river, is a regular fortification covering an area of twenty-five acres; the walls are eight feet high, with deep ditches twentyfive feet broad. It has two entrances, and the appearance of a secret passage or covert way may be seen: in the middle are two truncated mounds, each eighty feet high and one thousand feet in circumference at the base.* Other mural remains have been discovered within this state, and some of them are said to be constructed with brick ; but though we have every reason to anticipate such discoveries, and particularly in the region stretching towards Mexico, the authority for their existence is too uncertain for reliance, and needs further confirmation.† From this brief outline of the ancient fossa, cities, walls and fortifications, it will be readily perceived that those in the state of Ohio have been the most carefully surveyed, and have received the most accurate descriptions, while as to those in other sections, we owe our acquaintance with them for the most part to accidental and hasty observations, seldom conducted upon any fixed plan, or from any other motive than casual curiosity. It is highly probable that the unexplored regions of the west still offer a rich field for future research, and will add immeasurably to our information upon a subject so intimately connected with the development of the history of this continent, and of its ancient inhabitants. Not the least important object of such * Silliman's Journal, vol. iii. p. 38. "When at Little Rock we were strongly urged to visit an unexplored city, said to lie on the banks of Red River to the north-west of Alexandria, which is known in that remote country by the name of the Old Town. This, we were seriously assured, might be traced by an investigation is the determination of the position, extent, and chain of continuity of these ruins, upon which circumstances depends in some degree the solution of a portion of the history of their authors. embankments and ruins over an area twenty-three miles long, by four broad. Our informant stated that he should judge the cemetery to be a mile square."-Latrobe's Rambler in North America, vol. ii. p. 179. CHAPTER IV. ANCIENT REMAINS IN THE UNITED STATES. THE last order of these antiquities in the United States consists of Mounds, which are square, oblong, or circular at the base, and conical or flat at the summit. They are either tumuli, terraced elevations in the vicinity of the mural remains, or truncated pyramidal erections. The tumuli are always the repositories of the dead, and it is probable most of the other mounds may have served, secondarily, as sepulchres; though the principal object of many, contiguous to the fortifications, was unquestionably defensive, while the purpose of others, and particularly of the larger truncated pyramids, was religious. Where there exists so much resemblance in form, it is not always easy to distinguish the ancient tumuli from those thrown up by the Indians. The superior dimensions of the former usually present one mark of distinction, not always, however, satisfactory. In their contents we perceive surer indications of their origin, especially in the traces of the incineration of the dead, a custom not usually prevailing at present with the Indians. Another characteristic difference, but one not invariable, is exhibited in the nature of their materials— those of ancient workmanship appearing often to have been erected with alluvion dissimilar from the neighboring soil. It may be added also that the association of the ancient tumuli in groups, and their proximity to the fortified enclosures, indicate an identity of origin. The regular form and position of those groups more isolated, and the symmetrical manner in which they are generally arranged, prevent any confusion between them and the less ancient structures proceeding from the Indians, which usually occur singly. Many of the ancient tumuli consist of earth, and others of stone, the composition depending however upon the natural facilities for obtaining either material. Thus of three, discovered upon an elevated ridge in the state of Kentucky, two were of the former, and one of the latter description; all, however, exhibiting the same internal indications in other respects.* They had been erected over dead bodies, or rather over the ashes of the dead, as beneath them were ashes, calcined bones, and charred wood, enclosed in a grave formed of flat pieces of stone. These mounds were thirty-six feet in diameter, but only three in height; and they have been considered as of recent construction, though they are manifestly of the same character with others found on the Muskingum river, which are unquestionably ancient. The latter were composed of earth, and had a basis of well burnt bricks, each four or five inches square, upon which were cinders, charcoal, and pieces of calcined human bones. A similar mound of large dimensions existed at Marietta, which on being removed was found to contain, besides pieces of copper, silver plate, and oxided iron, one human body upon the surface of the earth, deposited with the face upwards, and the head pointing to the south-west. Blackened earth, charcoal, and a circular coffin of thin flat stones still dark and stained with * Drake's Picture of Cincinnati, p. 201. smoke, demonstrated that the funeral obsequies had been celebrated by fire. This mound was six feet high, and thirty in diameter, and its materials were taken from the adjacent plain. Another mound of similar dimensions, at a short distance from Marietta, on being examined was found to contain copper ornaments, together with the remains of a single skeleton, also probably burnt before burial.* Near the centre of the circular enclosure at Circleville above described, was a tumulus about ten feet high. On the east side a raised passage-way led to its level summit, which was thirty feet in diameter, and on the same side was a semicircular pavement composed of pebbles. This mound has been removed, and its contents were a great quantity of arrow or spear-heads; the handle of some iron instrument, as was thought, encircled by a ferule of silver; a large mica mirror three feet long; a plate of iron oxidized, and two skeletons twenty feet asunder, surrounded with ashes, charcoal, and well-burnt brick. At Cincinnati a mound eight feet high, sixty broad, and six hundred and twenty long, on examination appeared to * Archæologia Americana, vol. i. p. 175. † Ibid. p. 177. One of the first accounts, written in 1794, describes this mound as raised upon the margin of the second bank of the Ohio river, eight feet in height and with a base of about one hundred and twenty by sixty. Upon its surface were found stumps of oak trees sever feet in diameter. The articles which were found were near a body interred in a horizontal position, and with the head towards the setting sun. The instruments of stone were smoothly and regularly cut, and of great hardness. The copper was well wrought, and the carved bones were not human remains.--Transactions of Amer. Phil. Soc., vol. iv. p. 178. |