The progress of the mound excavation over the past 23 days at Natrium is described below. A large fire was kept burning daily in the shallow pit to the east of the mound.
NO 40] ADENA MOUND AT NATRIUM — SOLECKI 331
THE MOUND FEATURES INTRODUCTION
ADENA MOUND AT NATRIUM — SOLECKI 333
This feature was cu'cular in shape, measuring 2.0 feet in diameter and 0.1 feet in thickness. Feature 4^.— A burial lying in a bed of tawny earth was found in square N7E1 at a height of 2.4 feet from datum.
SUMMARY
A small patch of red ocher 0.1 ft deep, associated with six chert flakes, was exposed to the east of the square depression. No associated artefacts were found apart from a small natural geodesic cup stone which was found under the distal ends of the lower limbs. This evidence indicating a group deposition of the remains is derived from field data and notes.
It was impossible, owing to the prevailing conditions, to open all the graves, etc., level by level of the whole excavation. Twenty of the fifty-one features contained bone material in various stages of preservation, mostly very poor. It is not impossible that the acidic nature of the mound had a great deal to do with the poor preservation of the skeletal remains.
Some of the uncremated bones had black areas or spots which may have been due to one or two causes - foreign. The cremated remains may represent joint depositions of the dead, while the other burials may have been accorded the honor of separate burial. The unusual circumstance was the attachment of the figure-like arrangement of the copper beads.
THE ARTIFACTS INTRODUCTION
One of the latter was reworked from the center portion of a broken, peeled leaf (pi). The coil-type fissure was found in situ in the general excavation of the mound fill, separate from other remains. Each of the pipes has areas of dark spots or lumps unevenly distributed across the surfaces.
Each of the samples exhibits circular striations on the inside derived from the gouging action of the drill. The edges of the latter from feature 35 (pi. 27a) have particularly deep cuts, one of which cuts the long axis of the specimen on both sides. Experiments with some of the smaller hematite celts showed that they fit very well in the grooves when held sideways on the long axis.
Further examination of the shallow troughs revealed that some of them have at least one end that is rost-shaped. This artifact was found with an associated faceted hematite stone in situ in one of the grooves. Tests show that hematite produces a brownish deposit when rubbed on mudstone, rather than the bright red ocher powder that is so abundant throughout the dike (see red ocher under Analyzes of soil samples and mineral materials in Appendix 1).
Mention has already been made of the oblong stone directly associated with a grooved siltstone. Knives or Blades.—^The workmanship of this group seems to fall into two categories of finished flaking perfection. An examination of blade types shows that 139 of the total have rounded bases or an oval blade shape.
As noted in the descriptions of the mound's features, many of the associated blades and knives show signs of having been exposed to fire. Leaf-shaped blades or blades are very abundant in the Adena complex, and leaf caches are not unusual (Webb and Snow, 1945, pp. 82-83). Representatives of each of the leaves illustrated in the Beech Bottom report (Bache and Satterthwaite, 1930) can be found in the Natrium collection.
The drills can be classified according to four characteristic base types, namely: (1) Flat base—4 samples (pi.28/,l\m'); .. with the exception of the two cusp-based specimens, which are nearly rhomboidal when viewed end on, all the burs are lenticular in cross-section. Copper Heads.-All of the 708 copper beads were found in cords connected with other remains in nine of the features of the mound. While this process of manufacture from large rolled sheets may have been used in some cases, the author, after an examination of the Natrium beads, is inclined to accept the assumption of Bache and Satterthwaite (1930, p. 14) that in this case the beads were made."
NO. 40] ADEN A MOUND AT NATRIUM — SOLECKI 371 MISCELLANEOUS
Another worked bone artifact, represented by a small handful of extremely fragile bone fragments, was found in association with feature 35, a burial. However, its presence is significant since Webb and Snow (1945, p. 334) state that no drilled or cut animal teeth are found in the Adena complex. Worked Charcoal.— Rectangular piece of hard charcoal, 1.5 by 1.3 by 0.4 cm., was found in the center of one of the strings attached to a copper coil in feature 34 (fig. 24^).
Mills (1916, pp. 366-369) reports finding pebbles of about the same size found in a hollow of copper boat stones and copper cones at Tremper Mound. They may have formed part of a set of accessories, such as fetishes, to promote the personal well-being of the owner. This piece of cloth, measuring 8 by 12 cm, presumably the remnant of a large specimen of textile art, lay beneath the gorge, taking the outline of the latter in its preservation.
The warp and weft are distinct enough to allow the binding to be identified. Individual heavy warp cords are held in parallel position by lighter pairs of weft cords running at right angles to the warp, one cord on either side. The strands of the cord are twisted about five turns per centimeter, while the single outer strand is twisted about one and a half turns per centimeter.
SUMMARY OF THE ARTIFACTS
These cords, up to approximately 0.4 cm. thick, appear to have been made from single strips of hide, laterally compressed and rolled into rounded straps. The identification of the cord's fabric is not certain, as unfortunately it has not been analyzed by a specialist at the time of writing. as artifacts of early Hopewell and Adena; and three features, including a bear tusk, use of copper objects, and image-like scales, are categorized as artifacts of the middle Hopewell. Tubular pipes are also listed as early Adena artefacts, but they are of the tapered mouthpiece type, while the Natriumhøjen specimens are of the blocked-end type.
However, if we consider the total collection, as illustrated by the Fortney Mound on the same map, Natrium Moimd. wellian properties, such as ear coils, obsidian, human effigies, mica, etc. Webb and Haag (1947), in adding new material to the rather extensive table prepared by Webb and Snow (1945), realized that the addition of new properties to a already compiled and classified list. It is expected that in the future these additional data will have to be included in their rightful place in the various subsections of the Adena summary.
ADENA TRAIT LIST, NATRIUM MOUND MOUND AND BURIAL TRAITS
Of course, the features listed above are only representative of the tomb complex, as there were certainly many more.
CONCLUSION
They are characterized by concise and short comments that only serve to whet the appetite of the researcher and interested student. It is plausible to suggest that the Sodium Mound may have been a culturally marginal structure, both figuratively and literally. Despite the lack of skeletal evidence, the remains show that the individuals represented were mostly part of the adult population.
Highly specialized funerary equipment, including weapons for hunting, warfare and ceremonial objects, also strongly suggests male activities. Apparently such institutionalized practices were not unusual for people of the world. A lower pit was excavated in the approximate center of the area, over which the primary mound was placed.
Another mound of soil was added over the top of the primary mound, referred to in this report as the secondary mound. No aboriginal earth quarries were observed in the vicinity, although part of the present modern gravel pit may have been used. Laboratory examination of soil samples yielded important information that would otherwise have remained undiscovered.
ANALYSES OF SOIL SAMPLES AND MINERAL MATERIALS
ADENA MOUND AT NATRIUM — SOLECKI 383
It is interesting to note that a sample of the soil, . non-gray soil, found directly beneath one of the gray soil layers, contained 1 gradeless phosphate content {high) (pH 4.6). Apparently it had been brought to the site from elsewhere, probably from the riverbank, as it was not native to the immediate area. Viewed on the plan, the bed, which occupied the central part of the mound, was in the shape of a constricted oval, with two outliers of small lenses to the north and south of the main body.
There was a small mound of the same yellow soil 1.5 feet high to the immediate northeast of this pit. No intermediate layer of humus or sod was visible between the yellow soil and the subsoil. From this it can be deduced that the sod or humus was stripped from the hill area before the floor.
Laboratory research shows that the yellow loam (one sample) had a low phosphate content and a pH of 4.5. The fact that the loam lacks phosphate to some extent is not surprising, because that appears to be the case. It may be that the earth was originally dumped there, only to be later redeposited on the mound area.
MINERAL MATERIALS
However, given the fact that other small soil deposits (yellow ocher and white matter), not red ocher, found in similar situations did not have such significant amounts of phosphates, it raises doubts that the phosphate was an introduced ingredient. The term "red ochre" as commonly used is applied to the earthy and pulverulent forms of the minerals hematite and limonite, but which are nearly always more or less impure owing to the presence of other metallic oxides and clayey matter. In addition, Merrill (1905) states that ocher colors depend on the degree of hydration and oxidation of the material and on the type and amount of impurities.
One unusual grooved siltstone artefact was found at the site with an elongated faceted piece of hematite in one of the grooves (p.341). It is entirely possible that the powder or hematite rubs were converted into ocher by roasting, driving off the water. From this brief review it is clear that the question of the original use of ocher, especially red ocher, needs to be studied in detail in all its technical and chemical aspects.
The first two of the deposits examined above, which are very phosphate rich, are probably cremated remains. Apart from the fact that the average of the soil samples inside the mound is slightly more acidic than the soil outside the mound, the writer is not sure what conclusions can be drawn from this. Although the results of the experiments are encouraging, the success of the methodology is not yet complete (Cook and Heizer, 1947; Heizer and Cook, 1949).
MICROSTRUCTURE OF COPPER BEAD FROM NATRIUM MOUND
Some studies have been carried out on human bones in the belief that chemical changes that take place in human burials in the ground.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
EXPLANATION OF PLATES
