Sun Circles and Human Hands : The Southeastern Indians Art and Industries

233 Pages·2001·20.17 MB·English

by  Emma Lila Fundaburk

SUN CIRCLES
and
HUMAN HANDS
THE SOUTHEASTERN INDIANS
ART AND INDUSTRIES
Edited by
Emma Lila Fundaburk
Mary Douglass Fundaburk Foreman
With a New Foreword by Vernon James Knight Jr.
THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA PRESS
Tuscaloosa
ISBN-13: 978-0-8173-8368-8 (electronic)
FOREWORD
Vernon James Knight, Jr.
Sun Circles and Human Hands is arguably the most widely read book on southeastern archaeology ever published.
Having undergone twelve printings to date, it has been almost continually in print since its initial imprint in 1957. Genera
tions of readers interested in the art and artifacts of the southeastern Indians, lay people and professional scholars alike,
have used this book as a staple source on the prehistoric Indians of the southern states. Professors on occasion have
employed Sun Circles as a textbook in their courses. For many, it has been their initiation into a fascinating, vanished
world.
What accounts for this book's long-term popularity? At first glance, this would seem difficult to explain. Sun Circles is
the product of two sisters hailing from Luverne, a tiny town in Crenshaw County, south central Alabama, neither of whom
were archaeologists, neither of whom were collectors of Native American artifacts, and neither of whom were prominent
in the Alabama Archaeological Society. For many years the book was privately published and distributed by the authors
themselves rather than by a scholarly press. So what is it that elevates this work above the various illustrated works
emanating from amateur enthusiasts on this topic that have come and gone in the last four decades?
Part of the answer surely lies in the fact that the book met an extraordinarily high standard for thoroughness of
coverage, both in the text and in the art chosen for illustration. And lying behind that thoroughness is the character of the
authors, Emma Lila Fundaburk and Mary Douglass Fundaburk Foreman, for these were not merely uncredentialed ama
teurs. One was an accomplished professional scholar, the other an educator with an advanced degree in art education.
The original jacket copy of Sun Circles and Human Hands opens with the line, "This is a book of pictures ...." That it
certainly is, with 160 plates covering a large range of artifacts, but the accompanying text is a quite sophisticated and
carefully researched production too. The author of that text, Dr. Emma Lila Fundaburk, was an economist, holding a Ph.D.
in economics from Ohio State University, an M.A. in economics from Northwestern University, and a B.A. in economics
from George Washington University.
She is the author of ten books, bearing such titles as History of Economic Thought and Analysis: A Selective Interna
tional Bibliography (1973), Art in Public Places in the United States (1974, co-authored with T. H. Davenport), and
Business Corporations in Alabama in the Nineteenth Century (1982). At the time Sun Circles was published, she was
professor of economics at Bowling Green State University, having also taught at Ohio State University, the University of
Hawaii, Huntingdon College, and the University of Alabama Center, Montgomery.
Sun Circles was, however, Dr. Fundaburk's first book. Her motivation for writing it, she has said, was her dissatisfaction
with the summaries of southeastern archaeology available at that time. While working on the manuscript for Parade of
Alabama: An Epic of Southern History (1959), Dr. Fundaburk was dismayed by the lack of published information avail
able on the southeastern .Indians, which did not seem to do justice to the remarkable southeastern Indian artistry in
museums and private collections with which she was familiar. She was so dissatisfied that she suspended research on
Parade and devoted her full attention to the work that became Sun Circles. During the research she also amassed
hundreds of illustrations of Indians and their daily life, which she subsequently published in Southeastern Indians: Life
Portraits, A Catalogue of Pictures 1564-1860 (1958). Having completed her work on the art of the southeastern Indians
and remedied the problem she herself had identified, she then returned to Parade, which was eventually published in
1959.
In Sun Circles, Dr. Fundaburk shows her acquaintance with a large corpus of technical works in archaeology and
ethnohistory. There are some 487 published references, demonstrating an impressive command of the literature by any
standard. She also made use of unpublished source material gleaned from archives and micro~lmed collections regard
ing the southeastern Indians. Dr. Fundaburk spent much time at Moundville Archaeological Park making copies of the
elaborate engraved art on pottery there, which until recently remained the only published documentation of this art. Her
list of correspondents in preparing the volume is a who's who of North American professional archaeologists of the late
1950s. The text is, by consequence, in no sense the casually researched effort of an avocational enthusiast, but rather is
a first-rate summary of southeastern prehistory for its day. Many of the details have, of course, been superseded by new
field discoveries in the years since publication, but that does not detract from her work. Behind this popular synthesis, we
still see the work of a professional scholar.
And what of the pictures? The design and layout were the work of Mary Douglass Fundaburk Foreman. Foreman
attended Huntingdon College, Columbia University, George Washington University, and the University of South Ala
bama. She received a B.A. in Fine Art from Ohio State University and an M.S. in Art Education from Troy State University.
In the layout of artifact illustrations and text, we see an artistic and graphic sensibility that was state-of-the-art for its time.
The artifacts themselves are a mix of professionally photographed museum specimens and artifacts photographed from
private collections.
The most remarkable thing about Sun Circles and Human Hands is its continued utility decades after it was published.
The photographs are numerous and excellent. Packaged together in this manner, they still inspire wonder about the artistic
productions of ten thousand years of Native American culture. Beyond the book's educational value as a popular sum
mary, it is a source of many illustrated objects that can be found in no other published place. This gives the book an
additional research value, as it continues to be consulted by serious students of southeastern archaeology at all levels. It is
thus in many ways a unique resource, and the University of Alabama Press is pleased, with this reprinting, to keep it in the
hands of people with an interest in native southeastern North America.
IN MEMORY
OF OUR MOTHER
LILA DOUGLASS FUNDABURK
CONTENTS
Chapter Plate Page
FOUR CULTURES 8
1- 2 Paleo-Indian Period
3- 4 Archaic Period
5- 6 Woodland Period
7- 8 Mississippi Period
9- 10 Mississippi Period
11- 12 Historic Period
13- 14 Historic Period
2 NATIVE TRADE 30
15- 16 Native Trade
3 CEREMONIAL COMPLEX 38
17- 18 17-Motifs 18-Central American Similarities
19- 20 Ceremonial Objects
21- 22 God-Animal Representations and Culture Periods
4. SYMBOLISM 56
23- 24 Prehistoric Designs-Spiro
25- 26 Prehistoric Designs-Spiro
27- 28 Prehistoric Designs-Spiro
29- 30 Prehistoric Designs-Etowah
31- 32 Prehistoric Designs-Etowah and Other Sites in Georgia
33- 34 Prehistoric Designs-Moundville
35- 36 Prehistoric Designs-Moundville
37- 38 Prehistoric Designs-Moundville
39- 40 Burial Urns-Alabama River Area
41- 42 Prehistoric Designs-Moundville and the Alabama
River Area
43- 44 Prehistoric Designs-North Alabama and Tennessee
45- 46 Prehistoric-Protohistoric Designs-Tennessee
47- 48 Southeastern Designs
49- 50 Prehistoric Designs-Missouri
51- 52 Prehistoric Designs-Middle Mississippi Valley
53- 54 Southern Cult Motifs on Walls-Pecan Point POTtery
55- 56 55-Walls-Pecan Point 56-Pictographs
5 KEY MARCO 94
57- 58 Prehistoric Designs-Key Marco, Florida
59- 60 Prehistoric Designs-Key Marco, Florida
61- 62 Prehistoric, Protohistoric, and Historic Designs-Florida
6 STONE AND COPPER 112
63- 64 Fracturing, Pecking, Abrading, and Drilling Stone
65- 66 Steps in the Manufacture of Chipped Tools and Points
Chapter Plate Page
67- 68 Projectile Points
69- 70 Chipped Stone-Points and Tools
71- 72 71-Caves and Rock Shelters 72-Grinding Stones
73- 74 Stone Bowls
75- 76 Weights and Charms for Throwing-Sticks
77- 78 Stone Tubes-Pipes and Medicine Tubes
79- 80 Stone Pipes-Woodland Period
81- 82 Pebbles and Geodes
83- 84 Stone Ornaments
85- 86 Stone Ornaments
87- 88 Stone Tools-Pecked, Ground, and Polished
89- 90 Ceremonial Bowls and Monolithic Axes
91- 92 Ceremonial Flints
93- 94 Stone Palettes
95- 96 Gamestones
97- 98 Stone Images
99-100 Massive Stone Pipes-Effigies
101-102 Massive Stone Pipes-Effigies
103-104 Massive Stone Pipes-Effigies
105-106 Stone Pipes-Cherokee and Creek
107-108 Copper Ceremonial Objects and Ornaments
109-110 Copper Ceremonial Objects
7 POTTERY 164
111-112 Woodland Period Pottery
113-114 Ceremonial and Mortuary Pottery
115-116 Painted Pottery
117-118 Pottery Bottles-Variety of Forms
119-120 Pottery Bottles-Human Effigies
121-122 Pottery Bowls-Human Effigies
123-124 Pottery Vessels-Bird and Animal Effigies
125-126 125-The Campbell Site-Missouri 126-Caddo
Pottery-Spiro
127-128 Incised Creek Vessels and South Appalachian
Stamped Pottery
129-130 Other Pottery Artifacts
8 WOOD 186
131-132 Baskets-Coiling and Weaving
133-134 Fabrics and Matting
135-136 Village Construction
137-138 Logs, Limbs, and Hafted Tools
139-140 Wooden Masks
141-142 Wooden Masks and Images
143-144 Musical Instruments
9 ANIMAL PRODUCTS 202
145-146 Native Costumes-Summer and Winter
147-148 Masks and Decoys
149-150 Antler Artifacts
151-152 Bone Tools-Needles, Awls, Fishhooks, Projectile
Points, and Others
153-154 153-Bone Tools and Ornaments 154-Shell Implements
155-156 Shell Ornaments
157-158 Shell Ornaments
159-160 Feather Ornaments
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS, BIBLIOGRAPHY, AND INDEX 220
Chapter 1
FOUR CULTURES
Thousands of Indian artifacts have been discovered in the Southeastern United States. Projectile points,
tools, ceremonial objects, and ornaments mark the remains of village sites, burial grounds, and native
camps. These are found along rivers and creeks, in plowed fields, at springs, salt licks, rock shelters,
caves, shell mounds, earth mounds, and valley passes. Archeological evidence indicates that Indians in
varying numbers inhabited parts of the Southeast as early as eight to fifteen thousand years ago and pos
sibly earlier. These were the descendants of the many waves of migrants, who came from Asia into extreme
northwestern North America at successive times during pre-Christian centuries; the migration is thought to have
begun some twenty to thirty thousand years 8. C.1
Successive Indian cultures in the Southeast are often classified into four general culture periods: Paleo
Indian, Archaic, Woodland, and Mississippi.2 Calendrical or time-dating has been difficult to establish and
is subject to change as more advance is made in archeological methods; however, the chronological succes
sion of cultures has been established by several procedures. Stratigraphic archeological excavation has re
sulted in the skillful removal of soil and debris; layer after layer has been carefully examined to recover every
evidence of human occupation. Many sites have yielded proof of long habitation.
Closely associated with stratigraphic excavation has been the careful observation and study of the relation
ship between the archeological and geological remains; it is significant, for instance, that fluted projectile
points have been found with the bones of animals now extinct, and near stream beds, far from existing river
courses.
The presence or absence of European trade goods at various Mississippi Period sites has aided in time
dating. Two other methods of projecting calendrical dates are by dendrochronology or tree-ring dating and
by radiocarbon dating.3
Archeological discoveries indicate that the various culture traits did not change abruptly from one general
culture period to the other. There were many centuries of transition between each of the four major stages
of cultural development; when, simultaneous with the introduction of new methods and artifacts, there was
continued use of certain of the old articles. The gradual modification of types and practices frequently de
veloped at different rates, even among contemporary, near sites. However, there were basic changes in
craftsmanship and circumstances of living which were shared to some extent, by most of the southeastern
sites at some time in their progression of cultures.
Since all of the artifacts pictured in this book were not contemporary productions, it is necessary to call
attention to some of the chief characteristics, developments, and changes in craftsmanship during the four
general culture periods. A calendrical chart is included herein; such dates are subject to fluctuation as
1 Georg K. Naumann, "Archeology and Race in the Amarican Indian,"ARCHEOLOGY OF EASTERN UNITED STATES, edited by James B.
Griffin, 1952, pp. 13-3<4 •
• In "Culture Period. in Eastern United State. Archeology," Ibid., Jame. B. Griffin nst. five culture periods; he ..p arates the Waoclland
into Early, Middle, and Late; dl.cu.... the fir.t two ..p arately, and links the Late Woodland with the Mi ••i ssippl; pp. 352-364. In
ARCHEOLOGY OF EASTERN UNITED STATES there are article. by many eminent archeologists which give a detailed dl.cunion of the culture
period. in ~me 22 region. of the Ea.tem United State.. One of the first comprehen.ive article. di.cussing general culture period. in the
Southeast was publi.hed in THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST by J. A. Ford and G. R. Willey in 1941. Publications by the Bureau of
American Ethnology have discu.sed culture period.. A .tary-type account of the culture characteri.tic. Is given by lewis and Kneberg, 1954.
Mo.t archeological literature aopearing during the last twenty years refers ta the general chronologicol succession of culture periods .
• The work of Dr. A. E. Dougla.s in tree-ring dating in the Southwest is well known. For a brief discussion regarding Ea.tern
United State., see, R. E. Bell, in Griffin, 1952, pp. 345-51. For com menta on carbon dating see Jame. B. Griffin, 1952, pp. 36.5-370. The
radiocarbon dating method re.ulted from work of the In.titute of Nuclear Studle. at the University of Chlcaga.
PALEO - ARCHAIC 9
more evidence is found and more reliable dating projected. The chart is placed herein to show in a very
general way, the tentative calendrical as well as the chronological progression of general culture periods.
? 8000 5000 4000 3000 2000 1000 BC-AD 400 800 1200 1600
PALEO Transition ARCHAIC Transition WOODLAND Transition MISSISSIPPI
PALEO-INDIAN CULTURE PERIOD
The first inhabitants of the Southeast came in gradual influx over a long period of centuries; as new waves
of migrants entered extreme northwestern North America, pushing down into the western plains, the older
inhabitants were gradually pressed outward toward the then uninhabited areas of the continent. The first
immigrants traveled in small bands probably one or a few families; they rarely came in contact with other
natives, and inbred for centuries. Paleo-Indians lived a nomadic life; ate the meat of large animals they col
lectively killed; and supplemented their diet with berries, bark, nuts, and fruits in season. They sought con
venient and natural habitation sites, as caves or over-hanging rocks; in the Tennessee Valley area, their
habitation sites included small knolls near springs, lakes, or streams, and sites at pass approaches to a valley
or on slopes near.4
No human skeletal remains have been found at Paleo-Indian camp sites; there is also an absence of bone
tools, which were probably used. The lithic material which remains, indicates that Paleo-Indians produced a
variety of tools, including points, scrapers, gravers, knives, and choppers; these were made from lamellar
flakes, struck from cores of flint or similar materials. Many of the projectile points show remarkable crafts
manship; they are expertly chipped or flaked into shape; they sometimes have concave bases; ground basal
edges, to prevent cuHing the thongs used in hafting; and central fluting, for blood-leHing or ease in hafting.
Since men were the hunters, they were doubtless responsible for the excellent craftsmanship displayed on the
points. Their weapons included spears, stones, and clubs, and the Late Paleo-Indian probably used the
throwing-stick.
Knowledge and use of fire for light, warmth, and the crudest culinary purposes, is believed to have been
brought into North America by early migrants from Asia. The Paleo-Indian doubtless had to struggle con
stantly against the elements of his environment; he probably seldom gathered anything to store, and wan
dered frequently in search of food.
ARCHAIC CULTURE PERIOD
As centuries passed and primitives gained more knowledge of their surroundings, a slow progression
of changes in their economic habits and habitation sites resulted. To supplement the food supply, they
learned to gather mussels from the river shoals and bivalves from the flats of "bays and coastal areas. These
shells were discarded in gradually mounting heaps along the banks of rivers, bays, and coasts.5 Upon the
rising heaps of shells natives built temporary huts of poles, hide, and brush; they dug fire pits, lined them
with large river pebbles, dumped in bivalves, and broiled them over the hot stones and coals; they probably
heated stones and dropped them into stone, wooden, or leather containers to heat food. The many broken
river pebbles found at Archaic sites may have resulted from such practices. In outdoor kitchens or tempor
ary huts Archaic people probably stored small quantities of roots, bark, berries, nuts, and dried meat.
A distinctive feature of the Archaic Period was the occurrence of "flint workshops" in the shell middens.6
At many sites in the Tennessee Valley area, these occurred during the Middle Archaic Period; below that
level, there was only a limited amount of chipped flint in the midden. The flint workshops were covered
• E. C. Mahan, 1954; Frank J. Soday, 1954.
• Though many of the well-known Archaic sites are found at such shell mounds, there are probably hundreds of ather Archaic sites
located elsewhere, which have never been explored. (correspondence, James B. Griffin).
6 W. S. Webb and David L. DeJarnelle (1942) refer to such flint workshops: "This was a concentrated layer of flint chips and cores
which covered an elliptical area 8 feet long and 5 feet broad in the central cut. It extended into the unexcavated profile to an un·
determined di.tance. "was (di.covered) at a depth of 7.5 feet below the surface (of a shell mound). . . . The fIj"t chh. were made
by percussion fracture and were large and crude. There were faund in the layer with the chips, many cores, three flint point., and one
hammerstone which .howed u.age." (p. 135). AI.o. "After the north profile (shell mound) was cleared, a compact layer of flint chips .ome
6 inches thick was observed extending the full len9th of the profile at about the 9-foot level . . . These dark-blue flint chip. were evide~.tly
struck off by percussion fracture, from larger block. of flint in the manufacture of rather larae and crude blank.. The chios "'owed
no evidence of .econdary chipping by pressure. The flint layer was quite compact and the individual chips were reasonably uniform in
.ize and color. Here, then, was definite observable stratification indicative of a change in the habits of the dwellers in the shell mound.
The depth of the shell midden, at this point, was approximately 18 feet." (p. 247) Pickwick Basin, Alabama.