SWATHED IN PEARLS.

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 260, 3 November 1925, Page 12

SWATHED IN PEARLS.

A ROMANTIC FIND. FOT'R PREHISTORIC WARRIORS. Swathed", in strand* of pearls, some of extraordinary size and perfection, ■the remains of four bodies have been discovered in a mound near 15a in bridge. Ohio, during excavations by scientists. The bodies, two of which were crowned with copper helmets, carved with intricate designs, were surrounded j by ornaments of copper, silver. and tortoise-shell. Also found in the mound were tusks of the grizzly bear, tlie biggest ever unearthed in a Xorth American mound, and several large pipes, one exquisitely, carved with an image of a standing •wolf and another with an image "of a, Ibear. '•' : -' Professor TT. C. Shetrone. who was present when the discoveries were made, said the fact that the four bodies were found together in the same mound does not indicate that they died together, it being the custom of the ancient tribes to place their dead in a temporary obatnel house, and then once a year to hold a feast of the dead and place nil the bodies at once in a mound with great ceremony. Thu nose of one skeleton was made of copper. Scientists have never been able to j nsrree how long ago the mound builders lived; whether they were an early type of American Indian, or a distinct and separate earlier race. They hope these new discoveries in America's "Valley of the Kings'' will throw light on the subject. ■