1 00:00:05,610 --> 00:00:18,210 It's TV school time. WOI-TV in association with Iowa State 2 00:00:18,210 --> 00:00:21,660 Teachers College presents another program and the Iowa TV 3 00:00:21,660 --> 00:00:26,700 school time series landmarks and Iowa history. Today's topic is 4 00:00:26,730 --> 00:00:30,570 Toolesboro, your teacher, Herb Hake of Iowa State Teachers 5 00:00:30,570 --> 00:00:30,930 College. 6 00:00:33,780 --> 00:00:38,670 Hello boys and girls, I've been waiting for you. As the 7 00:00:38,670 --> 00:00:41,340 announcer said today we are in Toolesboro. 8 00:00:41,000 --> 00:00:47,210 And I want to talk to you about the mound builders. Several 9 00:00:47,210 --> 00:00:51,680 years ago, I was telling one of my young friends in Waverly, 10 00:00:51,740 --> 00:00:56,600 Iowa, about the mound builders. And I told him that we don't 11 00:00:56,600 --> 00:00:58,850 know a great deal about the mound builders because they 12 00:00:58,850 --> 00:01:03,320 didn't leave any written records, as our white explorers 13 00:01:03,470 --> 00:01:09,140 did. And so all we have to depend upon the things that we 14 00:01:09,140 --> 00:01:16,010 can find in the ground. Pieces of arrowheads, spear points, 15 00:01:16,670 --> 00:01:20,930 pieces of pottery, things of that sort, but that no one knows 16 00:01:20,930 --> 00:01:26,030 exactly what the early mound builders look like. Well, after 17 00:01:26,030 --> 00:01:30,620 I had explained this to my young friend in Waverly, he evidently 18 00:01:30,620 --> 00:01:34,280 thought about it a little bit. And a few days later, he sent me 19 00:01:34,280 --> 00:01:39,140 a picture that he had drawn himself of the first mound 20 00:01:39,140 --> 00:01:45,590 builder in Iowa, or anywhere else. Now I thought this was a 21 00:01:45,590 --> 00:01:49,040 very interesting picture that this young man sent me. And so I 22 00:01:49,040 --> 00:01:52,910 want to try to draw it for you, so that you will get an idea of 23 00:01:52,910 --> 00:01:57,260 the appearance of the first mound builder. This drawing was 24 00:01:57,260 --> 00:02:02,960 originally made for me by Mark Eggleston, of Waverly, Iowa, and 25 00:02:02,960 --> 00:02:05,510 I hope he won't mind if I tried to draw it for you. 26 00:02:07,640 --> 00:02:13,910 According to Mark Eggleston, the first mound builder looked 27 00:02:13,910 --> 00:02:24,770 something like this: had a rather large head, and this was 28 00:02:24,770 --> 00:02:29,960 the rest of his body. And he carried an antenna like that. 29 00:02:31,280 --> 00:02:34,670 Not an antenna for TV, of course, but an antenna just the 30 00:02:34,670 --> 00:02:35,090 same. 31 00:02:38,060 --> 00:02:44,330 And then he had long legs like this in the front. And then 32 00:02:44,330 --> 00:02:52,070 there were some legs in here. And some hind legs, like that. 33 00:02:56,390 --> 00:03:03,080 Know what that is? That's an ant. And according to Mark 34 00:03:03,080 --> 00:03:09,680 Eggleston. This was the first mound builder. I'm sure you've 35 00:03:09,680 --> 00:03:14,780 seen many of these mounds around between the cracks of sidewalks 36 00:03:14,780 --> 00:03:24,110 and out in the backyard. These are ant hills. And the ants make 37 00:03:24,110 --> 00:03:33,440 these out of sand. Well, Mark Eggleston said this is the first 38 00:03:36,500 --> 00:03:43,610 mound builder. Now of course, if you believe that, then you don't 39 00:03:43,610 --> 00:03:47,060 have any trouble understanding what the mound builders look 40 00:03:47,000 --> 00:03:51,490 But the mountain builders I want to talk about today, were 41 00:03:47,060 --> 00:03:47,330 like. 42 00:03:51,568 --> 00:03:56,445 people, not ants. It may be that the people who were called the 43 00:03:56,523 --> 00:04:01,400 mound builders got their ideas from the ants. Although the ants 44 00:04:01,478 --> 00:04:05,736 usually start from inside and throw all this sand up as 45 00:04:05,814 --> 00:04:10,459 they're digging down into the earth, and as they'll dig down 46 00:04:10,536 --> 00:04:15,182 into the earth, and then they'll make their ant runs. And in 47 00:04:15,259 --> 00:04:20,137 doing that, they have to remove all that dirt that they dig out 48 00:04:20,214 --> 00:04:24,782 of the ground. And they put it up on top of the ground. The 49 00:04:24,860 --> 00:04:29,815 people who were called the mound builders didn't work quite like 50 00:04:29,892 --> 00:04:34,615 that. Now, I want to show you one of the mounds made by these 51 00:04:34,693 --> 00:04:39,416 mound builders. Right here in Toolesboro. This is just one of 52 00:04:39,493 --> 00:04:44,216 many mounds that you will find in Iowa. There are many places 53 00:04:44,293 --> 00:04:48,784 in Iowa that have mounds, but this is one of them. You see 54 00:04:48,861 --> 00:04:53,894 this hump of land back here? Now ordinarily, if you would look at 55 00:04:53,971 --> 00:04:58,694 this, you would just get the idea that that is a little hill. 56 00:04:58,772 --> 00:05:03,727 But that hill there was built by hand. The people who built that 57 00:05:03,804 --> 00:05:08,450 carried the dirt in baskets. They carried it from one place, 58 00:05:08,527 --> 00:05:13,095 and dumped it over here. And there were a number of reasons 59 00:05:13,172 --> 00:05:17,895 why they did that. Sometimes these mounds were used as burial 60 00:05:17,973 --> 00:05:22,773 places. That is someone who was high in the group, someone who 61 00:05:22,850 --> 00:05:27,651 was a leader, a king, perhaps, would be buried in a place like 62 00:05:27,728 --> 00:05:32,606 this after he died. Not before he died, of course. But after he 63 00:05:32,683 --> 00:05:37,484 died, he would be buried in a place like this. And there would 64 00:05:37,561 --> 00:05:42,361 be ceremonial vessels put around his body. And then the people 65 00:05:42,439 --> 00:05:47,239 who had been his subjects would carry this dirt, sometimes for 66 00:05:47,316 --> 00:05:52,039 quite a distance, carry it in baskets, dump it over here, and 67 00:05:52,117 --> 00:05:56,762 go back for another load and dump it. And after a time, this 68 00:05:56,840 --> 00:06:01,562 grew over with grass and became quite firm. And some of these 69 00:06:01,640 --> 00:06:06,363 mounds have been there for 1000s of years. That's one trouble 70 00:06:06,440 --> 00:06:10,776 about studying the mound builders, we don't know exactly 71 00:06:10,853 --> 00:06:15,421 when these mounds were built. Now this one happens to be at 72 00:06:15,499 --> 00:06:19,912 Toolesboro. But there are 1000s of them in Iowa. The only 73 00:06:19,989 --> 00:06:24,945 trouble is that there are not as many today as there were at one 74 00:06:25,022 --> 00:06:29,590 time, because they have been plowed up. Iowa ranks near the 75 00:06:29,667 --> 00:06:34,390 bottom of all the states in the union in it's knowledge about 76 00:06:34,468 --> 00:06:39,191 the earliest people who lived here. And you know why that is? 77 00:06:39,268 --> 00:06:44,301 It's because 99% of all the land in Iowa has been cultivated. And 78 00:06:44,378 --> 00:06:49,256 the plow has been the greatest enemy to preserving our history. 79 00:06:49,333 --> 00:06:54,056 Many of the landmarks in Iowa history have been plowed under. 80 00:06:54,133 --> 00:06:58,701 Many farmers have gone over these mounds, some of them have 81 00:06:58,779 --> 00:07:03,347 been fairly low. And they've noticed that they were turning 82 00:07:03,424 --> 00:07:08,379 up pieces of broken pottery, and spear points and things of that 83 00:07:08,457 --> 00:07:13,180 sort. But they didn't think much about it, they thought well, 84 00:07:13,257 --> 00:07:18,290 there must have been some people who lived here once upon a time, 85 00:07:18,367 --> 00:07:22,780 but I need this land here to raise my corn and so, plowed 86 00:07:22,858 --> 00:07:27,581 over. And since 99% of our land has been plowed, much of this 87 00:07:27,658 --> 00:07:32,613 early culture has been lost. And once a place like this has been 88 00:07:32,691 --> 00:07:37,181 plowed over, and the various pieces that were put together 89 00:07:37,259 --> 00:07:42,214 originally by the mound builders have been scattered, nobody can 90 00:07:42,291 --> 00:07:47,091 tell exactly how it was in the first place. That's why Iowa is 91 00:07:47,169 --> 00:07:51,659 way down at the bottom of the list, in knowing about these 92 00:07:51,737 --> 00:07:56,382 mound builders, who lived in Iowa at one time. It's all been 93 00:07:56,460 --> 00:08:01,337 destroyed by farming. Well, let me show you where we have found 94 00:08:01,415 --> 00:08:05,441 some evidence of these early people called the mound 95 00:08:05,518 --> 00:08:09,854 builders. Here is a map which you will find in the Iowan 96 00:08:09,932 --> 00:08:14,887 Magazine for May, 1955. This was a drawing. That is a picture of 97 00:08:14,964 --> 00:08:19,764 an early Indian. There are some people who say the early mound 98 00:08:19,842 --> 00:08:24,410 builders were the ancestors of our more recent Indians. But 99 00:08:24,487 --> 00:08:29,365 there is no proof of that. This is just somebody's imagination. 100 00:08:29,442 --> 00:08:34,010 While all these light places here indicate where mounds had 101 00:08:34,088 --> 00:08:34,940 been found. 102 00:08:36,700 --> 00:08:42,610 We are right here today on a high bluff, overlooking the 103 00:08:42,610 --> 00:08:46,990 junction of the Iowa and the Mississippi rivers. The Iowa 104 00:08:46,990 --> 00:08:51,010 River flows down like this and enters the Mississippi, just a 105 00:08:51,010 --> 00:08:56,590 little north of Burlington. And here is Toolesboro. And there 106 00:08:56,590 --> 00:09:00,880 are some mounds there. And the one that I showed you there in 107 00:09:00,880 --> 00:09:06,670 the background is one of the closest to the highway. Up here 108 00:09:06,670 --> 00:09:10,840 in north east Iowa is where the Effigy Mounds are located in the 109 00:09:10,840 --> 00:09:15,640 mounds made in the shape of bears and birds. And here are 110 00:09:15,640 --> 00:09:19,360 some linear mounds here. I'll draw one of those for you in a 111 00:09:19,360 --> 00:09:24,130 few minutes. But just these light places, here are the 112 00:09:24,130 --> 00:09:28,150 points where mounds have been located in Iowa. And you can see 113 00:09:28,150 --> 00:09:30,580 there are many other places here and there must have been mounds 114 00:09:30,580 --> 00:09:35,200 there at one time or another. But they're all gone now. Now 115 00:09:35,200 --> 00:09:41,710 this, as I say, is a map that is found in the Iowan Magazine for 116 00:09:41,710 --> 00:09:48,310 May, 1955. I don't know if there are any more copies of this 117 00:09:48,310 --> 00:09:53,020 left. But you might write to the Iowan Magazine in Shenandoah, 118 00:09:53,020 --> 00:09:58,000 Iowa, and if there are any left they'll cost you about 50 cents 119 00:09:58,000 --> 00:09:58,480 a piece. 120 00:10:03,250 --> 00:10:11,170 Pardon me while I take a little drink. This is coffee. Getting 121 00:10:11,170 --> 00:10:13,390 cool here in the fall, and I have to be careful about my 122 00:10:13,390 --> 00:10:13,720 throat. 123 00:10:16,420 --> 00:10:20,080 Here is a timetable of Iowa that gives some idea about when all 124 00:10:20,080 --> 00:10:26,110 of this happened, this mound building. About 10,000 years 125 00:10:26,110 --> 00:10:30,700 before Christ, there was a period immediately following the 126 00:10:30,700 --> 00:10:36,820 Ice Age. When the Folsom man live in this part of the 127 00:10:36,820 --> 00:10:41,200 country, the Folsom man, called the Folsom man because the first 128 00:10:41,590 --> 00:10:44,920 tools of this particular period were found near Folsom, New 129 00:10:44,920 --> 00:10:49,090 Mexico. And somebody has figured out that he must have looked 130 00:10:49,090 --> 00:10:54,640 something like this. He was a hunter. He followed the, the 131 00:10:54,640 --> 00:11:01,300 bison, and the animals which immediately followed the Ice Age 132 00:11:02,230 --> 00:11:07,120 and hunted them on foot. He didn't have any horses. The 133 00:11:07,120 --> 00:11:10,720 horses came in much, much later. There were no horses in the 134 00:11:10,720 --> 00:11:15,220 United States, or in America anywhere until the Spaniards 135 00:11:15,220 --> 00:11:19,690 brought them here from Europe. And so he did his hunting on 136 00:11:19,690 --> 00:11:25,660 foot. And he used the thing like this. You see that? It's a spear 137 00:11:25,660 --> 00:11:29,200 thrower. He held this in his hand and the end of the spear 138 00:11:29,710 --> 00:11:33,940 went back of it went up to this little hook here. And he could 139 00:11:33,940 --> 00:11:37,870 throw this spear with a great deal of force. You have a great 140 00:11:37,870 --> 00:11:41,560 deal of thrust. This spear thrower was called an ATL ATL. 141 00:11:42,970 --> 00:11:47,470 Sounds like I'm stuttering doesn't it? ATL ATL. This is 142 00:11:47,470 --> 00:11:51,820 though you say the word Atlas start saying it twice. ATL ATL. 143 00:11:52,660 --> 00:11:58,720 This is an ATL ATL. Well, this was 10,000 years before Christ, 144 00:11:58,780 --> 00:12:04,690 the Folsom man. Then we come to the Archaic period, there's this 145 00:12:04,690 --> 00:12:07,780 folsom man had to wander around quite a bit. He had to follow 146 00:12:07,780 --> 00:12:11,080 the herds of bison view of the animals wherever they happen to 147 00:12:11,080 --> 00:12:15,130 roam. And so he didn't stay in any one place very long. The 148 00:12:15,130 --> 00:12:19,210 Archaic period, he began to settle down, stay in one place a 149 00:12:19,210 --> 00:12:23,440 little more. And then we come to the early woodland period, which 150 00:12:23,440 --> 00:12:26,080 was about 1000 years before Christ, and this extended to 151 00:12:26,080 --> 00:12:34,300 about 1200 AD, about the time of the Crusades. And in this 152 00:12:34,300 --> 00:12:40,000 country, in North America, the woodland period is the period 153 00:12:40,000 --> 00:12:44,680 during which the mounds were built. Now these people were 154 00:12:44,830 --> 00:12:48,370 people who lived in the woods. We know this, because of the 155 00:12:48,370 --> 00:12:51,910 things that we have found, things that they have used, that 156 00:12:51,910 --> 00:12:56,560 is axes, indicate that they, they used these for cutting 157 00:12:56,560 --> 00:13:01,540 wood, and for probably building their houses, or at least for 158 00:13:01,540 --> 00:13:06,070 chopping wood to make fires and so on. So we assume that there 159 00:13:06,250 --> 00:13:09,370 was a great deal of woods at that time, and they are called 160 00:13:09,370 --> 00:13:14,650 the woodland people. After 1200 AD, we come to the Upper 161 00:13:14,650 --> 00:13:19,450 Mississippi period. And our modern Indians, that is the 162 00:13:19,450 --> 00:13:24,340 Indians that we read about in connection with the white 163 00:13:24,340 --> 00:13:29,050 explorers. But this was all before there were any white men 164 00:13:29,050 --> 00:13:33,040 in this country. See, the first white men who came into Iowa 165 00:13:33,040 --> 00:13:38,950 didn't come in until 1673. And we'll talk about that next week. 166 00:13:39,700 --> 00:13:46,210 These were early people who lived in Iowa, and they were not 167 00:13:46,360 --> 00:13:51,040 quite Europeans. We don't know exactly where they came from. 168 00:13:51,340 --> 00:13:55,990 There is one theory about that. And I can show you that by 169 00:13:55,990 --> 00:14:04,450 referring you to a map here. Here is a world map, a mercator 170 00:14:04,630 --> 00:14:11,290 projection. Now if you notice up here, you see this place here 171 00:14:11,290 --> 00:14:17,080 where Asia almost touches Alaska? Well there is a little 172 00:14:17,950 --> 00:14:24,400 strip of water here between Asia and North America. You know what 173 00:14:24,400 --> 00:14:30,940 that's called? The Bering Strait? That's right. I know you 174 00:14:30,940 --> 00:14:35,230 would know that. Well, the theory is that 175 00:14:36,770 --> 00:14:41,750 the Ice Age stayed up here a much longer time than it did 176 00:14:41,750 --> 00:14:45,830 further down in this part of the country where we live. And that 177 00:14:45,830 --> 00:14:50,330 this was all covered with ice, and that the bison and the 178 00:14:50,330 --> 00:14:53,810 caribou and some of these other animals would wander all over 179 00:14:53,810 --> 00:14:59,690 this part of the world. And the hunters followed them from Asia 180 00:15:00,380 --> 00:15:03,620 into North America. And then as the bison went further south, 181 00:15:04,490 --> 00:15:09,710 seeking warmer climates, the hunters followed them. And that, 182 00:15:09,830 --> 00:15:16,010 in one theory at least, is why we have the folsom man and the 183 00:15:16,250 --> 00:15:20,660 people who came during the the woodland period, and the 184 00:15:20,660 --> 00:15:25,160 Hopewell cultures into this part of the country. That's just one 185 00:15:25,160 --> 00:15:32,000 theory. Nobody knows. Nobody can tell for sure. The, the idea 186 00:15:32,180 --> 00:15:36,110 that most people have now is that these were the ancestors of 187 00:15:36,110 --> 00:15:40,790 the Sac and the Fox, and the Winnebagos and the Sioux, and 188 00:15:40,790 --> 00:15:47,060 the other Indian tribes who settled in this region. Well, 189 00:15:47,060 --> 00:15:52,100 let me show you some pictures that will help to explain the 190 00:15:52,100 --> 00:15:58,220 mound builders. First of all, here is a diorama. A diorama is 191 00:15:58,220 --> 00:16:01,700 a model. And this one happens to be in the Museum at Prairie du 192 00:16:01,700 --> 00:16:06,260 Chien, Wisconsin. This is a cross section of a mound. See it 193 00:16:06,000 --> 00:16:18,630 This is where the burial was made. Usually there were two big 194 00:16:06,260 --> 00:16:06,650 right here? 195 00:16:18,660 --> 00:16:24,840 oak logs on either side of the grave. And then the whole thing 196 00:16:24,840 --> 00:16:29,970 was covered with dirt and made a little conical mound like this. 197 00:16:32,760 --> 00:16:37,800 That's proved by actual excavations that have been made 198 00:16:37,800 --> 00:16:42,960 of mound areas. Now this will give you some idea of what to 199 00:16:42,960 --> 00:16:47,550 look for, if you're going to Toolesboro. There isn't much of 200 00:16:47,550 --> 00:16:54,060 a town there, just a church, and one or two houses. And the mound 201 00:16:54,060 --> 00:16:57,300 that you see in the background here is back behind these trees 202 00:16:57,570 --> 00:17:03,270 near the church. This is Toolesboro and it's on a bluff 203 00:17:04,170 --> 00:17:07,140 overlooking the junction of the Iowa and the Mississippi Rivers. 204 00:17:11,670 --> 00:17:15,960 Here's another mound. You see, it looks just like a little 205 00:17:16,290 --> 00:17:22,560 hill. But this was built by hand. Dirt was carried there in 206 00:17:22,560 --> 00:17:28,770 baskets. Some of these were made for burials, but not all of 207 00:17:28,770 --> 00:17:32,550 them. Sometimes a mountain served as a fortification, 208 00:17:33,540 --> 00:17:39,510 sometimes as an altar for worship, sometimes as a 209 00:17:39,510 --> 00:17:42,330 foundation for religious building or something like that. 210 00:17:44,190 --> 00:17:46,530 So don't make the mistake of assuming that these mounds were 211 00:17:46,530 --> 00:17:53,790 always built just to bury people. Here are two mounds, the 212 00:17:53,790 --> 00:17:57,750 one right behind the other. And when mounds were building a 213 00:17:57,750 --> 00:18:00,000 series like this, they were usually on a high ridge 214 00:18:00,000 --> 00:18:04,140 overlooking a river up high where there would be little 215 00:18:04,140 --> 00:18:08,970 danger of them washing away. Here are some things that have 216 00:18:08,970 --> 00:18:11,910 been found in mounds and you will see these on display in the 217 00:18:11,910 --> 00:18:18,150 State Historical Building in Des Moines. Charcoal, found inside a 218 00:18:18,150 --> 00:18:22,020 mound sometimes when when the mounds were used for burials, 219 00:18:22,620 --> 00:18:25,320 for high priests or things of that sort people that kind of 220 00:18:27,210 --> 00:18:31,110 the body would be laid out, and then a fire would be built on 221 00:18:31,110 --> 00:18:37,350 top of the body with wood and so on. And then after the fire had 222 00:18:37,350 --> 00:18:41,370 burned out, the dirt would be piled over it and so in some of 223 00:18:41,370 --> 00:18:46,950 these mounds charcoal has been found. Plus the bones plus these 224 00:18:47,370 --> 00:18:54,720 urns here, pots. Now these are all clay pots. And they were 225 00:18:54,720 --> 00:18:58,710 made by the coiled method. I'm sure you boys and girls have 226 00:18:59,190 --> 00:19:05,760 tried to make pottery out of coils of modeling clay or just 227 00:19:05,760 --> 00:19:13,170 to potter's clay as you roll the the rope or the or the strand of 228 00:19:13,170 --> 00:19:16,320 modeling clay between your hands to to get a long piece. And then 229 00:19:16,320 --> 00:19:21,960 you start coiling up, piling it up, and then smooth it out, both 230 00:19:21,960 --> 00:19:24,540 on the inside and the outside with your fingers. That's the 231 00:19:24,540 --> 00:19:29,070 way these were made. And that proves that these people stayed 232 00:19:29,070 --> 00:19:33,600 in one place for quite a while. You see by this time by the time 233 00:19:33,600 --> 00:19:36,510 we get to the mound builders, we come to people who have stayed 234 00:19:36,510 --> 00:19:41,250 in one place for some time because pots like this, pottery, 235 00:19:41,250 --> 00:19:44,610 couldn't be carried around very well. It was too fragile. It 236 00:19:44,610 --> 00:19:48,660 would break too easily. Nomadic people people who wander around 237 00:19:48,660 --> 00:19:52,950 quite a bit don't use pottery like this. They carry their 238 00:19:53,010 --> 00:19:56,280 things in leather bags or in baskets which won't break so 239 00:19:56,280 --> 00:19:59,730 easily. So this proves that they, they stayed in one place 240 00:20:00,000 --> 00:20:06,030 for a time. And here's another example of some of the things 241 00:20:06,030 --> 00:20:13,920 that have been found in mounds. These also may be seen in the 242 00:20:13,950 --> 00:20:22,950 State Historical Museum in Des Moines. Now, I want to show you, 243 00:20:23,940 --> 00:20:27,240 as I told you a moment ago, what some of these mounds look like. 244 00:20:28,590 --> 00:20:33,780 First of all, there is the linear mound, and it just a long 245 00:20:37,020 --> 00:20:41,400 bank of earth like this, and this could have been used as a 246 00:20:41,400 --> 00:20:45,450 fortification, and his people could have hidden behind this to 247 00:20:45,450 --> 00:20:49,530 protect themselves. Then there were the conical mounds, the 248 00:20:49,530 --> 00:20:59,010 kind that I've shown you, built like a cone, and the effigy 249 00:20:59,010 --> 00:21:04,620 mounds made in the form of animals. And there are quite a 250 00:21:04,620 --> 00:21:08,340 few of those up near Marquette at Effigy Mounds National 251 00:21:08,000 --> 00:21:16,010 And these mounds are built in the shape of animals, bears, 252 00:21:08,340 --> 00:21:08,760 Monument. 253 00:21:16,250 --> 00:21:21,890 bison, birds. And when these were used as burial mounds, the 254 00:21:21,890 --> 00:21:25,250 burial took place either up here in the head, or at a place 255 00:21:25,250 --> 00:21:28,040 corresponding to the height of the animal or in the hind 256 00:21:28,040 --> 00:21:37,040 quarters, like that. In building a mound, a burial mound, the 257 00:21:37,070 --> 00:21:43,910 Earth would be scraped clean is the place where the mound, mound 258 00:21:43,910 --> 00:21:46,760 must be located, topsoil all removed, 259 00:21:49,230 --> 00:21:58,050 like that. And then a log would be placed on each side of the 260 00:21:58,050 --> 00:22:02,100 burial place. And the body would be laid in here like this. 261 00:22:03,980 --> 00:22:08,450 And usually the legs were put up like that, instead of lying 262 00:22:08,450 --> 00:22:16,130 flat, and a larger log over the top. And this was a little tomb, 263 00:22:16,130 --> 00:22:21,770 you see. And this would all be covered with clay, yellow clay, 264 00:22:23,000 --> 00:22:24,020 this whole area in here. 265 00:22:29,030 --> 00:22:37,370 And then the topsoil over that. Topsoil. And after a time the 266 00:22:37,370 --> 00:22:43,340 grass would grow on that and this would all pack down. That's 267 00:22:43,340 --> 00:22:52,430 the typical burial type of mound. This whole business of 268 00:22:52,490 --> 00:22:57,470 trying to figure out what the mound builders were like and 269 00:22:57,470 --> 00:23:04,100 what they did requires a great deal of detective work. You can 270 00:23:04,100 --> 00:23:07,640 get some idea that if you will look at this for a minute. Know 271 00:23:07,640 --> 00:23:08,120 what that is? 272 00:23:13,400 --> 00:23:19,490 What is it? A spark plug. That's right. Suppose you were digging 273 00:23:19,490 --> 00:23:26,000 a well, or spading in your garden or something of that 274 00:23:26,000 --> 00:23:29,960 sort, and you came upon one of these? What would that prove? 275 00:23:31,550 --> 00:23:35,570 That somebody had been trying to grow automobiles? Well, no, not 276 00:23:35,570 --> 00:23:40,220 exactly. But it wouldn't prove that somebody threw this away. 277 00:23:40,790 --> 00:23:46,100 And that that somebody had either had an automobile or knew 278 00:23:46,100 --> 00:23:50,210 somebody who had an automobile. And you would know also that 279 00:23:50,210 --> 00:23:55,040 this had been thrown away, not more than about 60 years ago, 280 00:23:55,040 --> 00:23:59,090 because that's all the longer we've had automobiles, see? 281 00:24:02,000 --> 00:24:06,080 That's a form of archaeology. That is figuring out from the 282 00:24:06,080 --> 00:24:10,460 evidence of this sparkplug, who threw it there and what that 283 00:24:10,460 --> 00:24:12,950 person was like, you would know that it was somebody who had an 284 00:24:12,950 --> 00:24:17,480 automobile or at least an internal combustion engine. Now 285 00:24:17,510 --> 00:24:20,240 the archaeologists can tell the same thing by looking at things 286 00:24:20,240 --> 00:24:23,420 like this. This is something that came out of a mound, that's 287 00:24:23,420 --> 00:24:27,530 a piece of pottery. And you can see the decoration on it. Holes 288 00:24:27,530 --> 00:24:34,220 punched in it. Grooves in it, holes punched in from the back, 289 00:24:34,940 --> 00:24:39,770 that cause little warts on the front, you see. And they can 290 00:24:39,770 --> 00:24:43,280 tell from the structure of this that it was made out of clay 291 00:24:43,280 --> 00:24:45,800 they can tell how it was made, it was made by the coil method. 292 00:24:45,950 --> 00:24:51,980 Here's another example. And even more important than that, they 293 00:24:51,980 --> 00:24:56,030 can tell the size of it. Now here is a part that came right 294 00:24:56,030 --> 00:25:00,770 off the rim of a pot. Now they can measure the curve of this, 295 00:25:01,430 --> 00:25:05,930 this edge, and then extend that and tell how large the pot was. 296 00:25:06,440 --> 00:25:09,860 They can measure this curve here and tell how deep it was. And 297 00:25:09,860 --> 00:25:12,260 they can reconstruct the whole pot just from that one fragment. 298 00:25:14,570 --> 00:25:19,610 And by carbon test, they can tell how old it was. So even 299 00:25:19,610 --> 00:25:23,780 though we don't know exactly what the what the mound builders 300 00:25:23,780 --> 00:25:28,310 looked like, we know what they did. We know for example, by 301 00:25:28,310 --> 00:25:32,930 examining their tools, that they had flint axes. And we know from 302 00:25:32,930 --> 00:25:37,400 that, that they must have cut wood, either for firewood or for 303 00:25:37,400 --> 00:25:42,920 building their homes. We know that they had arrowheads, that 304 00:25:42,920 --> 00:25:47,510 they had spears, they had bone needles. And so we know from 305 00:25:47,510 --> 00:25:50,870 that, that they were a hunting people. And that they use these 306 00:25:50,870 --> 00:25:56,840 needles to sew the whole thing into garments. We know from the 307 00:25:56,840 --> 00:26:02,060 things we found that they used earthen pots. And we have found 308 00:26:02,060 --> 00:26:04,790 ornaments also, which shows that they had some vanity. 309 00:26:06,480 --> 00:26:10,980 But mainly, we know that they were a hunting people. And we 310 00:26:10,980 --> 00:26:21,030 have found images like this, of the bison on their pots. And so 311 00:26:21,030 --> 00:26:24,360 we know that the bison must have been in this part of Iowa at the 312 00:26:24,360 --> 00:26:26,580 time they were living here. 313 00:26:28,520 --> 00:26:34,940 Now this, of course, is not a realistic bison, but this was 314 00:26:34,940 --> 00:26:40,070 about the way they were drawn. Now, as I say, by studying the 315 00:26:40,070 --> 00:26:44,900 things that they did, and by examining the things that are 316 00:26:44,900 --> 00:26:49,550 left, we can get some kind of an idea of what they must have 317 00:26:49,760 --> 00:26:56,810 looked like. So let's see if we can get some idea here of what 318 00:26:56,810 --> 00:27:11,990 their appearance may have been. And we'll turn it over like 319 00:27:11,990 --> 00:27:19,610 that. Wow. How'd you like to meet somebody like that on a 320 00:27:19,610 --> 00:27:20,120 dark night? 321 00:27:22,380 --> 00:27:26,364 Of course, there is no proof that anybody ever looked like 322 00:27:26,433 --> 00:27:30,487 that. We sometimes say the cavemen looked like that. How do 323 00:27:30,556 --> 00:27:34,884 we know they look like that? We have no idea. If they had flint 324 00:27:34,953 --> 00:27:39,006 knives, maybe they cut their hair as well as the trees that 325 00:27:39,075 --> 00:27:42,923 they had around where they lived. Maybe they use them to 326 00:27:42,991 --> 00:27:47,114 comb their hair like that. We can't be sure that they looked 327 00:27:47,183 --> 00:27:51,099 as dopey as that. But as a cartoon, it just shows that if 328 00:27:51,168 --> 00:27:55,427 we take some of the things that we know about these people, we 329 00:27:55,496 --> 00:27:59,825 can put them together and come up with another answer. That's a 330 00:27:59,893 --> 00:28:04,016 form of detective work. Well, the thing to remember boys and 331 00:28:04,084 --> 00:28:08,138 girls is, that when you find things of this kind out in the 332 00:28:08,207 --> 00:28:11,848 fields, or if your father happens to be plowing or if 333 00:28:11,917 --> 00:28:15,902 there is a road construction outfit going past your place, 334 00:28:15,971 --> 00:28:20,368 and pottery fragments are turned up. Don't just carry them home. 335 00:28:20,437 --> 00:28:24,628 Call somebody about them. Call your county extension director 336 00:28:24,696 --> 00:28:27,857 or someone or your superintendent and tell him 337 00:28:27,926 --> 00:28:32,254 about it. And in that way, these things may be saved and we may 338 00:28:32,323 --> 00:28:36,583 learn something more about the people who lived here many many 339 00:28:36,651 --> 00:28:40,705 years ago. Next week we are going to visit Oakville, and we 340 00:28:40,774 --> 00:28:44,896 shall learn something about the first white men who set foot 341 00:28:44,965 --> 00:28:47,370 upon Iowa until next week, goodbye! 342 00:29:02,310 --> 00:29:06,390 Today your teacher has been Herb Hake of Iowa State Teachers 343 00:29:06,458 --> 00:29:10,402 College. Landmarks in Iowa History is produced for Iowa TV 344 00:29:10,470 --> 00:29:13,939 Schooltime by WOI TV in association with Iowa State 345 00:29:14,007 --> 00:29:17,883 Teachers College. TV Schooltime is presented daily Monday 346 00:29:17,951 --> 00:29:21,827 through Friday at 10:30am by the Iowa Joint Committee for 347 00:29:21,895 --> 00:29:23,460 Educational Television.