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The Spiro Mound: A Photo Essay- Book Excerpts
These are the same captions from the book.
Introduction to Excavation Photographs
The second section of photographs from Dr. Bell’s collection features pictures of the digging and excavations at the Spiro Mound. The caption for each photograph gives the time period during which the picture was taken, a description of what can be seen in the picture, and an index map showing the direction the photographer was shooting. The photographs are organized in approximate chronological sequence from March 1935 through June 1937.
We began this project with a stack of photographs in no particular order and wanted to arrange them in chronological order. We also wanted to know exactly what the pictures were showing and that meant determining the direction the photographer was shooting the picture. Dr. Bell researched his correspondence files for letters from home that provided approximate dates for his various visits to the mound. This provided most of the needed chronological data. To determine the direction of the photograph, we located reference markers that would appear in more than one picture. These were normally trees. We created a map of the mound with the reference markers located relative to the mound. In this way we were able to correctly determine the direction the pictures were taken. For the reader who wants to confirm our conclusions, we have pointed out some of the reference markers that we used in the captions. The dark arrow on the map shows were he was standing and the direction he was looking while taking the photo.
Photograph 7: April 1935,
looking North: Taking a photo break
A photo-op at the Pocola Mining Company dig, taken in April 1935,
looking north along the east side of the mound. The diggers are
in a trench in the third cone from the north. Sitting in the back
is caretaker Dan. He lived in the tent in the background, where
the artifacts were held before being sold, and protected the
property from unauthorized digging at night. There is some
speculation that he might have done some searching on his own at
night. Standing to the left is W. M. McKenzie; to the right of
him, in the hole, is W. Guinn Cooper, with K. A. McKenzie to his
right. W. M. McKenzie is K. A. McKenzie’s father. Guinn
Cooper was interviewed by Dr. James Cherry on April 3, 1985.
Parts of this interview are presented in the introductory text.
The person sitting on the far right is Dr. Bell’s high
school friend Chuck Aronhalt, wearing his distinctive hat seen in
Photograph 5. This picture was taken about the time the famous
Bell-Townsend-Onken Blade was found. Although the diggers
didn’t let outsiders know where specific artifacts were
found, it is highly probable that the blade was found in the
immediate vicinity of this trench.
This picture was taken after the heavy rain referred to in
Photographs 2 and 3. The rectangular feature seen on the left,
three-quarters of the way up the photograph, was also visible in
Photograph 2. The large cone can be seen in the background, in
the upper left corner. Notice the cluster of trees near the tent
in the upper right of the photo. There is an open area with no
other trees next to the mound until the upper left part of the
picture where there is another group of trees to the left or east
of the main cone. These observations were helpful in placing the
locations from which different photographs were taken.
Photograph 18: Summer 1935,
looking Southwest: Diggers at the entrance into the large cone
Dr. Bell did not take this photograph since he did not visit the
mound while the tunnels into the main cone were open. He had
received a message telling him they were finding spectacular
artifacts from the large cone and that he should hurry down to
the site. However, at home in Ohio, young Robert Bell had been in
an accident that disabled his truck and he didn’t have the
money to get it repaired. It would be the following April, in
1936, before Robert Bell, his father, mother and nephew would be
able to make the trip. By that time, the Pocola Mining Company
lease had expired and the tunnels had been closed by dynamite.
(See Photographs 19-21.) This photograph has been credited to H.
T. Daniel by some sources.
This picture was taken in the summer of 1935, looking into the
main tunnel into the large or Great Mortuary Cone. The second,
smaller tunnel to the left may be for ventilation. The people in
the photograph are believed to be John Hobbs with an unknown
person on the right, and the McKenzies on the left. John Hobbs
stated the main tunnel was on the northeast side of the large
cone. (See Hamilton 1, Plates 4 and 5.) Therefore, this
photograph is looking to the southwest at the northeast side of
the mound.
From the photograph, all of the trees on the mound are on the
right side of the photograph or the east side of the mound. The
left, or north, side of the mound is barren of trees. If we
compare this observation with Photographs 6, 8 and 9, they show
that most of the trees are on the east side of the mound, which
would be on the left side of this photograph. This confirms that
the main tunnel is on the northeast side of the main cone. The
discussion with Photograph 21 also confirms this location for the
main tunnel. Hamilton, who visited the mound during the first two
weeks of the WPA digging, also placed the tunnel on the northeast
side of the main cone.
Figure 12: The Tribute Points
Frame
Mr. Schellenberger of Dardanelle, Arkansas originally assembled
this outstanding frame of 205 bird points from Spiro. Robert E.
Bell took this picture in April 1935. The picture was shown to
Mr. Schwem who managed the local S.S. Kresge’s 5 & 10
store in Bell’s hometown of Marion, Ohio. (Kresge’s
became K Mart.) Although he was not a collector, he asked Bell to
purchase the frame for him. Bell arranged the transaction and,
for $100, the frame was obtained.
Later. Mr. Schwem sold his frame and it was obtained by Dr. C. J.
Bondley of Bell Center, Ohio, his brother Elmer, a postal worker
in Marion, Ohio, and three others individuals. The frame was then
sold to Irvin Dougherty of Fremont, Indiana. It is shown in
Who’s Who #1, published in 1960, on page 30. Mr. Dougherty
valued the frame at $1200. He sold the frame to Richard K. Meyers
of Peoria, Illinois. The frame later sold to Tony Stein of Kansas
City, Missouri. Pieces from the frame are now known to be in the
collections of Tony Stein, Steve Granger, Steve Lyons, Roy
Hathcock, Rodney Fant, Kent Patterson and others. Several points
from this frame can be seen in the “Prehistoric
American” Volume XXXVII
Number 3, 2003.
The twenty Tribute (Craig) points that make up the center design
of the frame are part of a cache of maybe 25 points. One other
example is located on the outside circle of points in this frame,
at the bottom of the picture near the middle. Two other Tribute
points have been shown in Figures 9 and 10, thereby accounting
for 23 of a reported 25 examples. These are large, thin,
well-made tri-notched points with serrations common around the
base. They are certainly some of the finest bird points from
Spiro or anywhere else. The first picture taken of this frame by
Robert Bell was in Spring 1934. That means the Tribute points
were recovered early in the digging and had to come from the
lesser cones of The Spiro Mound and not the Hollow Chamber of the
Main Cone (the Great Temple Mound) . Tribute points have been
named Craig points after the Craig Mound (The current name for
The Spiro Mound.) by Gregory Perino in Volume 3 (2002) of his
Projectile Points and Preforms hardback books. We like the old
name Tribute points and will continue to use it in this text.
Figure 1: The
Bell-Townsend-Onken Blade
Many people consider this to be the finest example of Native
American flintwork. This artifact was recovered from The Spiro
Mound, reportedly by Bill Heydon Vandagriff, and purchased for
$15.00 on the spot by Robert E. Bell for his father’s
collection. The blade was broken in one place and was glued
together with only a small chip missing, as shown in the
photograph taken April 15, 1935. (The chip in the middle of the
blade is about one-fourth of the way up from the base.)
According to Dr. Robert E. Bell, the blade is made of colorful
Kay County chert from northern Oklahoma. (Proper name is Florence
“B” Chert). It is pictured in color in Who’s Who
in Indian Relics, #5 (1980), where it is said: “ this 13 1/8
inch flint lance has a maximum thickness at one spot of only 3/8
inch.” It was item # 103 in the Harry T. Bell collection at
Marion, Ohio, until July 30, 1956, when Earl C. Townsend, Jr.
purchased the Bell collection. It is currently in the collection
of Bobby Onken. Mr. Onken has put this piece on display on
several occasions to allow interested parties, including the
authors, to view it. He has also published pictures of it. The
blade is shown in the Townsend collection in Mr. Onken’s
Legends of Prehistoric Art, Volume 1, page 97 and will also be
featured in Masterpieces of Prehistoric Art- Volume 1. It was
also shown in color on the cover of the “Prehistoric
American” Volume XXXVII Number 3, 2003. Mr. Onken and others
believe it is made of Kaolin flint. Whatever material it is made
from, it is one beautiful artifact.
This blade was found in April, 1935. This would be around the
time when Dr. Bell took photographs of the diggers at work in the
minor cones. Photograph 7 shows them digging in the third cone
from the north. W. Guinn Cooper is shown in this picture. In his
interview with Dr. James Cherry, Cooper discusses the discovery
of what probably is this blade: “and there was a fellow, I
was trying to think of his name. I had his picture...he was a
professor...He used to come down here all the time...He’s
interested in this stuff and he bought one of those long thin,
well you’d call it a knife probably...Yeh, it wasn’t
flint, I don’t know what it was...but anyhow the old
preacher broke it, I remember when he broke it and I pulled it
out.” This would account for the fact the piece was broken.
Although Dr. Bell said the diggers wouldn’t let outsiders
know exactly where items were found, it is safe to assume that
this piece came from the third cone from the north in the area
shown in Photographs 7 and 11.
Figure 20: Spiro Swords
The story of the Wehrle Cache begins at the Robert Bell’s
home in Marion, Ohio, in August 1935. Lear Howell of Glenwood,
Arkansas, one of the dealers in artifacts from Spiro, arrives
with some new discoveries, including a cache of these long blades
sometimes referred to as swords. There were at least 17 of the
blades, as well as three chipped maces (Figure 21), in the cache.
Robert E. Bell and his father Harry decide not to purchase the
blades. Lear Howell continues on to Newark, Ohio and to A. T.
Wehrle who purchases the artifacts. Mr. Wehrle decides to clean
the blades since they are fire-blackened and “dirty.”
As he soaks them in water, they begin to fall apart. They had
been restored!
Many of the pieces had fit together nicely but some did not. The
“restorer” had decided to flake the broken edge to
provide a space to glue the pieces back together and cover the
work by filling the space created with chippings mixed with
plaster of Paris and plastic wood. The plaster was then painted
to complete the cover-up. As reported by Hamilton (1952) page 43,
“In a few instances green paint had been added in an evident
attempt to simulate the copper stains which were present on so
much of the Spiro material.” When some of the blades were
put in water, the plaster dissolved and the blades fell apart,
much to Mr. Wehrle’s dismay. Mr. Wehrle reported the unhappy
circumstances to the Bells but, fortunately, kept the restored
blades despite their condition. Upon his death in 1954, his
entire artifact collection was left to
St. Josefina Catholic School near Columbus, Ohio, to be sold for
the benefit of the school. The school contacted Mr. Ray Baby of
the Ohio Historical Society for help in auctioning off the
collection. In return for his help the Ohio Historical Museum
received a donation of all the Spiro material in the Wehrle
Collection, as well as other materials from digs in Ohio
sponsored by Mr. Wehrle to keep some of the employees from his
factory working during the Depression.
Thus, the story has a happy ending.
All of the blades in the cache had been ceremonially broken or
“killed”. This was the only class of artifact that was
systematically killed. Figure 24 shows three other swords that
were obtained by Mr. Royer from Mr. Pilquist in fragments and
then restored by Mr. Royer by gluing without damaging the
fragments. Figures 22 and 23 show all the pieces from the Wehrle
cache. Hamilton (1952) shows “swords” from the Wehrle
collection in his Plate 46.
The material used to make these blades is difficult to determine
due to their condition. The senior author was able to view these
blades during a trip to the Ohio Historical Society in May 2003.
Based on the broken edges, they are made of a variety of Mill
Creek chert rather than Dover chert as some of the Duck River
Swords. This would agree with Brown (1996) who has identified the
use of Dover and Mill Creek for the large blades, as well as some
being made from Smokey Hills jasper from Kansas and Nebraska. The
Hathcock Mace discussed in Figure 18 above is also indicated to
be Mill Creek chert. The Hathcock Mace is shown in color in the
“Prehistoric American” Volume XXXVII Number 3, 2003,
pages 26-27. The color in the picture has been enhanced as the
piece does not have the reddish cast to it.
Figure 46: Repousse male profile
in copper with two earspools
This picture shows an 11” cutout copper sheet human head
effigy with repousse designs. Below it are shown two stone
earspools with copper coverings.
The figure in the cutout can be seen wearing such an earspool.
Also, from the occipital hairknot is a copper feather that curves
up over the head. It is clear that this is not simulating a real
feather but that it is intended to show a sheet copper plume hair
ornament such as those seen in Figures 41 and 42. The eyes are
almond-shaped and are within a forked or weeping eye design. This
eye design is like the marking of the peregrine falcon. This
piece is shown in Ancient Art of the American Woodland Indians on
page 142, plate 100 (catalog number 95). It is also shown in
Hamilton (1952) Plate 73, and Hamilton, et. al. Spiro Mound
Copper (1974), Figure 88. This piece is now in the Ohio
Historical Museum, the result of an exchange with Robert Bell and
Robert Phelps of Marion, Ohio, arranged by Henry C. Shetrone,
Director, Ohio State Museum. This piece is listed as inventory
item 1393.1A. This profile was part of a cache that included
eight copper feather pieces. See Figures 41, 42, 43, 44 and 45
(left) for other items in the cache.
Figure 58: Joe Balloun
This photograph shows the same basic artifact display shown in
Figure 57. The pots are not from Spiro but all of the beads are.
The man is Joe Balloun, an artifact dealer from Dardanelle,
Arkansas. Joe was the first to officially dig at The Spiro Mound
when he leased the Percy Brewer property that contained the small
cone on the southeast end of the large mound in the summer of
1933. He found very little of value and abandoned the project
before the Pocola Mining Company began digging. After that, Joe
visited the mounds regularly and bought items from the diggers.
Mr. Balloun was known to restore items that need to be restored.
He was the individual credited with restoring the effigy pot
shown in Figures 65-67. He may also have been the person who
restored the blades and maces sold to Mr. Wehrle and shown in
Figures 20-23. He was said to always be upfront about the
materials he sold and would identify pieces that had been
restored. When the Pocola digging was over, he took a large group
of artifacts to Kansas City which are shown in the Braecklein
photograph of December 8, 1935, shown in Figure 14. Joe Balloun
was the main bidder against Dr. Clements’ group for the
rights to dig at the mound after the Pocola Mining Company lease
had expired. He was outbid at $600. Figure 13 shows a group of
boatstones on a postcard that Dr. Robert E. Bell refers to as
ones that “Joe had”, referring to Joe Balloun.
According to Hamilton (1952), J. G. Braecklein, H. I. Player of
Kansas City, H. M. Trowbridge of Bethel, Kansas, the Museum of
the American Indian, New York, and others obtained materials from
Mr. Balloun.