Mass Grave of Ancient Dwarf Skeletons Discovered in Coshocton County, Ohio
The
missionary, Zeisberger, noted a hundred and thirty three years ago
the numerous signs of an ancient race here. He referred
particularly to the cemetery containing thousands of graves near the
mound three miles south of Coshocton.
The
skeletons reduced to chalky ashes, were three to four and a half
feet long, smaller than the Indian or mound skeletons. These
pygmies have led to much conjecture. Thus far no definite
conclusion is recorded in any of the notices of this ancient city of
the dead.
Skulls
were described "as triangular in shape, much flattened at the
sides and back, though not with the slant-brow of the Flat Head
Indians seen in the West. A hole pierced the back of the head. The
bones were displaced, the skull being found with the pelvis, from
which it is inferred that the body was dismembered before burial.
The
long rows of graves of the pygmy race at Coshocton were regularly
arranged with heads to the west, a circumstance which has given rise
to the theory that these people were sun-worshipers, facing the daily
approach of the sun god over the eastern hills. In this respect,
however, there is no resemblance to the various positions of the
skeletons found in our mounds.
