How long the region embraced in Atchison county has been the home of man is not known, but the finding of a prehistoric4 human skeleton, computed5 by the highest anthropological6 and geological authorities to be at least 10,000 years old, in the adjoining county of Leavenworth, favors the presumption7 that what is now Atchison county was occupied by man at an equally remote period. Evidences of a very early human existence here have been found at various times. Near Potter, in this county, the writer found deep in the undisturbed gravel8 and clay, a rude flint implement9 that unquestionably had been fashioned by prehistoric man, evidently, of what is known as the Paleolithic period. In drilling the well at the power house of the Atchison Street Railway, Light and Power Company, the late T. J. Ingels, of Atchison, encountered at a great depth, several fragments of fossilized bone, intermingled with charcoal10, evidently the remains11 of a very ancient fireplace. About 1880, M. M. Trimmer, an Atchison contractor12, in opening a stone quarry13 at the northeast point of the Branchtown hill, near the confluence14 of White Clay and Brewery15 creeks16, in Atchison, unexpectedly encountered a pit or excavation18, eighty feet long, sixty feet wide, and eighteen feet deep, in the solid rock formation of the hill. The surface of the hill is composed of drift or gravel, and the pit had become filled with this gravel to the original surface, thus obliterating19 all external evidences of its existence. The lower layer of stone, about six inches thick, had been left for a floor in the pit, and in the northwest corner this lower strata20 of stone for about four feet square had been removed. Water issued from the ground at this point indicating that a spring or well, or source of water supply, had been located here. A 22careful examination of the place at the time showed unmistakably that this excavation had been made by human hands at a very early period and was probably used as a fortification or defensive21 work. Prehistoric excavations22 of this character, made in the solid rock, are common in Europe, but almost unknown in America, except in the cases of ancient flint and steatite quarries23, and the absence of either in the Atchison formation, except an occasional flint nodule, precludes24 the possibility that this was just an aboriginal quarry. The Smithsonian authorities at Washington pronounced the work worthy25 of careful study, but unfortunately it was obliterated26 by the progress of the quarrying27. Many weapons and implements28 of the stone age have been found in the vicinity of this pit.
Almost the entire surface of Atchison county, particularly where bordering streams, presents various traces of aboriginal occupancy, from the silent sepulchers29 of the dead and the mouldy rubbish of the wigwam, to the solitary30 arrowhead lost on the happy chase or the sanguinary war path. In many places these remains blend into the prehistoric, semi-historic and historic periods, showing evidences of a succession of occupancy. For instance we find the Neolithic31 stone celts or hatchets32, the Neoeric iron tomahawks; fragments of fragile earthenware33, mixed and moulded by the prehistoric potter, and bits of modern decorated porcelain34 made by some pale-faced patterner of Palissy; ornaments36 of stone, bone and shell; trinkets of brass37 and beads38 of glass, intermingled in confusion and profusion40. These numerous relics41 of different peoples and periods, showing, as they do, diverse stages of culture and advancement42, warrant the opinion that Atchison county, with its many natural advantages, was a favorite resort of successive peoples from time immemorial. Favorably situated43 at the great western bend of the Missouri river and at the outskirts44 of which was one of the richest Indian hunting grounds in the great wild West, embracing and surrounded by every natural advantage that would make it the prospective45 and wonted haunt of a wild-race, it was a prehistoric paradise, as it is today, a modern Arcadia.
23
State Orphans’ Home, Atchison, Kan.
The writer has personally examined hundreds of ancient Indian village, camp and workshop sites, and opened a number of mounds in Atchison county. The first ancient mounds ever opened in the county were on a very rugged46 hill known as the “Devil’s Backbone,” bordering Owl47 creek17, and overlooking the Missouri river, in 1891. There were two of them, and they contained stone sepulchers in which the Indians had cremated48 their dead. Other stone grave mounds have been opened on the farms of John Myers, on Independence creek, in the northeastern part of the county; Maurice Fiehley, on Stranger creek, near Potter; George Storch, on Alcorn or Whiskey creek, just south of Atchison, and in several other places. The most interesting mound2 ever excavated49 in the county, however, was what is known as the Ingalls Mound, on land belonging to the estate of the late United States Senator John J. Ingalls, on a bluff50 of the Missouri river, at the mouth of Walnut51 creek, about five miles below Atchison. This mound was discovered by Senator Ingalls at an early day, and opened by the writer in 1907. It was fifteen feet in diameter, and was composed of alternate layers of stone and earth one on top of the other, the remains of several Indians being imbedded in the earth between the layers of stone. These remains were in a bad state of decay, most of the bones crumbling52 while being removed. The bones of each person had been placed in the mound in compact bundles, which seems to indicate that they had been removed from some temporary place of interment, perhaps from dilapidated scaffold burials, and deposited here in final sepulture. In some of the layers not only the bones but the rocks and earth were considerably53 burned, indicating incendiary funeral rites54, while in others there were not the least marks of fire. The undermost layer, about three feet from 24the top, was a veritable cinder55 pit, being a burned mass or conglomerate56 of charcoal and charred57 and calcined human remains, showing no regularity58 or outline of skeletons, but all in utter confusion. A solitary pearl bead39 was the only object that withstood the terrible heat to which the lower tier of remains had been subjected. In one of the upper tiers were the bones of two infants. With one of them was a necklace of small shells of a species not native here. With another bundle of bones were two small, neatly59 chipped flint knives, a flint scraper, a bone whistle or “call,” several deer horn implements, and a large flint implement of doubtful usage, known to archaeologists as a “turtle-back,” because of its shape. With another bundle of bones, and which they seemed to be clasping, were several mussel shells, badly decomposed60. One small ornament35 of an animal or bird claw, several flint arrowheads, and some fragments of pottery61, were also found. In one of the skulls62 was embedded63 the flint blade of a war-club. Thirty-one yards northwest of this mound was found another of less prominence64. It contained a burned mass of human remains, covered with a layer of about six inches of clay, baked almost to the consistency65 of brick. Lack of space forbids a mention of many other interesting archaeological discoveries made in this county from time to time. Suffice to say that there is ample evidence that within the borders of Atchison county there lived and thrived and passed away a considerable aboriginal population.
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1 aboriginal | |
adj.(指动植物)土生的,原产地的,土著的 | |
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2 mound | |
n.土墩,堤,小山;v.筑堤,用土堆防卫 | |
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3 mounds | |
土堆,土丘( mound的名词复数 ); 一大堆 | |
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4 prehistoric | |
adj.(有记载的)历史以前的,史前的,古老的 | |
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5 computed | |
adj.[医]计算的,使用计算机的v.计算,估算( compute的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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6 anthropological | |
adj.人类学的 | |
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7 presumption | |
n.推测,可能性,冒昧,放肆,[法律]推定 | |
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8 gravel | |
n.砂跞;砂砾层;结石 | |
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9 implement | |
n.(pl.)工具,器具;vt.实行,实施,执行 | |
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10 charcoal | |
n.炭,木炭,生物炭 | |
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11 remains | |
n.剩余物,残留物;遗体,遗迹 | |
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12 contractor | |
n.订约人,承包人,收缩肌 | |
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13 quarry | |
n.采石场;v.采石;费力地找 | |
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14 confluence | |
n.汇合,聚集 | |
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15 brewery | |
n.啤酒厂 | |
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16 creeks | |
n.小湾( creek的名词复数 );小港;小河;小溪 | |
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17 creek | |
n.小溪,小河,小湾 | |
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18 excavation | |
n.挖掘,发掘;被挖掘之地 | |
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19 obliterating | |
v.除去( obliterate的现在分词 );涂去;擦掉;彻底破坏或毁灭 | |
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20 strata | |
n.地层(复数);社会阶层 | |
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21 defensive | |
adj.防御的;防卫的;防守的 | |
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22 excavations | |
n.挖掘( excavation的名词复数 );开凿;开凿的洞穴(或山路等);(发掘出来的)古迹 | |
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23 quarries | |
n.(采)石场( quarry的名词复数 );猎物(指鸟,兽等);方形石;(格窗等的)方形玻璃v.从采石场采得( quarry的第三人称单数 );从(书本等中)努力发掘(资料等);在采石场采石 | |
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24 precludes | |
v.阻止( preclude的第三人称单数 );排除;妨碍;使…行不通 | |
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25 worthy | |
adj.(of)值得的,配得上的;有价值的 | |
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26 obliterated | |
v.除去( obliterate的过去式和过去分词 );涂去;擦掉;彻底破坏或毁灭 | |
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27 quarrying | |
v.采石;从采石场采得( quarry的现在分词 );从(书本等中)努力发掘(资料等);在采石场采石 | |
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28 implements | |
n.工具( implement的名词复数 );家具;手段;[法律]履行(契约等)v.实现( implement的第三人称单数 );执行;贯彻;使生效 | |
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29 sepulchers | |
n.坟墓,墓穴( sepulcher的名词复数 );圣物置放处v.埋葬( sepulcher的第三人称单数 ) | |
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30 solitary | |
adj.孤独的,独立的,荒凉的;n.隐士 | |
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31 neolithic | |
adj.新石器时代的 | |
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32 hatchets | |
n.短柄小斧( hatchet的名词复数 );恶毒攻击;诽谤;休战 | |
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33 earthenware | |
n.土器,陶器 | |
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34 porcelain | |
n.瓷;adj.瓷的,瓷制的 | |
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35 ornament | |
v.装饰,美化;n.装饰,装饰物 | |
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36 ornaments | |
n.装饰( ornament的名词复数 );点缀;装饰品;首饰v.装饰,点缀,美化( ornament的第三人称单数 ) | |
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37 brass | |
n.黄铜;黄铜器,铜管乐器 | |
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38 beads | |
n.(空心)小珠子( bead的名词复数 );水珠;珠子项链 | |
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39 bead | |
n.念珠;(pl.)珠子项链;水珠 | |
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40 profusion | |
n.挥霍;丰富 | |
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41 relics | |
[pl.]n.遗物,遗迹,遗产;遗体,尸骸 | |
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42 advancement | |
n.前进,促进,提升 | |
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43 situated | |
adj.坐落在...的,处于某种境地的 | |
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44 outskirts | |
n.郊外,郊区 | |
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45 prospective | |
adj.预期的,未来的,前瞻性的 | |
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46 rugged | |
adj.高低不平的,粗糙的,粗壮的,强健的 | |
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47 owl | |
n.猫头鹰,枭 | |
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48 cremated | |
v.火葬,火化(尸体)( cremate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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49 excavated | |
v.挖掘( excavate的过去式和过去分词 );开凿;挖出;发掘 | |
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50 bluff | |
v.虚张声势,用假象骗人;n.虚张声势,欺骗 | |
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51 walnut | |
n.胡桃,胡桃木,胡桃色,茶色 | |
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52 crumbling | |
adj.摇摇欲坠的 | |
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53 considerably | |
adv.极大地;相当大地;在很大程度上 | |
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54 rites | |
仪式,典礼( rite的名词复数 ) | |
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55 cinder | |
n.余烬,矿渣 | |
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56 conglomerate | |
n.综合商社,多元化集团公司 | |
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57 charred | |
v.把…烧成炭( char的过去式);烧焦 | |
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58 regularity | |
n.规律性,规则性;匀称,整齐 | |
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59 neatly | |
adv.整洁地,干净地,灵巧地,熟练地 | |
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60 decomposed | |
已分解的,已腐烂的 | |
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61 pottery | |
n.陶器,陶器场 | |
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62 skulls | |
颅骨( skull的名词复数 ); 脑袋; 脑子; 脑瓜 | |
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63 embedded | |
a.扎牢的 | |
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64 prominence | |
n.突出;显著;杰出;重要 | |
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65 consistency | |
n.一贯性,前后一致,稳定性;(液体的)浓度 | |
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