Collection ID: 0018 | Metadata type: TEI | TEI XML | Data

Title

Catalogue of the Stone and Terra Cotta Implements and Ornaments of the North American Mound Builders

Authors

• Dickeson, Montroville Wilson

Call number

PU-Mu. 1080, Box 2, Item 1
(Philadelphia, Penn Museum Archives, Montroville Wilson Dickeson collection)

Publisher

Penn Museum Archives

Language

Primary language: English.

Origin

Date

From 1838 to 1848

Place

Mississippi River Valley

Summary

Montroville Wilson Dickeson was born in 1810 in Philadelphia and moved to Woodbury, New Jersey at an early age where he was educated. He evinced a passionate interest in the natural sciences and collecting from a young age and described several unique specimens from the crustaceous marl beds of New Jersey while still a student. In 1828, Dickeson entered into the study of medicine with Dr. Joseph Parrish of Philadelphia. Even while studying medicine, Dickeson wrote monographs on green sand fossils that brought him to the attention of some prominent Philadelphia scientists including Samuel J. Morton and a Dr. Wilson. Dr. Dickeson accepted a medical residency at the Philadelphia Dispensary, but his passion for archaeology interrupted the residency. He traveled to the Ohio Valley and areas of the Mississippi River to search for Indian burial mounds and Indian relics and antiquaries. From 1837 to 1844, Dickeson investigated the construction of the mounds and pioneered techniques that remained popular into the twentieth century, like the use of trenches, and knowledge of the importance of strata and cross sections for interpreting sites. His skill was recognized by later American archaeologists W.H. Dall, Max Uhle, and Alfred Kidder. In the midst of the cultural controversy over the origin of the Mound Builders, Dickeson remained focused on the archaeological questions about the arrival of the first people in the New World and the origins of the enormous prehistoric earthworks found along the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. Following the 11 year expedition, Dickeson returned to Philadelphia to the family home at 211 Lombard Street. Here, on the upper floor, many of the objects that returned with him were stored. He was elected to the Academy of Natural Sciences in 1846. Dickeson resumed his medical practice from the Lombard Street site and distinguished himself during the cholera epidemics in 1848 and 1850 by establishing the Southwark Cholera Hospital with Dr. Francis Condy. Dickeson, ever mindful of exhibition possibilities, purchased a portion of the Peale Collection in 1850. In addition to his archaeological expeditions and his medical profession, Dickeson demonstrated a streak of showmanship and possibly exaggeration in the years following his return home. He conducted public lectures by subscription under the auspices of the Jefferson Institute of Philadelphia in addition to writing for the literary magazine The Lotus. His lectures were accompanied by exhibits of the "Dickeson's American Antiquities" collection. Dickeson also commissioned a huge panorama of the Mississippi Valley expedition which was executed by John J. Egan, an itinerant Irish artist. Egan used the drawings and renderings of Dickeson as his source material. Panoramas were a popular type of entertainment in the mid-nineteenth century. A precursor to the moving picture, the canvas was unrolled a bit at a time to reveal the painted scenes and give the impression of traveling along a landscape. Egan's panorama was about nine feet high by 400 feet long and consisted of 27 scenes. The panorama was displayed at the short-lived City Museum, established by Dickeson, and at the Swain Building in central Philadelphia. It was unveiled at Memorial Hall for The Centennial Exhibition in 1876, remaining on display from that time until 1885. The Dickeson panorama, the only surviving piece from this era, is now displayed at the City Art Museum of St. Louis, Missouri. Dickeson died in 1882, after a short illness. Future generations have speculated on why Dickeson's work was so little known despite his obvious contributions. His relative obscurity may be related to a lack of published work. Dickeson failed to write a long monograph on his major expedition for a scientific journal, choosing to write for local publications in serialized form. Dickeson published only two works, The American Numismatic Manual and a treatise on the Cypresses of Mississippi and Louisiana. This volume, "Stone and Terra Cotta Implements and Ornaments of North American Mound Builders, 1838-1848" is written in Dickeson's hand. Dickeson follows a similar format in presenting each site; a drawing, place name, a few lines of poetry or prose, journal entries about the journey, physical appearance and strata of the site, followed by a list of the artifacts discovered. The sites visited in this group include: Beluxies, June 1842; Fort Rosalie; Benard Mounds (Natchez, Mississippi), August 1842; Quitman's Mounds (Adams County, Mississippi), July 1843; Ferguson's Mounds (Jefferson County, Mississippi), 1846, Feriday Mounds (Concordia Parish, Louisisana), 1843; and the Plantation of Colonel A. L. Bingaman, (Natchez), 1842. Dickeson includes background writings with the catalogue; "The Bones of the Mastodon Gigantum" (page 153), "Gems of the North American Aborigine" (page 37), "The Massacre at White Apple Village" (page 56), and the "Geology of the Mound Builders" (page 99). This volume includes drawings for a few objects and some museum numbers.

Subjects names

• Egan, John J., 1810-1882

Subjects topical

• Archaeological surveying
• Archaeology--Burials
• Art history
• Excavations (Archaeology)

Subjects geographic

• Mississippi River Valley

Genres

• Diaries

Licenses

• Text

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  URL

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• Text

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  URL

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Table of contents

• 1 — Catalogue of the Stone and Terra Cotta Implements and Ornaments of the North American Mound Builders, collected by Professor M. W. Dickeson M.D. from 1838 to 1848 during his ten years investigations of the Southern Mound Builders relics, in which time upward of one thousand Tumuli of that long lost and unhistoried people were opened.
• 2 — Ancient Burial Place of the Beluxies, opened June 1842
• 10 — Old Fort Rosalie
• 16 — Benard Mounds (Natchez, Mississippi), opened August 1842
• 26 — Quitman's Mounds (Adams County, Mississippi), opened July 1843
• 40 — Ferguson's Mounds (Jefferson County, Mississippi), 1846
• 56 — White Apple Village
• 76 — Feriday Mounds (Concordia Parish, Louisiana), 1843
• 96 — Burial Ground of the Natchez (Lewis' Mounds), July 1843
• 118 — Opening of Mounds on the Plantation of Col. A.L. Bingaman, July 1842

Decorations

• 2 — Ancient Burial Place of the Beluxies
• 10 — Fort Rosalie
• 16 — Benard Mounds
• 22 — Skull at Benard Mounds
• 26 — Quitman's Mounds
• 30 — Fig. 1, cross section of stratification of Quitman's Mounds
• 40 — Ferguson's Mounds
• 56 — Fort Rosalie, August 1842
• 76 — Ferriday Mounds
• 84 — Fig. 1, cross section of stratification at Feriday Mounds
• 88 — Fig. 3, skull at Feriday Mounds
• 92 — Fig. 4, a sitting skeleton at Feriday Mounds
• 94 — Fig. 5, [tool] at Feriday Mounds
• 106 — Fig. 1, vase and basin at Lewis' Mounds
• 106 — Fig. 3, a saucer with a handle and a basin at Lewis' Mounds
• 110 — Fig. 5, skull at Lewis' Mounds
• 112 — Fig. 6, pottery bottle at Lewis' Mounds
• 128 — Fig. 1, vase at Bingaman's Mounds
• 130 — Fig. 2, bottle at Bingaman's Mounds
• 130 — Fig. 3, skeleton at Bingaman's Mounds
• 132 — Fig. 4, polished jasper pebble at Bingaman's Mounds
• 132 — Fig. 5, pipe at Bingaman's Mounds
• 134 — Fig. 6, flat-head Natchez Indian