In many parts of the United States, from western New York to the Rocky
Mountains and even beyond, there are great numbers of artificial heaps and
extensive embankments of earth. These show skill in construction, and from
them have been dug many relics of artistic merit and good workmanship. At
one time these earthworks and relics were generally believed to be the
work of a single, highly civilized people, who preceded the Indians, who
were not related to them, and who are now extinct. To this people the name
“mound-builders” was given.
There are three ways in which we can learn about these so-called
“mound-builders.” We may learn something from the mounds themselves, from
the relics found in the mounds, and from the bones of persons who were
buried in them.
Studying the mounds themselves, we find that they differ in different
areas. We will look at three areas:
(1) In Ohio there are thousands of mounds and earthworks. Near every
important modern town there are groups of them. Cincinnati, Chillicothe,
Dayton, Xenia, are all near important mounds.
The regular enclosures are numerous in this area: these are great
embankments of earth inclosing a regular space. Some are in the form of
circles; others are four-sided; in a few cases they are eight-sided.
Sometimes a square and a circle are united. There is one such combination
at Hopeton; one of the embankments is a nearly true circle containing
twenty acres; joined to it is a square of almost the same area.
At Newark there was a wonderful group of enclosures. The group covered
about two miles square and consisted of three divisions, which were
connected with one another by long parallel embankment walls. One circle
in this group contained more than thirty acres: the walls were twelve feet
high and fifty feet wide; a ditch seven feet deep and thirty-five feet
wide bordered it on the inner side; a gap of eighty feet in the circle
served as an entrance. In the center of the area enclosed by this great
circle was a curious earth heap somewhat like a bird in form. Northwest
from this great circle, nearly a mile distant, were two connected
enclosures, one octagonal, the other circular: the former contained more
than fifty acres, the latter twenty. East from these and northeast from
the great circle was a fine twenty-acre enclosure, nearly a square in
form. Besides these great walls, there were long parallel lines of
connecting embankment walls, small circular enclosures, and little mounds
in considerable variety. This great mass of works represented an enormous
amount of time and labor.
What was the purpose of these regular enclosures? Some writers claim that
they were forts for protection; others consider them protections for the
corn-fields; others think they were places for games or religious
ceremonials; one eminent man insists that they were foundations upon which
were built long and narrow houses.
“Altar mounds” occur in Ohio. Professor Putnam and his assistants opened a
number of these. They are small, rounded heaps of earth. At their center
is a basin-shaped mass of hard clay showing the effect of fire. These
basins are a yard or four feet across and contain ashes and charcoal. Upon
these are found many curious objects. On one altar were two bushels of
ornaments made of stone, copper, mica, shells, bears’ teeth, and sixty
thousand pearls. Most of these objects were pierced with a small hole and
were apparently strung as ornaments. These objects had all been thrown
into a fire blazing on the altar and had been spoiled by the heat. After
the kindling of the fire, and the destruction of these precious things,
earth had been heaped up over the altars, completing the mound.
The most famous mound in Ohio is _the great serpent_ in Adams County. It
lies upon a narrow ridge between three streams, which unite. It is a
gigantic serpent form made in earth; across the widely opened jaws it
measures seventy-five feet; the body, just behind the head, measures
thirty feet across and five feet high; following the curves the length is
thirteen hundred forty-eight feet. The tail is thrown into a triple coil.
In front of the serpent is an elliptical enclosure with a heap of stones
at its center. Beyond this is a form, somewhat indistinct, thought by some
to be a frog. Probably this wonderful earthwork was connected with some
old religion. While there are many other earthworks of other forms in
Ohio, the _sacred enclosures_, the _altar mounds_, and the _great serpent_
are the most characteristic.
[Illustration.]