Halifax County Archaeological Find

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            Ancient Americans.—The work men engaged in opening a way for the projected railroad between Weldon (Halifax Co.) and Garysburg  (Northampton Co.), N.C., struck, about a mile from the former place in a bank beside the river, a catacomb of skeletons, supposed to be those of Indians of a remote age, a lost and forgotten race. The bodies exhumed were of a strange and remarkable formation.

            The skulls were nearly an inch in thickness; the teeth were filed sharp as those of cannibals, the enamel perfectly preserved; the bones were of wonderful length and strength, the former being probably as great as eight of nine feet. Near their heads were sharp stone arrows, some mortars in which their corn was brayed, and the bowls and pipes, apparently of soapstone. The teeth of the skeletons are said to be as large as those of a horse.

            The bodies were found closely packed together, laid tier on tier, as it seemed. There was no discernable ingress or egress to the mound. The mystery is who these giants were, to what race they belonged, to what era, and how they came to be buried there. To these inquiries no answer has yet been made, and meantime the ruthless spaces continue to cleave skull and body asunder, throwing up in mangled masses the bones of this heroic tribe. It is hoped that some effort will be made to preserve authentic and accurate accounts of these discoveries, and to throw some light, if possible, on the lost tribe whose bones are thus rudely disturbed from their sleep in the earth’s bosom.—Raleigh Republican

[The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, NC) 26 May 1874]

Note: I wonder what happened to these artifacts?