Excavation of the Frutchey Indian Mound on Little River, Montgomery
County. Many interesting objects of Indian origin were found in this
mound. (Photo by Bill Sharpe.)
Indian Mounds
Quito a number have been uncovered
in various seel ions of North Carolina
and have yielded much interesting
information concerning life of the
Indians.
By DOUGLAS L. RIGHTS
WHAT is in an Indian mound?
Well, that depends on the
mound. Professor Collier
Cobb, of the University of North
Carolina, used to say that opening
an Indian mound is like cutting a
watermelon or operating on a pa¬
tient. You never know what you
will find until you get inside.
We do not have in North Caro¬
lina the extensive developments
8
of earthworks left by Indians in
some other states. The big Cahokia
Mound near East St. Louis, Illi¬
nois. covers sixteen acres and is
the largest of the earthworks raised
by Indians. Ohio and Illinois have
thousands of mounds. In Wiscon¬
sin there are numerous mounds
shaped in the form of animals, in¬
cluding one that resembles an ele¬
phant. In the archaeological reser¬
vation across the river from Ma¬
con, Georgia, excavation revealed
in one mound a council chamber
with a circle of raised seats around
the wall, the seat of the chief per¬
sonage extending out toward the
center in the form of an eagle-
head shaped in clay, pointing to¬
ward the fire pit in the center and
across the chamber to the doorway
opening east.
North Carolina has some fair
specimens of Indian mounds. In the
western part of the state there are
notable mounds along the stream
valleys. A large mound is located
in Montgomery County in the south
central portion of the state. Over a
large area of the middle and east¬
ern sections the mounds are low,
just a little above the level of the
valleys. There are some large shell
heaps along the coast.
One of the large mounds in the
western part of the state is at
Franklin, known as the Nucasse
Mound. This has been purchased
by public spirited citizens and will
be preserved.
In the upper Yadkin River val¬
ley several low mounds were ex¬
amined by the Bureau of American
Ethnology. Washington, D. C..
about 1884. Near the junction of
Buffalo Creek and the Yadkin in
Caldwell County, the Bureau found
a large number of skeletons, clay
pots, stone celts, tobacco pipes, and
other material. Years later in the
vicinity a farmer plowed into a
small mound. From fragments gath¬
ered after his plowing, a beautiful
effigy pot fashioned in the figure of
a bird, and a complete water bot¬
tle were restored.
Unearthed by Freshets
Along the Yadkin, Catawba, and
other rivers the freshets have un¬
earthed interesting specimens. In
1898 a freshet exposed the tomb of
an ancient warrior at Siloam on
the Yadkin River. A beautiful stone
pipe. Monitor type, was revealed
with the skeleton. The destructive
floods of 1916 tore through numer¬
ous former lodge and village sites.
The mound in Montgomery
County, on Little River, is sixteen
feet in height. The owner. L. J.
Frutchey. who lives near Mt. Gil¬
ead, at the invitation of the Archae¬
ological Society of North Carolina,
generously donated the mound and
two acres of land adjoining for a
state park, the first archaeological
reservation in North Carolina. The
Archaeological Society excavated
the mound and restored it to its
former appearance. The excavators
( Continued on page 19)
THE STATE. JULY 5. 1947
