Archaeology at Mound City

"The Old Ones were, the Old Ones are, and the Old Ones shall be. Not in the spaces we know, but between them. They walk serene and primal, undimensioned and to us unseen."

~ H. P. Lovecraft

*****

In early October, Mound City National Historic Park hosted a fun day for kids; archaeology, atlatl throwing instructional and competitional sessions and a fun scavenger hunt. We all spent the day at the site and enjoyed getting to know about the prehistoric Hopewell culture that once lived and worked here, and buried their dead.







Mound City is one of many sites in this area of Ohio that preserve the remnants of the ancient mounds that were built by still-mysterious people. The Hopewell culture overlapped the Adena culture a good deal, so sometimes it is hard to know if a site was constructed by the earlier-appearing Adena or the later Hopewell. To make things even more complicated, mounds built by the earlier cultures were sometimes re-used later on, by the appropriately-named "mound intruder" culture.







At any rate, these large, sometimes domed, sometimes flat-topped earthen mounds were systematically constructed by pre historic Native Americans. There are theories that these builders were actually immigrant peoples from other cultures, including Roman-era Celtic warriors fleeing the oppression of the Emporer, but I see no reason to suppose that these earthworks were constructed by anyone other than the ancestors of todays Native American nations.







Mounds like the ones at Mound City were built for purposes of burial and possibly religious ceremony and observation of celestial movement. It is likely that all three elements were intricately linked in what is known as the Southern Death Cult. According to what we now know, the souls of the dead were set forth on their after-death journey at a specific time of the year when certain constellations appeared in the sky. Religious leaders performed these important death rites using the mounds as not only burial places, but places from which the soul was released into the after-life. Although cremation was the most common way of handling the dead, sometimes important leaders in the community were buried intact, often with beautiful jewelry and ornately carved effigy pipes. Other times, the bones left after cremation were bundled together and buried en masse and covered with earth. Very important tombs were created out of logs or stones, bringing to mind the burial chambers in Egyptian pyramids, and the tombs were covered with earth.







A lot of these mounds were leveled over the years by early settlers who removed the earth and took the stones for their own use, or by overly eager 19th century and early 20th century archaelogists who were more interested in the artifacts and skeletons the mounds contained than preservation of the original structure. We are so very lucky to still have a number of these mounds with us today. Many of these are protected sacred sites and others exist on private property. Some mounds, like most at Mound City, are reconstructed over the sites of the original mounds. Perhaps the most famous effigy earthwork, Serpent Mound, is not far from Mound City and it's scientific and astronomical implications are enormous. Whoever built these earthworks were extremely educated people!







It is pretty amazing to have these histories here with us, in this place. The prehistoric cultures of North America rivaled that of their peers in Europe with their educational, social and religious rivers of thought, their production of textiles, tools and jewelry and their complex trade routes. Unfortunately, the arrival of European conquistadors in the 16th century was the beginning of the end for many of these groups. The ones that survived European intrusion became more disconnected from each other and all that remains of this "golden era" are these mounds and others like them, the mysteries that they hold, and the stories that still exist in the oral traditions of remaining tribal groups.







The energy at these places is intense. I like to spend a lot of time sitting quietly or walking slowly, absorbing, listening, respecting. It was a blessed time to be able to go here with the children and discover that those who came before us are not so distant as we may think.

*****

"Alike are life and death,

When life in death survives,

And the uninterrupted breath

Inspires a thousand lives.

Were a star quenched on high,

For ages would its light,

Still traveling downward from the sky,

Shine on our mortal sight.

So when a great man dies,

For years beyond our ken, 

The light he leaves behind him lies 

Upon the paths of men."

~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Autumn Colors

"But see the fading many-colored woods

Shade deepening over shade. . ."

~ Henry David Thoreau, quoting Thomson, 1862

****

Due to a rainy spring and a very dry summer and autumn, our leaves are turning later this year than other years and are more brown and gold than crimson and orange. This is no bad thing; the woods are lovely, especially in the golden hour between evening and sunset, when golden light floods through golden trees, making all seem gold.

It has been a slow autumn, dipping gently from Indian Summer towards blustery November, and the snows and cold winds of winter. We are on a graceful downward path as the year cycles to its close and it is a journey to be enjoyed and relished, ravenously. 

Mornings cool enough for mist, low hanging on the trees that fringe the hills, and wood smoke curling up quietly from homes with windows and doors shut against the chill. But days warm enough for short sleeves, almost making  one believe that really, October is not as far gone as it is. And evenings that come on slowly, and red sunsets, and early nights for looking at stars shifting into their winter positions. 

In the woods the children look for deer track and places where one has bedded down, indicated by flattened grass, often cozily burrowed out from tall stalks. When they find one, they lay down, too, and tell me oh! How comfortable it is!

Sometimes we pluck a bit of fragrant cedar to bring home, or find gifts of feathers on the ground. We all bring home memories of gold.

****

"From deep secluded recesses,

From the fragrant cedars and the ghostly pines so still,

Came the carol of the bird."

~ Walt Whitman

A Look Back at Summer

"The day is done and the darkness

Falls from the wings of Night

As a feather is wafted downward

Like an eagle in his flight.  . ."

~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

****

As the days of October steadily rise and fall and my little first-born son somehow celebrated his 13th birthday a few days ago, I look back on this year and realize how fast it went. This blog, begun with the best of intentions for regular posts, sat unwritten in for most of the summer. It was a busy time of year, May til October, and I had to use the time I had available to me in different ways. I do not regret it at all, but thought I would like to devote at least one entry to looking back at the summer and some of the things my children did, as they accomplished, grew, had fun and simply enjoyed their childhood. 

The beginning of summer is known to us as "Baseball Season" and this year was no exception. This year Judah and Malachi played for teams in a neighboring town and almost every day of the week I was at the fields, either for a game or for practices. As the littlest three made friends and brought backpacks of snacks and toys to share among them I sat in the bleachers and watched my boys play baseball. 

I love this time of year so much. I love the hot afternoons fading into cool evenings; I love the boys climbing into the van after a game, sweaty and covered with dirt; I love talking over the whole game with them on our way to the nearest fast-food place still open, to get a cheeseburger and head home through the dark country under a night sky filled with stars. I loved hating the umpires with them, reliving the moments of brilliant plays, and discussing how different tactics could have turned the tide of a lost game. In the back seat, the littles would be asleep already, dirty stuffies clutched in dirty hands, worn out from another long night of play and excitement. 

Baseball season wound down in July and the boys had their last game mid-month, right before  heading off to Illinois to visit their grandparents. In July we spent many hot, intensely sunny days at the lake, joining a bunch of other parents and kids at the beach. While the big boys swam out as far as the boundaries, the little ones stayed closer to the shore, wading and building sand castles and finding feathers, rocks and sticks and bringing them to me to keep safe. I think my purse still has sand in it from those summer adventures! 

Little Anne turned 7 and we went to the zoo to celebrate her birthday. It was a cool day after many weeks of extreme heat and we had a fun time seeing the exhibits and the beautiful flowers. 

In August school began again and little Benjamin joined Anne and Malachi at the elementary school and Judah and David began 6th grade (middle school!) After a rocky first day, Benjamin quickly adjusted well to his new routine and it is such a joyful thing for me to hear him tell me all about his day when he gets off the bus. I recently picked him up from school and as his class walked down the hall, passing us, the chorus of little voices saying "Bye, Ben!" and flutter of little hands waving gladdened my heart. Benjamin turned to me with his big dimpled smile and said "Mommy, those are my friends!"

September was a golden and green month, transitioning into the gold and blue of October. We spent much of it outdoors, as the weather has been very dry and there isn't any rain to keep us inside. The boys showed their 4-H projects at the county fair and we all spent a long day riding all the rides and seeing all there was to see. At the time, Rose and I were recovering from a long, inexplicable illness but we thankfully were well enough to enjoy the fair!

Judah turned 12 in September and we went to see the Cincinnati Reds play at the stadium in the big city. It was my first time going to a major league baseball game and I wasn't sure what to expect. I surprised myself by loving it, although, of course, it wasn't quite as exciting as seeing my own boys play earlier in the year! 

Rose and I have spent many days outside walking trails or exploring the creek. There is always something new to see. This year she has found quite a collection of acorns and we have made many acorn babies - big acorn babies with acorns for heads, and with wire bodies and cloth dresses, and tiny newborn acorn babies made from the smallest-of-all acorns, swaddled in a bit of white cotton and wrapped in string.  

And now, it is October and my thoughts tend towards Thanksgiving, and the kids thoughts tend towards Halloween. We trick or treated at a local campground last weekend, where everything was decorated most spookily for the occasion and each child finished the night with far too much candy. 

So the year turns.

****

". . .oh blessed are we

The leaves of the Oaken King

Fade away, fade away

From the seeds that will come in Spring

Oh blessed are we." 

~ Damh the Bard