinois home, while others he obtained by purchase or trade with collectors and

dealers across the country. The list of fellow collectors with whom he com-

1) +

unicated early town telephone directory. But Henry Whelpley
was more than just a collector; he was also a scholar who, without formal training in
archaeology, was nonetheless greatly respected by both amateur and professional
archaeologists. He wrote many articles for professional as well as non-professional
journals. He was President of the Anthropological Society of St. Louis and chairman
of the committee on archaeology of the Missouri Historical Society. He was
Vice-President of the St. Louis Society of the American Institute of Archaeology.
He was a member of the National Research Council State Archaeological
Survey Committee, the Missouri Archaeological Survey and the Academy of
Science of St. Louis.

When Dr. Whelpley died in June of 1926, the collection that he had compiled over
nearly 60 years went to his wife, Laura. A newspaper article that appeared in the
Globe Democrat two months after his death described the collection as numbering
50,000 artifacts and worth $250,000 dollars. The article added that the figure
50,000 was a guess, since the collection had never been inventoried. When it was
finally catalogued nearly 40 years later, the total came to fewer than 17,000
artifacts. While somewhat diminished from original estimates, it was nonetheless
an impressive collection by any reckoning.

During the time that Mrs. Whelpley owned the collection, she occasionally gave
individual pieces to close friends and relatives, so that today portions of the collection
are still held in private hands. In 1943 Laura Whelpley gave the collection remaining
in her care to the Academy of Science of St. Louis. Selected artifacts from the collec-
tion were displayed for a time at the Academy of Science Museum on Lindell, while
the bulk of the material remained stored in a motley assortment of old spool
drawers, cartons, crates and other temporary containers, In 1959 when the Museum
moved to Oak Knoll Park in Clayton, all the collections (including Dr. Whelpley’s)
were transferred to the new facilities. Shortly after the move, cataloguing the
Whelpley collection began in earnest. The job required a year and a half and the
volunteer services of two dedicated and knowledgeable men, Leonard Blake and
Harold Mohrman. For the first time the scope of this collection was revealed. Most
of the material was collected in Missouri and IMlinois with lesser but substantial
numbers of artifacts having been found in the surrounding states of Kentucky,
Ohio, Oklahama, Tennessee and Arkansas. Dr. Whelpley was a discriminating collec-
tor, and many of the pieces are unique and among the finest examples of prehistoric
Indian craftsmanship. The weakness of the collection is one that is typical of older
collections - detailed information with each piece is either lacking or sketchy.
Approximately 80 per cent of the artifacts have written upon them the county and
state where found, but little else. Ten to 15 per cent have no data at all and, perhaps,

5 per cent have the nameof the farm or some other specific information in addition
to the county and state noted on the specimen.

The following is a completed inventory
of the Museum’s archaeological collec- some material donated by persons
tions by category. The figures include other than Laura Whelpley.

Pott -
panne Ceremonial objects-143

: Small pottery (figurines, fragments,
eens etc.)-280
Atlatl weights and other polished
stone-466 Plummets-457
Discoidals-187 Ornaments-444
Notched hoes-379 Lanceolate points-465
Unnotched hoes-1110 All other categories of points-6216
Grooved axes-1120 Drills-712
Hand tools-1395 Miscellaneous artifacts and artifacts of

doubtful authenticity-100
Celts-811

The question might properly be asked: why does a museum need a collection of
this size? There are, of course, many reasons. The Whelpley collection, as well
as other collections owned by the Museum, form a large and varied source of
material for not only the Museum’s permanent exhibits, but also for the tem-
porary and traveling exhibits. The education department at this Museum draws
constantly on the Whelpley collection for material for their suitcase exhibits (small
exhibits delivered on request to schools throughout the metropolitan area) and for
demonstrations to school groups visiting the museum. The Exhibits Exodus
program, panel exhibits and modular exhibits that are set up in bank lobbies,
theatres, schools, libraries and other public places also use specimens from the
collection. And collections serve purposes other than public exhibit. They are a
store house of source material for scholars, educators, students and amateur collec-
tors. Over the last 15 years the Whelpley collection has been used at least once by
every major university within a radius of 150 miles of St. Louis. Finally, there
is the obligation to preserve these articles of the past for generations of the future.
Of all public and private institutions, museums are best suited to do this.

Figure 1.

Photo copy of letter of February 8, 1900 of F.S. Brochett to Dr. Whelpley

Plate

Plate 1.

This large, stone pipe represents a player of a game still
played in historic times throughout the Southeast called
chunkey, which has been spelled a number of dif-

ferent ways. Swanton, 1946 (Bureau of American Ethnology,
Bulletin 137, p.682) has a good description of the game.
“There are evidently several different varieties (of the game
of chunkey), but all made use of a smooth stone roller and
two long, slender poles, often supplied with short crosspieces
midway of their length. While there were usually only two
active participants, numbers of onlookers wagered quantities
of property on the outcome. The essence of the game was
to start the roller along a smooth piece of ground with
which every town was supplied, after which the two players
threw their poles after it with the idea of hitting the stone,
coming as near it as possible when the stone came to rest,

or preventing the opponent’s stick from accomplishing
either of these results.” In the West a similar game was
played with a small hoop instead of a smooth stone roller.
Rollers like those used in the game historically have been
found throughout the South and Middle West. Some, which
date as early as A.D. 900-1000 were found in Mound 72
at Cahokia. They are usually associated with the Mississippi
culture. Disc-shaped, smooth stone rollers are usually called
discoidals in archaeological reports.

It will be remembered that Mr. F.S. Brochett in his letter of
February 8, 1900 to Dr. Whelpley described the pipe figure
as holding a ‘“‘medicine bowl” in his right hand and ‘‘two
long round clubs”’ in his left. Mr. Brochett was obviously
not well informed. The right hand holds a discoidal, the left
two poles, as described by Swanton.

Plate 2

Plate 2.

This shows a sampling of some of the discoidals in the
Whelpley collection.

Plate 2.

>

Catalog No. 14X78, from Mountain Glen, Union Co., Ill.

w

Catalog No. 14X46, provenience is unknown.

2)

Catalog No. 14X1, from McLean Co., Ill. in 1861.

9

Catalog No. 14X24, provenience is unknown.

Mm

. Catalog No. 14X29, from New Madrid Co., Mo.

a

Catalog No. 14X36, from Clay Co., Ill. in 1860.

Plate 3. Plate 4.

Plate 5. pts

Plates 3-6.

There are four head vases (effigies of human heads) in the
Whelpley collection. Two views of two of each of these

are shown in Plates 3-6 (Plate 3 and 4, Catalog No. 8X57,
Plate 5 and 6, Catalog No. 8X63). Both are from Mississ-
ippi County, Arkansas. Lawrence Mills, who examined the
Museum’s specimens when preparing an essay on “‘Mississ-
ippian Head Vases of Arkansas and Missouri” for the
Missouri Archaeologist (1968, Vol. 30), made the following
comments on this type of vessel: ‘‘The purpose of the
head vase is still unknown. There seems little question that
they are of a funerary nature, but no contents of vases have
been preserved to indicate what, if anything was stored in
them. The majority are poorly documented and were pro-
bably surface finds or were uncovered by pot hunters.”

There is one documented find of a head vase with a burial
(No. 10A) at the Campbell site in Pemiscott County in the
Missouri bootheel (Chapman and Anderson, 1955, p.62).
The time period is estimated at approximately A.D. 1540-
1650 (p. 105).

Mills goes on to say that, “It would seem likely that the
heads represented one concept of portraiture with distinct
individualism being represented by facial painting and tatoo-
ing, rather than the position and proportions of the facial
features.’ He points out that nearly all the known vessels
of the type in the Museum’s collection come from a limited
area in northeastern Arkansas and southeastern Missouri
near the Mississippi. The Museum’s specimens are all from
Mississippi County in northeastern Arkansas. Head vessels
are rare. Mills reported that he was able to locate and des-
cribe only 63 of all types. Previously a total of only 59 had
been reported.

Plate 7.

Plate 7.

On the bottom of this effigy vessel of a mother nursing a
child (Catalog No. 8X65) is the following notation in Dr.
Whelpley’s handwriting:

“Found in a small mound in 1876, East St. Louis, Illinois,
St. Clair Co., Francis Simonin farm, now 7600 State St.”

The vessel was apparently made to hold liquids or small
objects. There is a hole approximately one inch (2.5 cm.)
in diameter in the back of the head as in other examples
of this class of pottery vessels, commonly called hooded
water bottles, Archaeological investigations have shown
that this type of vessel was made by prehistoric Indians,
probably some time in the period of about A.D
1000-1400. The material culture of the people who made
such vessels has been called Middle Mississippi by arch-
aeologists. Regional variations of Mississippi were wide-
spread throughout much of the Mississippi Valley. Some of
these lasted into historic times and included several
different tribal groups.

We have been told that this is the only known vessel of this
type made by prehistoric Indians in the Midwest which
depicts a mother nursing a child.

Plate 8.

Plates 8 and 9.

Hooded water bottles such as these (Plate 8, Catalog No.
8X319, provenience unknown; Plate 9, Catalog No. 8X73,
Mississippi Co., Mo.) depicting elderly, humpbacked women,
have been found most frequently as burial offerings in the
region near the junction of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers.
Archaeological investigations indicate that they were made
by Indians of the Middle Mississippi culture some time after
A.D. 1000. It may be suggested that such vessels represent
deities, legendary figures or even female humpbacks with
whom the potters were acquainted. However, since none
of the makers survived to reveal their meaning, such expla-
nations are only conjecture. Their true significance remains
unknown.

Plate 9.

Plate 10.
Plate 11.

Plate 12.

Plates 10, 11, 12.

Plates 10 and 11 are views of a bowl with two outward
facing human heads (Catalog No. 8X43). The vessel
has red slip or paint in the interior. The heads show
painting in a band across the nose, around the mouth
and around the forehead. The throat, body and arms
are indicated by red paint, and the figures give the
impression that they are swimming. On the outside
of the vessel is a notation that it came from Lawrence
County, Arkansas.

Plate 12 (Catalog No. 8X58) is an effigy bowl
representing a person lying on his back. It is vaguely
reminiscent of the chacmoo/ figures in Mexico.

This vessel also bears a red slip or paint on both the
inside and outside. Note that there are five fingers and
a thumb on each hand on the sides of the bowl. A
notation on the side indicates that the vessel came from
Mississippi County, Arkansas.

Both of these vessels were made by Indians of the
Middle Mississippi culture.

a a |

Plate 13.

Plate 13.

A letter regarding this pot (Catalog No. 8X273) dated
March 24, 1971, from Dr. Charles C. DiPeso, Director
of the Amerind Foundation, Inc. and a leading
authority on the Casas Grandes settlement in Chihuahu
Mexico, reads in part as follows: ‘‘The definition of
brown and black and the obvious vitrification of the
black as reflected in the photograph, suggests that this
is a very rare hooded effigy of Huerigos Polychrome.
Most of these forms appear in Ramos Polychrome
Standard Variant, and one would have to almost
examine the object firsthand to determine the difference
... produced in the Casas Grandes Valley sometime
between A.D, 1050 and 1340.”

&

Plate 14.

Plate 14.

In the spring of 1895, John Francis Snyder, a medical doctor, reported his excava-
tions of mounds in Brown County, Illinois, in a periodical called The Archaeologist.
Dr. Snyder’s article has been reprinted by the Illinois Historical Society in John
Francis Snyder, Selected Writings, edited by Clyde C. Walton, 1962. In a large
mound on the land of a farmer named Paul Baehr, on the Illinois River floodplain,
he reported finding a little ‘“‘headless image” and at another time a second
“terra cotta image.”’ Both of these figurines were illustrated by life-sized line
drawings in his publication.

Most of Dr. Snyder’s collection from the Baehr farm was eventually acquired

by the American Museum of Natural History in New York. The whereabouts of the
figurines was unrecorded until 1967. In that year when Ms. Nancy Engel, an author-
ity on prehistoric North American figurines, was in St. Louis sketching figurines
in the hands of museums and collectors, she recognized these two in the Whelpley
collection as the long-lost Snyder figurines from the Baehr Mounds.

The headless male figure on the left (Catalog No. 9X183) was found on a mica plate
with flint chips and bone-perforated, pulley type ear spools near a skull in the big
Baehr Mound. The figure on the right (Catalog No. 9X285) was found wrapped in a
woven bag of vegetable fiber with a copper celt and a very small, four-lobed pottery
vessel with a tall neck in the same mound (Griffin et al, 1970; p. 82).

Both figurines were made by Indians who lived in the Midwest between about 200
B.C. and A.D, 300; their culture has been called Hopewell in archaeological zical
publications. Tribal affiliations and language or languages are unknown, as the cul-
ture did not survive into historic times.

Photographs of the two Snyder figurines were used by Dr. James B. Griffin and
Richard E. Flanders in a monograph dedicated to the late Dr. Paul F. Titterington,
titled: ‘The Burial Complexes of the Knight and Norton Mounds in Illinois
and Michigan,” 1970.

Dr. Titterington, like Dr. Whelpley, was an active member of the Academy of Science
of St. Louis for many years and a lifelong student of midwestern archaeology.

Plate 16. Plate 17.

Plate 15.

Plate 15, 16, and 17.

Plate 15 (Catalog No. 8X69) is a realistic, but oversized
frog effigy vessel nearly a foot long. Barely showing in
the photograph are two holes on both the front and rear
of the opening on the back, presumably for suspension.
This seems to indicate that the vessel had a utilitarian
function, and was not solely for mortuary use. The pot
is well smoothed and fired, the work of an expert, as
well as artistic potter. Notation on the base indicates
that it was discovered in Mississippi County, Arkansas.

Plate 16 (Catalog No. 8X47) is a stylized effigy of a
dog. This type of vessel has been called both an open
mouthed water bottle, and a narrow-neck olla.

The dog is less realistic than the pottery Co/ima dogs
of Mexico. The Mexican dog representations sometimes
have an opening in the end of a straight tail, instead
of on the top of the back as in this vessel. There is no
information on where this well made vessel was
found, but it is similar to others from near the Missi-
ssippi River in the Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee,
and Arkansas area.

Plate 17 (Catalog No. 8X59) is an animal effigy in the
form of a hooded water bottle. The animal resembles
a raccoon. The modeling is less sure than that of the
other two vessels. A notation on the back indicates
that it was found in Fulton County, Kentucky in 1880.

All three of these vessels were made by Mississippian
Indians, probably sometime in the period of about
A.D. 1300-1600.

Plate 18.

Plate 18.

This compound vessel consists of a wide-mouthed water
bottle resting on a jar with strap handles (Catalog No.
8X45). It is from Fulton County, Kentucky, which is

in extreme southwestern Kentucky across the Mississ-

ippi River from New Madrid, Missouri.

James B. Griffin, noted authority on Indian pottery in the
eastern United States, calls vessels such as this Vertica/
Compound Vessels. We can do no better than to quote
some of his comments. ‘‘There are numerous variations,
including jar on jar, bottle on jar, bottle on bowl, etc.
This treatment is, of course, rather widespread, and is
found in eastern United States in Hopewell times’ (that
is, about A.D. 1), ‘‘but reaches a peak in the Mississippi
cultures, and particularly in southeast Missouri and the
Survey area. It is also found in the Caddo area’”’ (parts
of western Arkansas and surrounding area) ‘‘but not
as commonly as in the St. Francis, Memphis and southeast
Missouri.’’ He also notes that ‘‘Vertical compound forms
are found in the Southwest and particularly in the Casas
Grandes area of Chihuahua.” (Phillips, Ford and Griffin,
1951, p. 170, Figure 104, k-o, t).

Plate 19.

Plate 19.

There is no direct information on the place from which
this beautifully decorated vessel (Catalog No. 8X50)
came. James B. Griffin has called vessels with decorations
such as those on this pot, Rhodes /ncised. ‘‘Whorls and
festoons cover the body and occasionally the rim. This
design, as observed on whole pots, characteristically
spirals from a nuclear swastika or triskele repeated four
times on the vessel.”’ (Phillips, Ford and Griffin, 1951, p.
127, and Figure 98). He notes that this decoration occurs
on globular jars, some of which have a short straight
collar, as does this one, which he says is a common
feature on such jars found with burials. He further notes
that this kind of decoration is found on vessels from late
prehistoric Mississippian sites along the Mississippi River
floodplain principally in the area of Memphis, but also
extending down to about the mouth of the Arkansas
River. Comparable types are not found to the north or
east. Relationships appear to be rather with certain types
of the Caddo area to the west and possibly to certain
others in southern Louisiana.

Plate 20.

Plate 21.

Plate 20, 21.

This illustrates two chipped flint objects (Catalog No.
20X2 and 20X7, provenience unknown) which have been
variously called maces or batons. Their exact purpose is
not known. As far as can be learned, there is no record of
their use in historic times. The depiction of elaborately
garbed, dancing figures holding such objects, embossed
on copper or engraved on shell, indicates that their use
was probably ceremonial or religious rather than practical.
(See Figure 2 below).

In excavations in 1971 by the University of Missouri -
Columbia at the large, fortified Lilbourn site near New
Madrid, Missouri, a chipped flint object similar to the one
on the right of Plate 20 was found on the chest of a burial
of a mature adult male. (See Plate 21).

According to Waring and Holder (American Anthropologist,
1945, New Series, 47:1,11) batons, or representations of
them have been found at Etowah Mounds in Georgia,
Moundville in Alabama, Spiro Mound in northeastern
Oklahoma, near New Madrid, Missouri, and in Louisiana
and Illinois. An example of a wooden baton of similar
form was found preserved in the muck at Key Marco in
Florida by Frank Cushing in the late 1890's.

Figure 2. 4g Drawing Courtesy of Mrs, Eleanor Chapman

Plates 22, 23.

Four pieces of engraved shell are shown on these two plates. Each has two per-
forations near the edge and probably was suspended on a cord and worn as an
Ornament around the throat. Burials have been found with engraved shell
ornaments in this position, An example is the one presently exhibited in the Indian
Hall of the St. Louis Museum of Science and Natural History. Such ornaments
are called gorgets because they were worn near the throat. The word gorge
means the throat, according to Webster’s 20th Century Dictionary. All shown in
this plate were made by Indians of the Mississippi culture in southeastern United
States.

Plate 22 A.

Plate 22A (Catalog No. 21X66) This gorget is from Gallatin County, Illinois, which
is in the southeastern part of that state at the junction of the Ohio and Wabash
Rivers. Shell gorgets similar to this one are illustrated in Holmes, 1883, Plates
LXXI and LXXII and in Kneberg, 1959, Figures 34 - 38, all from eastern Tennessee.
Kneberg (pp. 5, 39) states that such gorgets have been found on sites of the Dallas
culture, a variety of Mississippi culture, and she estimates that they date between
A.D. 1350 and 1500.

The design on this gorget and on others like it represent a running or dancing figure
with along nose. The representations are so stylized that they appear to us to be
caricatures, though perhaps they were not to the people who made them. Represen-
tations of a long nosed figure in a variety of forms and materials have been found
Over a wide area from northern Florida to eastern Texas and as far north as south-
ern Minnesota. These are believed to represent a mythical character or diety which
has been called Long Nosed God in a number of archaeological publications. A
small copper mask of a face with a long nose was found in the Big Mound in St.
Louis. Big Mound was destroyed in 1869. An interesting account of this is given

in Williams and Goggin, 1956.

Plate 22 B.

Plate 22 B (Catalog No. 21X65) Information is not available on where this gorget
was found. Kneberg (1959, p. 15) calls the engraved design the Sca//oped Triskele
Design and says that it is widely distributed, occurring in central as well as eastern
Tennessee. As with the gorget shown in Plate 22 A, it has been found with burials
of the Dallas culture and is estimated to date between A.D. 1350 and 1500.
Kneberg deduces that the design motif may be a female symbol. Gorgets with this
design have never been found with male burials, only with those of women or
children.

One writer has suggested that scalloped discs such as this may represent sun sym-
bols. This is speculation, although the Indians in the southeastern United States,
when first discovered by Europeans, revered the sun and might have been called sun
worshipers with some justification.

Similar gorgets are illustrated in Holmes, 1883, Plate LVI; in Griffin, 1952, Figure
109G; and Kneberg, 1959, Figures 25 - 33.

c
0

Plate 23 A.

Plate 23 A (Catalog No. 21X399) This badly weathered shell gorget bears the nota-
tion “Mound, W. Va.” The design has been called a rattlesnake design by Holmes
and Kneberg because on others in better condition than this one, a
conventionalized rattlesnake may be discerned. A gorget with a rattlesnake design
was found with a burial which also contained iron trade items in North Carolina
(Thomas, 1893, pp. 336 - 338) and hence such gorgets probably are late. Kneberg
estimates they date from A.D. 1450 to 1750. Illustrations of gorgets of this type
may be seen in Holmes, 1883, plate LVIII; Griffin, 1952, Figure 109G and Kneberg,
1959, Figures 39 - 50.

Plate 23 B.

Plate 23 B (Catalog No. 21X400) Information is not available on where this gorget
was found. Designs similar to the looped strands which appear on this engraved
8orget are shown with representations of woodpeckers in Holmes, 1883, Plates
LVIIl and LVIX. The elements in these illustrations cross alternately instead of
in pairs, as on this gorget.

Plate 24.

i
SSB BH HE:

Plate 25.

Plates 24 and 25.

Plate 24 is a photograph of a large marine conch shell (Busycon perversum). The
inside of the shell has been cut away by the Indians to make a container for liquids
(Catalog No. 20X101, provenience unknown). Plate 25 illustrates a representation
of a conch shell in pottery from Fulton County, Kentucky (Catalog No. 8X31
possibly made by Indians who had seen one, but lacked the real thing. Conch shell
containers were often traded far inland and are sometimes found buried with the
dead, It is known from a number of descriptions of the customs of the southeastern
Indians by early explorers and traders that such containers were used for drinking
the black drink, which is described below (Williams, 1930, p. 49)

The Black Drink

an ion parched | f a species of holly (Ilex vomitoria) called t the Indians cassina
in some places, yaupon in othets, This holy shrub is f J Florida to Texa south i and northern Arkansa
Ferrad, #950, . 981). The drink by historic Indi i for | fi the Creek Indians the
st i j they believed, to invigorate mind and body and prep; are for thous pe debate. It was also used

nksgiving. A strong infusion of me drink | nas purg aulve, resins Posies ui tic _ cts, Investigation has
sown that the plant contains deo ps that a beverage made ea and coffee (Hodge,
Part 1, 1912, p. 150).

A drink made from the leaves of a species of holly 8 pa ) drunk fod ay in ts of — Swegeg a instead of tea or coffee.
It is called Paraguey tea or Mate, and it may es some mobkago and he in the ed States
An illustration of Indians in Florid king the black drink is shown below. (Fig eure 3), it: vas copied from a painting by pig French artis
LeMoyne, who w to thi t bout A.D. 1565. The { t (Lorant, 1946, f

Figure 3.

Plate 26.

Plate 26.

Dr. Whelpley was so pleased with finding this large flaked
implement (Catalog No. 11X10-542), and who could blame
him, that he had a life-sized photograph made and printed
with the following caption above the illustration:

A PRE-COLUMBIAN INDIAN FLINT IMPLEMENT
FOUND IN UNION COUNTY, ILLINOIS, JULY, 1899
BY DR. H.M. WHELPLEY, ST. LOUIS, MO.

Underneath appeared the following:

“Material, flint; color, fawn, with reddish-brown spots and
stripes; length, 20 inches; width, 3-3/4 inches; thickness at
center, 1 inch; weight, 43 avoirdupois ounces. This large pre-
Columbian piece of Indian flint work must be seen to be
fully appreciated. It gracefully tapers in all directions from
the center to the thin cutting edge. The rich, natural fawn
color is artistically sprinkled with light specks and various
reddish-brown spots and stripes. This gives the implement
a beautiful appearance, unequalled by any other large piece
of flint that | have ever seen. In this respect, one side is
slightly more convex than the other, and the edge has a
graceful curve which suggests the type of so-called twisted
arrows and spears. The piece shows no evidence of having
been worn by use. The thick (3/16 inch) portion of the
edge, for about 1-3/4 inches near one end, is a peculiarity
noticed in other large flint pieces.”

a" Oe ee ee

Plate 27.

Plates 27 and 28.

Plate 27 illustrates two very large and beautifully flaked
knives of obsidian, a glass-like rock of volcanic origin. The
one to the left (Catalog No. 11X10-534) is 29-5/8 inches
(75.2 cm.) long and the wider one on the right (Catalog No.
11X10-531) is 29-1/4 inches (71.8 cm.) long. Both bear the
notation “Salmon River, Siskiyou County, California.”

W. H. Holmes (1919, p. 214) said, “Among the most remark-
able chipped implements in America, and in the world for -
that matter, are the obsidian blades of California, the largest
of which are upward of 30 inches in length and at the same
time are of remarkable symmetry and beauty of finish.”
The Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico
(Hodge, 1912, Part 2, p. 102) also comments on the large
obsidian blades from the Pacific states. By their account they
have largely been obtained from living tribes and were made
more for ceremonial than for practical use. They cite
published accounts by anthropologists of their use in cere-
monies in which they figured primarily as objects of wealth.

Plate 28.

Plate 28 (Catalog No. 11X10-261) illustrates a smaller blade
chipped from a curved flake of obsidian. There is no infor-
mation on the source of this item. Material shown in both
plates is black obsidian, but those shown in Plate 27 are
shiny and that in Plate 28 is of a different, duller or more
weathered variety.

Plate 29.

Plate 29.

Each of the ten large blades in this plate bears a notation in Dr. Whelpley’s hand that
they were found near Jefferson Barracks in St. Louis County, Missouri. One has the
word “‘grave’’ written on it. It is possible that some or all of these came from one or
more graves, for there are good records elsewhere in the St. Louis area of this type

of blade being found as part of grave offerings. Since no notes about them could be
found among Dr. Whelpley’s effects, it is probable that no one will ever know just
where, with what else and under what circumstances they were found.

Dr. Carl H. Chapman in his The Archaeology of Missouri, | (1975, pp. 251-252)
illustrates and describes this type of blade under the name of Red Ochre Lanceolate.
The name is derived from sites of a Late Archaic culture called Red Ochre from a
custom of sprinkling red ochre on burials, It is estimated to date about 3000-1000
B.C,

One of the best descriptions of artifacts of this culture is by the late Dr. Paul F.
Titterington, a medical doctor and a member of the Academy of Science of St. Louis,
who was an authority on the archaeology of the Greater St. Louis area. His article
“Some Non-Pottery Sites in the St. Louis Area” in the Journal of the Illinois State
Archaeological Society, (1950) led to the use of the term Titterington focus in archae-
ological literature for the variety of Red Ochre culture, which he described.

Chapman says that the Red Ochre Lanceolate occurs in the Northeast Prairie region
of Missouri and Illinois. Gregory Perino in his Guide to American Indian Projectile
Points, 1968, describes the same type under the name of Wad/ow Point. He indicates
that it is usually found in caches along the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers and the
lower part of their tributaries from St. Louis to approximately Jefferson City to the
West and Quincy and Peoria in Illinois to the north, usually on blufftop sites. Some of
the blades are said to show use as knives, but some appear to have served as blanks or
— for the making of a notched form called Et/ey, which is here shown in Plate
ie

Plate 30.

Plate 30.

This plate illustrates a fluted form of a flaked projectile
point called C/ovis or Clovis Fluted, \t has widespread
ancient distribution in the United States. It derives its
name from the town of Clovis, New Mexico, near which
such points were found in association with the bones of
extinct animals in 1932. The second part of the name is
from the characteristic flute. Chapman in his Archaeology
of Missouri, | has a good description of the flutes: ‘‘Flutes
are most commonly produced by the removal of multiple
flakes and usually extend one-fourth to one-half the length
from the base toward the tip. One side generally has a
longer flute than the other, and sometimes fluting is on one
side only. In some instances single flakes are removed to
produce flutes.” *He further points out that the bases are
concave, and that the bases and lower parts of the sides are
usually smoothed by grinding.

This type of point has been found closely associated with
the bones of mammoths and extinct forms of bison only on
the western plains and in the Southwest. Clovis points are
found throughout the East but, so far, not in association
with mammoth, mastodon or bison. The third item in the
second row with recurved sides represents one of several
variations of Clovis points sometimes found in eastern
United States.

Radiocarbon dates associated with these points usually
cluster around 9500-9000 B.C., but the only dated finds
from Missouri are more recent, 8580-8250 B.C. These are
from Rogers Shelter in southwestern Missouri on a southern
tributary of the Lake of the Ozarks.

CATALOG NUMBERS AND

LOCATIONS
A. 11X1-186 from Union D. 11X1-179 from Osage
Co. iL, MO
B. 11X1-184 from Phelps Eo 1X1-273: from 1A
o.,

F. 11X1-185 from Union
C. 11X1-176 from Union Co., 1b
Co. TL.

*Reprinted from “The Archaeology of Missouri, !"’ by Carl H. Chapman by permission of the
author and the University of Missouri Press. Copyright 1975 by the Curators of the University

of Missouri,

cm
Plate 31.

. No. 11X1-430 from
Crawford Co., MO

. No. 11X1-212 from

Union Co., IL

- No. 11X1-192 from
Union Co., IL

. No. 11X1-253 from
Union Co., IL

0. 11X11 ea from
ies Co.

- No. 11X1-342 from
Union Co.,, IL

- No. 11X1-343 from
Union Co., IL

Plate 31.

This plate illustrates a form of a chipped implement which
appears to have been used interchangeably as a dart point
or as a knife. It has been called Da/ton or Dalton Point
after the late Judge S. P. Dalton, former Chief Justice of
the Missouri Supreme Court, who discovered and described
the type site near Jefferson City, Missouri. It is sometimes
called Da/ton Serrated, because of the serrations on the
blade edges of many specimens. Plate 31E illustrates a
typical example. Blades were resharpened by a beveling
technique, which modern experiments have shown to be
the best way to get maximum use. With the point up, the
bevel usually slopes to the right, although there are occas-
ional exceptions. Plate 31A is an example of such an ex-
ception. All of the points illustrated in the top row of
Plate 31, that is, A, B, C and D have been sharpened very
little. The three illustrated in the bottom row (E, F, and G)
have been sharpened so often that they can now serve
best as drills or reamers.

Dalton Points are most numerous in the central part of the
Mississippi Valley. Similar forms bearing different names
such as Meserve, Greenbrier and Hardaway are found to

the west, south and east.

Chapman (1975, p. 245) points out that Dalton Serrated
has been found jn situ in the earliest levels of Graham
Cave, Arnold Research Cave and Rogers Shelter in Missouri.
Radiocarbon dates range from about 8500 to 6000 B.C.,
but use of this form may have persisted to as recent as
5000 B.C. in some places. Daltons appear to represent a
transition from the lanceolate, Clovis and Folsom points of
the early Paleo-Indian hunters to the notched and stemmed
forms of the later Archaic hunters and gatherers.

Plate 32.

Plate 32.
A. Catalog No. 11X9-78, provenience unknown

This type of chipped implement has been described by Chapman (1975, Archaeology
of Missouri, !) under the name of Smith Basal Notched. He states that it is found
throughout Missouri and also occurs in Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas. Estimated
dates are 5000-1000 B.C. and it is primarily a cutting tool of the Late Archaic period.
The name comes from the Smith site in Delaware County, Oklahoma, the type site.

B. Catalog No. 11X9-197, Osage Co., Missouri

This type of point has been called Snyder’s Corner-Notched by Anta Montet-White

(1968, Anthropological Papers, Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan No.
e name is from the type site in Calhoun County, Illinois. This form of point

is usually associated with the Middle Woodland culture called Hopewell which

flourished for several centuries before and after the beginning of the Christian era.

A similar point is said to have been made in the late Archaic period. The Snyder’s

point has been found over much of the central Midwest, north into southwestern

Michigan and south into Oklahoma.

C. Catalog No. 11X4-334 St. Marys, Ste. Genevieve Co., Missouri

This is an unusually large example of a type of chipped point which is common

in the St. Louis area. Chapman (1975) describes it under the name of Etley Stemmed.
Bell (1960) calls it the Et/ey Point and others simply Et/ey. The name is from the type
site in Jersey County, Illinois, near Pere Marquette State Park. It was first described
by the late Dr. Paul F. Titterington (1950) as were the large blades shown in Plate 29,
which are believed to have sometimes been the blanks for the manufacture of Etley
Stemmed. This form of point is associated with Late Archaic of approximately
2000-500 B.C., according to Bell (1960) and is found in the Northwest Prairie and

,

a Prairie region of Missouri which extends into Illinois, according to Chapman
975).

D. Catalog No. 11X2-821, provenience unknown

This large and beautiful implement is an example of Graham Cave Notched, as
described by Chapman (1975, 248-249), although it is longer and wider than most.
Many points of this type have incurvate blades as a result of resharpening, but this one
shows no signs of reworking. Geographical distribution, according to Chapman (1975),
takes in the equivalent of south, southwestern, south central and the eastern half of
Missouri and adjoining areas in Illinois. Evidence from the Graham Cave site and other
early midwestern sites indicates that such points are representative of the Early
Archaic period and they are estimated to date about 8000-5000 B.C.

Plate 33.

Plate 33.

This plate illustrates some of the woodworking stone tools used by the Indians who
lived in the Mississippi Valley. All but the two pieces at each end of the bottom row
are types used by Indians during the period A.D. 1000 to historic times. The other
two were made by earlier people. Although objects of wood seldom survive in the
humid climate of eastern United States, it is known from occasional finds and from
the accounts of the earliest explorers that wood was worked extensively and well.

In 1895 an excavator for the Smithsonian Institution uncovered artistic wooden
objects which included masks of deer and wolf, which had been preserved by being
buried in the swamp muck of Key Marco Island on the west coast of Florida. These
were recently exhibited in a showing of Indian art at the Nelson Gallery of Art in
Kansas City (Coe, Sacred Circles, 1977, p. 63).

The Gentleman of Elvas, a participant in the DeSoto expedition in A.D. 1539-1542,
mentions several times in his narrative things made of wood. When the expedition
first landed in Florida he speaks of houses ‘‘built of timber” and “‘a temple, on the top
of which perched a wooden fowl with gilded eyes” (Bourne, 1904, p. 23). Many of the
towns were fortified with wooden palisades. Here is his description of one of these:
“The place was enclosed, and near by ran a small stream. The fence which was like
that seen afterwards to other towns, was of large timbers sunk deep and firmly into
the earth, having many long poles the size of the arm, placed crosswise to nearly the
heighth of a lance, with embrasures and coated with mud inside and out, having loop-
holes for archery.” He also describes dugout canoes which were a part of the daily

life of the Indians which the Spaniards encountered along the Mississippi. Some of
these were quite large, capable of holding sixty to seventy persons (p. 196).

Garsilaso, another chronicler of the expedition, describes canoes which held seventy-
five or eighty. This is probably an exaggeration, but he does state that they were
made from one piece of wood (Varner & Varner, 1951).

A. Catalog No. 18X E. Catalog No. 18X
484 from St. Clair 129 from Union
Co. AL Co, 1b

B. Catalog No, 18X F. Catalog No. 18X
32, provenience is 64 from Mont-
unknown, gomery Co., MO

C. Catalog No, 18X G. Catalog No. 18X
30 from Tazewell 11 from Pike Co.,
mo.4C IL

D, Catalog No, 18X H,

Catalog No, 18X
19 from Union 24 from r
co. IL Clair Co., IL

Plates 34, 35, 36.

These three plates illustrate digging tools used by Indians of the Mississippi culture.
Those in Plate 34 are often called notched hoes in archaeological literature and the
larger, unnotched forms shown in 35 and 36, spades. There is no question that both
were sometimes used for digging in soil in which grass or corn (maize), which is also a
grass, had grown. This is because of the gloss which those intensively used often
exhibit, but there is some question whether the longer ones were hafted like a spade
or like a hoe.

Several years ago it was discovered that the shine or gloss, which can best be seen on
the bit end of the right hand object in Plate 35, is a build-up on the tools of opaline
inclusions in grasses which remain in the soil after the grasses decay. Those that are
interested in the technical, physical and chemical processes involved will find expla-
nations in John Wittoft’s “Glazed Polish on Flint Tools ”in American Antiquity,
Volume 32, No. 3, pp. 383-388, 1967.

One may sometimes find the same glaze on smaller flint tools that were used before
agriculture for digging roots of edible wild plants in prairie soil. It is more commonly
found on digging tools used by Mississippian Indians after A.D. 900 when the culti-
vation of corn was extensive.

All hoes were not of stone, although they have survived best. Hoes of more perishable
materials such as wood, shell or bone have been subject to decay. Swanton (B.A.E.
Bulletin 132 p. 129) documents the use of wooden hoes among the Caddo in what

is now the eastern part of Texas, Well worn hoes of shells of river mollusks, perfor-
ated for attachment, have been found in excavations and also hoes made of elk and
deer shoulder bones. The agricultural Indians on the upper Missouri River used hoes
made of bison shoulder bones, historically and prehistorically.

Plate 34. C. t5X268 © trom
Cobden, Union
A. 15X22 from St, Co, iL
Clair Co., IL
D. 15X362 from St

ed

15X361__ proven- Charles Co,, MO
ience is unknown

rH

15X264 proven-
ience is unknown

Plate 34,

Plate 35.

fields. Aerial photographs were also taken of a Mississippi site being excavated
along the Kaskaskia River, east of St. Louis. Here also similar striations showed up in
the photographs, but here it was possible to excavate and learn positively what caused
the curious regular streaks in the photographs. Fowler’s interpretation appears to be
vindicated. Excavations showed that there were “‘definite rows of dark soil about 80
cm. to 1 m. in width and spaced at intervals of about 2.5 to 3.0 m.” Furthermore, these
and other excavations indicated that there was a very light (almost white) subsoil.
It appears that the garden beds were formed by piling up the top soil into rows. This
exposed the light subsoil, and it is for this reason the ridges were still apparent in the
aerial photographs (Fowler, American Antiquity 34:4, 371). The furrows of modern
plowing are not this widely spaced. It appears probable that large hoes would be
very helpful in piling up such ridges.

Another possible use for the large, unnotched ‘‘spades”’ or hoes could have been in
house construction. Houses of most Mississippi Indians were made by placing poles
which formed the sides into a narrow trench and then backfilling, instead of making
individual holes for each post. The implements shown in Plates 35 and 36 appear to
be ideal for this purpose. Dr. Warren Wittry, who conducted extensive highway salvage
excavations near the great Cahokia Mound in 1960 and 1961, said that when “spades”
were found in that operation they were often in the wall trench of a house (personal
communication).

“Spades” of all of the shapes shown in Plates 35 and 36 have been found in the St. Louis
area, though the shape of those in Plate 35 appear to be more prevalent. The flare-

bitted forms in Plate 36 are the more popular style as one gets farther south near the
mouth of the Ohio River.

It will be noted that the “spade” on the left hand side of Plate 35 once belonged to
William McAdams, a newspaper publisher of Alton, Illinois, who had an active
interest in the archaeology of the area. He was also well known as a public spirited
citizen, and the scenic McAdams highway along the Mississippi from Alton to Grafton

as been named for him. The object then passed into the hands of John Francis
Snyder, the man who excavated the figurines shown in Plate 14. Incidently, Snyder
was born in a farm house on the Lunsford-Pulcher site, mentioned above. The object
On the right hand side of the plate also once belonged to him.

Plate 36.

Plate 36.

A. No. 16X689 from
Clinton Co,, IL

=

No. 16X664 from
a mound in Hum-
phrey Co., TN

Acknowledgements

Permission to quote from various publications by the following individuals and in-
stitutions is gratefully acknowledged:

Dr. James B. Griffin and Peabody Museum at Harvard University for quotation from
eabody Museum Papers, Vol. 25, 1951, Archaeological Survey in the Lower Mississippi
Alluvial Valley, 194l-47 and to Dr. Stephen Williams for expediting this approval.

Dr. Carl H. Chapman and the University of Missouri Press for quotation from his
The Archaeology of Missouri, 1.

Dr. Lawrence Mills for quotation from his article on Head Vases in Vol. 30 of
The Missouri Archaeologist.

Dr. Charles C. DiPeso for quotation from a personal letter.

Thanks are due to Mrs. Eleanor Chapman for permission to reproduce her drawing of
the dancing figure on a copper plate from Etowah Mounds and to David R. Evans for
photograph of the burial with a mace at the Lilbourn site in New Madrid County,
Missouri.

Thanks are also due to Jan Godfrey, Claudia Mink, Karen Corley and Lynn Kratzer
of the Museum’s staff for editorial assistance, to Karen Corley for layout work and
Lynn Kratzer and Karen Zimmerman for typing.

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