Mounds, Myths, and Grave Mistakes: Wills De Hass and the Growing Pains of Nineteenth-Century Archaeology

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For much of the nineteenth century, antiquarians, who frequently came from professions and backgrounds outside of the scientific realm, domi nated the study of American prehistory. In their writings, they mused upon how the past might have looked rather than rigorously described the context of archaeological findings. Although their efforts in the field rescued count less artifacts from the path of American expansion, their own excavations typically were haphazard. By the midpoint of the century, the first descrip tive archaeological texts were beginning to emerge, laying the groundwork for future methodology, but the discipline still lacked the characteristics of a modern profession, including full research support and opportunities for advanced training. At the same time, early archaeologists themselves were given to wild speculation, with many still believing that a separate non-American Indian race had been responsible for the mounds of the South and Midwest. 2 Wills De Hass embodies the complicated legacy of these transitional archaeologists. A physician and historian of then-western Virginia, De Hass parlayed his curiosity and self-funded research of local earthworks into a committee chairmanship with the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and, later, an appointment to lead mound exploration for the new Bureau of Ethnology. But De Hass did damage to his own reputation and to the progress of American archaeology by defending the Grave Creek stone—a celebrated hoax of the time—and by elevating the Moundbuilder quest above other research pursuits. These fervent beliefs ultimately contributed to De Hass’s professional downfall and served to obscure his myriad contributions to the nascent discipline. De Hass was born in Washington County, Pennsylvania on July 4, 1817. His ancestors, originally French Huguenot stock, came to the New World generations earlier by way of Holland. One ancestor, John Philip De Hass,