"Polished Idol Proves Mystery"
[Special Correspondence to The Times.]
Another Era.
Graven Image is an Echo of Unknown Period.
Great Mound Discovered Shows Evidence of Battle.
Curious Method Preserving Bones and Relics.
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| Found in Prehistoric Cemetery. Up the beach from Santa Monica Barranca. The human body and stone utensils may been buried a thousand years ago. |
SANTA MONICA, Jan 14.—Four miles up the beach from the mouth of the Santa Monica barranca, where the limpid waters of Topango Creek trickle into the sea, a prehistoric Indian burial ground has been discovered. The mound, which is about 40x100 feet, is located on the homestead of W. W. Coolbaugh.
It rises out of a six-acre flat which has been created during past generations by the deposit of silt brought down from Topango and Garapatos canyons by the flood-waters of the winding Topango. The extreme height of the mound is not more than eight feet and the remains of the prehistoric redman are found at an average depth of about three feet.
How long ago, why how or by whom they were buried here is a mystery, but Coolbaugh is endeavoring to solve the riddle, and has written to the Smithsonian Institution tor aid. Students of geology, anthropology and archaeology have been appealed to in vain. Prof. Ira Buell, of Beloit, Wis., University, made an inspection of the mound and the human relics as brought to light, and gave it as his opinion that the burials may have taken place 500 or even 1,000 years ago, but he was unable to positively identify the remains or any of the implements of husbandry, worship or warfare with those belonging to any race of Indians known to have frequented this section of the Coast during a recent age.
There is an utter absence among the relics of any resemblance to metal; and none of the trinkets or tools indicate that metal was utilized by the makers or users.
Perhaps the most mystifying of all of the curiosities discovered is the small bone idol—or what is it? The substance is evidently bone, although highly polished—and that polish remains to this day.
The three carved circles with a hole through the center of each may have some meaning to the student of Indian lore of the ages gone before, but to Coolbaugh and those who have seen this echo of another era, the little graven image speaks an unknown language.
There are any number of flint arrowheads and flint rock in its natural form, evidently brought from a long distance—as there is no flint native to the near-by canyons.
The stone tools and vessels used in the preparation of food, and the grinding of grain and acorns seem all to have been manufactured out of such stones and boulders as might have been picked up in the beds of the canyon streams or along the beach. Of these there are tons upon tons. They are found indiscriminately, over, under and alongside the bones of the dead.
EVIDENCE OF A BATTLE.
That there were more than a hundred bodies buried at one time is evident, although the exploration has been only commenced. Bodies seem to be everywhere beneath the mound. There are the skulls of children, of women and of warriors. All seem to have been buried in a sitting position, and the even state of preservation and proximity of one to another would indicate that all must have been interred at one time
In the skulls of several of the warriors, flint arrowheads have been found imbedded for fully one-half of their length. Other of the skulls present fractures which may have been made by tomahawks or arrowheads. This circumstance has led to the conclusion that the wholesale burial may have been made by the friends of the dead, following battle.
The fact that the burial was made deliberately and at the expense of much labor is evident, and as the excavations progress it is discovered that the mound was built with a design to protect the dead from destruction by the carnivorous animals of the mountains.
All of the bones, stone implements and utensils are found embedded in a soft, black soil which, at first glance, has the appearance of loam. But close inspection shows it to be ashes, with which is mixed a considerable quantity of small sea shells.
The original source of this ash deposit is a source of conjecture, although the presence of the shells would argue that the deposit was the result of years of baking, and that the slain Indians were members of a fish and shell-fish eating tribe. When death overtook them in numbers, the bodies, after being placed on the level of the surrounding meadow, were covered with the year's accumulations of ashes.
This covering filling all of the space between the bodies and extending perhaps a few inches above their heads, the next move made for the protection of the bodies was to place over and completely surrounding them several layers of large stones. The purpose of these boulders was to prevent the wild animals from molesting the grave. This work being completed, the stones were covered to the depth of a foot or more with such sand and earth as might have been scooped from the seashore or the foot of some nearly cliff. The vegetable growth of years has decayed and added further accumulations.
GREAT MOUND OF BONES
So large a number of bones have already been found that should the whole of the mound be as closely studded with them, as was that portion which has been explored, it is certain it must be the tomb of more than 300 Indians, of all ages and both sexes. The number of men exceeds that of the women, and there seem to have been more women than children.
The skulls are not those of the ordinary flat-head tribe which is known to have been driven from the south at an early day in American history. The foreheads are high and full, the cheek bones high and the lower jaw anything but receding. The teeth in the skulls which are judged to be those of the older men are worn smooth and down to what evidently must have been a level with the gums. The teeth of the women and of the younger men were apparently in a good state of preservation at the time of burial.
Any number of bone implements are among the treasures being unearthed. These are sharpened to a point that is remarkably fine, when it is taken into consideration the tools and methods that must have been employed in the work.
Among the relics are bone whistles and circular stones with small round holes through their centers. The uses to which these were put are not known by any who have seen the trophies of the tomb finders. Small cup-like vessels of a substance not unlike soapstone, are among the finds. These are nicely hollowed and delicately polished within and without. There is a hole on either side of the cup near the top.
Found beside the body of several of the women were hundreds of little shell-like substances. Through the center of each there is a hole, and the position and size of the articles was conclusive proof that they had at one time been chains of beads.
As many of these as were discovered were saved and strung as beads on a thread. The illustration shows one of the reconstructed chains of beads. Four complete chains have already been recovered, each being of a different style and each found at the neck of a woman's bones. For one of the bead chains a bone pendant was discovered.
EARTH'S PSYCHIC CENTER?
Philosophers have made the statement that the exact psychic center of the universe is in the immediate vicinity of the mouth of Topango canyon where sea and mountains meet. This would place the spot within a stone’s throw of the ancient burial mound. From what source the philosophers derived their information is not clear, nor is it known whether the savage tribes of other days were in possession of the same information, and disposed of their dead here in order that the spirits of the departed would have but a short journey before hitting the direct trail to their happy hunting grounds.
In this connection there is a story handed down from mouth to mouth, through a long line of Indian tradition, to the effect that the tribal name Topango means burial ground.
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