BANCROFT 
 LIBRARY 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 
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 /f. 
 
 )S 
 
 IN WISCONSIN AND OHIO, 
 
 GIVEN AT THE MEETING OF THE AMERICAN ANTIQUABIAN SOCIETY, OCTOBER 22, 1883. 
 Q_- Hj-r f~t l jKrjty^ fTroOT ^ e Proceedings <?/ Me Society , JVew Series, Vol. III., No. 1.] 
 
 Prof. FREDERICK W. PUTNAM gave an account of his^ 
 recent excursions in Wisconsin and Ohio. His paper, 
 on motion of Dr. GREEN, was referred to the committee 
 of publication, but as the author wishes to make further 
 researches in both regions before publishing a detailed 
 account of the ancient earthworks which he examined, a 
 brief abstract only of his remarks is given here. 
 
 During the excursions Mr. PUTNAM was accompanied by 
 his friend and pupil, Mr. John Cone Kimball, who took 
 photographs of many of the works. Sketches of several 
 were also made and were shown at the meeting. 
 
 For a portion of the time in Wisconsin the Rev. Stephen 
 D. Peet, of Clinton, Wisconsin, was of the party, and to 
 his knowledge of the singular earthworks of that State 
 Mr. PUTNAM expressed his indebtedness. 
 
 It is well known that the earthworks of Wisconsin, 
 between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi river, are 
 remarkable from the fact that a large proportion are in the 
 forms of animals and men, a fact which is of great ethnical 
 importance when we remember that such effigy mounds 
 have not been found in the adjoining regions. The only 
 works in North America with which they are at all com 
 parable are three in Ohio, known as the "serpent-mound," 
 the "alligator-mound," and " Whittlesey's effigy-mound," 
 and the two "bird-mounds" in Georgia. 
 
 In Wisconsin the effigies of animals and men are very 
 numerous, and there is hardly a lake or a river from Lake 
 Michigan to the Mississippi, on the borders of which they 
 cannot be traced in large or small groups. They are made 
 
entirely of earth and stand out in low relief; those visited 
 being from two to four or five feet high, though generally 
 they were of great linear extent. 
 
 Many of these groups of effigies are associated with long 
 narrow mounds of about the same height, and in nearly all 
 the groups which he examined, conical mounds, varying 
 from four to twenty feet or more in height, were found in 
 close proximity to the effigies. These conical mounds are, 
 in general, believed to be burial mounds, and many have 
 been proved to be such, while the effigy mounds and the 
 long low earthworks associated with them are generally 
 believed not to contain human remains. Mr. PUTNAM. 
 however, thought that the examinations had not yet been 
 made with sufficient care and thoroughness as to enable 
 correct conclusions to be drawn in relation to the exact 
 character of the Wisconsin mounds. Many of the groups 
 have been surveyed, and others have been sketched, but a< 
 yet only very unsatisfactory explorations have been made. 
 Excavations at random have been made in hundreds of the 
 mounds, -either in search of relics or from mere curiosity, 
 but the results of such unscientific work are seldom 
 recorded, and our knowledge of the contents of the mounds 
 has not been thereby increased. 
 
 What should be done before conclusions of importance 
 can be drawn, is to make careful and thorough explorations 
 of several of the groups. Not only should the effigy and 
 other low mounds of a group be thoroughly explored by 
 cutting trenches their whole length and width, and digging 
 at least two feet* below the surface on which the mound 
 rests, but the land between and about the mounds should 
 be trenched and carefully examined in order to see if there 
 be any signs of a former village site or of a burial place. 
 Of course the associated conical mounds should also be 
 systematically examined, by a series of trenches through 
 each mound, and not simply by sinking a shaft in its centre. 
 This latter method :i> it is pursued by the relic hunter, 
 
who, caring only for the relics he may find, wishes to 
 obtain them with the least possible amount of labor, is 
 vandalism, not exploration. 
 
 When several such thorough explorations shall have been 
 made by competent men under the auspices of the State or 
 of some well established institution, so that the results will 
 be secured to science by publication, we shall be able to 
 draw conclusions of importance. The author, however, 
 did not intend to imply that a study and survey of the 
 groups themselves was not of importance. That should 
 precede exploration in every case, but the true character 
 of the earthworks would never be understood until such a 
 series of careful investigations had been made. From the 
 absence of such explorations Mr. PUTNAM expressed himself 
 unable to answer many of the questions asked by members 
 of the Society, but he admitted that the examinations he 
 had made of a few of the groups gave some indications 
 that the effigy mounds marked burial places, although he 
 did not at all feel sure that such would prove to be the 
 object for which they were erected. The fact that in one 
 large group containing several effigy mounds there were a 
 large number of conical mounds, in nearly all of which 
 human skeletons had been found, was the best evidence he 
 could offer in support of this view. 
 
 Many of the effigy mounds, rudely but characteristically 
 represent the animals formerly abundant in the country, 
 as the bear and panther, and also birds and men. A 
 form usually called "turtle-mounds" maybe intended to 
 represent the stretched skin of a deer or a buffalo as it 
 would appear when pegged out on the ground for scraping, 
 as done by the Indians. A drawing was shown of such a 
 mound in the group explored by the author in the city 
 park at LaCrosse. 
 
 In the centre of this mound remains of a human skeleton 
 were found and with it were fragments of a pottery vessel, 
 & chipped stone implement and several flint flakes. This 
 
mound was only slightly over two feet in height, but it 
 had been evidently reduced by long-continued trampling 
 of beasts, and men, and it may have been dug into in 
 the past, as only a portion of the bones of the skeleton 
 were found, although the mound was thoroughly examined. 
 Three small conical mounds are near this effigy mound, but 
 they had been previously disturbed, holes having been dug 
 on their summits, and it was understood that human bones 
 had been found. In the largest of the three the author 
 found, near the surface, a few potsherds and fragments of 
 human bones. In this case the burial had been made on 
 the summit of the mound and was of the class called 
 "intrusive," that is, it had no connection with the object 
 for which the mound was raised, the mound simply having 
 been used as a convenient place for the burial of an Indian 
 in recent times. 
 
 In the smallest of the three conical mounds a fragment 
 of a human bone was found, which probably belonged to 
 a skeleton removed by some former digger. Near the 
 bottom of this mound several bones of domestic animals 
 were found, and at first they were supposed to prove that 
 the mound had been erected since the occupation of the 
 country by the whites ; farther examination, however, soon 
 showed that a fox or some other carnivorous animal had 
 made its burrow in the mound and had brought in leaves 
 and grass, as well as several animal bones, including those 
 of the sheep, ox and pig. Had this mound remained 
 unexplored for a considerable time longer, until the vegeta 
 ble matter had decayed and the earth become compact in 
 the centre of the burrow, as it already had for most of its 
 length, these animal bones would have been taken as a sure 
 sign that the mound was of recent origin. 1 
 
 Two extensive groups were traced on either side of the 
 
 J It was a great satisfaction to the author to find that the city authorities of 
 La Crosse were willing to re-sod and preserve this group of mounds, hence 
 great care was taken to preserve their outlines during the exploration and to 
 carefully fill the trenches when the work was done. 
 
Baraboo river. The one on the south side of the river 
 contains the only human effigy met with, although several 
 have been recorded. In this case the form of a man, 
 extended at full length on his back, was well defined to the 
 knees. The portion below them had been destroyed by 
 ploughing. From the top of the head to the knees the 
 length is eighty-three feet, across the hips the width is 
 twenty-three and one-half feet, and from shoulder to 
 shoulder thirty-seven feet. The neck is ten feet wide. 
 The head is seventeen feet wide and ten feet long on a 
 line from the side of the neck to a point opposite. The 
 arms are slightly curved and about thirty-five feet in 
 length measured from the arm-pit. They terminate just 
 below the projecting portion representing the hips. 
 
 This "man-mound" is at the foot of a hill. The head is 
 to the north, up the hill, and directly north of it there is 
 a line of several conical mounds extending over the hill. 
 
 On the opposite side of the river there is a still larger 
 group comprising nearly thirty conical mounds, two long 
 mounds, three "bird-mounds" and a "bear-mound," besides 
 one or two others the form of which cannot now be made 
 out. 
 
 Several other groups were visited in the vicinity of 
 Baraboo, and one, in which there were three large bird- 
 mounds, was seen on the Wisconsin river, near the Lower 
 Dells. Several groups were also visited at Madison, one 
 of .which is on the Observatory grounds. A group over 
 the stone quarry was carefully examined and of this a 
 survey has since been made under the direction of Prof. 
 Holden, for the Peabody Museum. This group contains 
 among other forms a "panther-mound" two hundred and 
 thirty feet long; a "bird-mound" seventy-one feet long, 
 with wings nearly eighty feet in extent stretched at right 
 angles from the body; a "bear-mound," about eighty feet 
 in length from head to tail, is a good representation of the 
 animal seen in profile. 
 
6 
 
 To one inclined to the theory of the south-western origin 
 of the mound-building nations on this continent, Mr. 
 PUTNAM thought the study of the effigy mounds of Wiscon 
 sin in connection with their descent from a higher type of 
 work, would prove as interesting as the supposed deca 
 dence of architecture towards the east and north. It was, 
 he said, of interest to note, whatever the true meaning of 
 the facts may be, that while the animal and human forms 
 are represented in Wisconsin by low mounds made by 
 scraping up the earth about the spot, in Ohio the three 
 effigy mounds are made of clay placed over a foundation 
 of stones, and that the two bird-mounds in Georgia were 
 made entirely of stones which were selected with more or 
 less care. Next to these stone-built effigies of Georgia we 
 must consider the "pumas" cut from stone, mentioned by 
 Bandelier as found on a hill in New Mexico, which are 
 connected with the ceremonies of the Pueblo Indians. 
 With these the comparison can be made with the animal 
 and human forms, both of small and large size, cut in 
 stone, and found in portions of Mexico, and from these 
 the transition is easy to the combination of similar forms 
 with the architectural ornaments of the large buildings of 
 Yucatan, where pumas, serpents, birds and human forms, 
 both simple and in combinations of many kinds, abound. 
 
 It would also be of further interest in this connection to 
 trace the pictographs, the potter's art, and the carvings in 
 stone, bone, shell and wood, found in various parts of 
 North America, representing both animals and man. 
 
 Such a survey of these arts would show many points of 
 similarity between widely separated portions of the country 
 and would help either to confirm, or disprove, the conclu 
 sions which have been drawn MS to the supposed close 
 connection of all the American nations. 
 
 The excursion in Ohio took place in September. After 
 an examination of several places in the Little Miami 
 Valley, where explorations were being carried on for the 
 
Peabody Museum, under the personal supervision of Dr. 
 Metz, during which Mr. Kimball took several photo 
 graphs of mounds, a party consisting of Dr. C. L. Metz, 
 Mr. C. F. Low, Judge Cox, Mr. Kimball and the speaker 
 took the cars to Hillsboro. At this place a large mule 
 wagon was secured and the trip made to Brush Creek, on 
 which stream and its east branch are found the famous 
 Serpent Mound and the ancient fortification known as Fort 
 Hill. Thence to Bainbridge and down the Paint Creek 
 valley to Chillicothe, on the Scioto. From this city excur 
 sions were made to the Hopeton, High Bank and other 
 earthworks and mounds in the vicinity. It will be seen 
 that the route was through a portion of Ohio containing 
 some of the most noted earthworks described by Atwater 
 and published in the first volume of the Transactions of 
 this Society in 1820, also many of the works which about 
 a quarter of a century afterwards received the attention of 
 Squier and Davis and have been illustrated in the impor 
 tant volume published by the Smithsonian Institution in 
 1848. 
 
 The first point visited was the ancient work designated 
 by Squier and Davis as the "Great Serpent." This is on 
 the land of Mr. .John J. Lovett, Bratton Township in 
 Adams county. The singular structure is on a high ridge 
 of land, along the western side of which the east fork of 
 Brush Creek flows to the southward. This ridge ends at 
 the north in a narrow precipitous ledge about eighty feet 
 high. On the eastern side, except at its northern portion, 
 the ridge is not as precipitous as on the western, and 
 towards the southeast it rounds off to the cultivated fields. 
 The ridge has several deep gullies on the western side and 
 one or two on the eastern. It curves somewhat to the 
 southwest, and there is a considerable depression in the 
 central portion. 
 
 The outer edge of the oval figure in front of the ' mouth 
 of the serpent," is eighty-five feet from the edge of the 
 
precipice forming the northern boundary of the ridge. 
 This figure is made by a low embankment, now about two 
 to three feet high and from sixteen to eighteen feet wide, 
 enclosing an oval space eighty-six feet in length and about 
 thirty feet in width at the widest part of the figure towards 
 its southern end. Just north of the centre of this oval 
 figure there are the remains of a small pile of stones, which 
 Squier and Davis mention as having been thrown down 
 when they surveyed the work in 1846. The ridge was 
 cleared of its forest many years ago and for a time was 
 ploughed and cultivated, so that the height of the earth 
 work has been considerably reduced. It is probable that 
 it was never much over four feet high in any part, which is 
 the height stated by Mr. Lovett's father who remembers 
 it before it was ploughed over. 
 
 Between the oval figure and the edge of the ledge there 
 is a slightly raised circular ridge of earth, from either side 
 of which a curved ridge extends towards the sides of the 
 oval figure. This is not noticed by Squier and Davis and 
 it may % have been formed by sheep or cattle approaching 
 the edge of the cliff around the oval figure, but its symme 
 try and position in relation to the oval figure makes it 
 necessary to call attention to it. 
 
 A curved embankment, about two feet high and eighteen 
 feet wide in its central portion, following the outline of 
 the southern end of the. oval, but seventeen feet from it, 
 measuring eighty-four feet from east to west, forms the 
 6 'mouth of the serpent." From each end of this curved 
 portion an embankment fourteen feet wide extends south 
 ward about ninety feet, uniting and forming one forty feet 
 wide, which makes the "neck of the serpent." On each 
 side of the "head" thus formed, and near the centre, there 
 is a projecting portion of the embankment which curve- 
 outward and downward for about thirty feet in length. 
 In the figure given by Squier and Davis these projections 
 are represented as at right :m<rlc> to the embankment and 
 
9 
 
 as if projecting from me "neck.' in this and in a few 
 other details the figure mentioned does not agree with 
 the diagram exhibited, and the several discrepancies were 
 noticed by all the party. From the wide portion forming 
 the ''neck" the embankment gradually narrows to about 
 fifteen feet and curves to the eastward. Then it makes a 
 sharp curve to the southwest and south. The second curve 
 is a sharp one to the eastward ; thence the embankment 
 extends southward and curves to the west, then south 
 down the depression which divides the northern from the 
 southern portion of the ridge, and, again, in a long stretch 
 to the southeast, then south, making a shorter curve to 
 the west, then extending up the slight declivity of the 
 depression to the southeast, thence it sweeps to the west 
 ward and again turns slightly to the eastward, from which 
 point the triple coil of the "tail" begins. At the end 
 of the ' ' tail " the width of the embankment is not over five 
 feet, and its height is about one foot. The total length of 
 the " serpent " following all the curves, and starting from 
 the extreme point of the curved part forming the i t mouth " 
 is thirteen hundred and thirty-five feet. Measured from the 
 northern end of the oval figure, on a line drawn through 
 the centre of the "head" and following the curves from 
 this point to the end of the "tail of the serpent," the total 
 length of the work is fourteen hundred and fifteen feet. 
 
 In respect to its structure this work differs from the 
 effigy mounds of Wisconsin in having its base formed in 
 great part of small stones upon which the earth was placed. 
 That the work was intended in a general way to represent 
 a serpent, or snake, the speaker thought could not be 
 doubted, and also that the oval figure in front of it was part 
 of the general design ; but that the oval figure was intended 
 to represent an egg either about to be swallowed by the 
 serpent, or ejected by it, he thought might be questioned. 
 The serpent has always played an important part in the 
 mythology of the new as well as in that of the old world ; 
 
10 
 
 but in instituting a comparison between the two the speaker 
 said we must not go too fast or too far. On the ancient 
 pottery of Peru and on the burial jars from Pacoval, Bra/il, 
 the serpent is represented in various ways. On some 
 vessels it is painted in color, on others it is moulded or 
 carved in relief. Among the gold ornaments found in 
 ancient graves all the way from Peru to the Isthmus, the 
 serpent is often found. On a large number of the ancient 
 burial jars of Nicaragua, now in the Peabody Museum at 
 Cambridge, it is represented either in a realistic or conven 
 tional manner, and in this connection has, presumably, a 
 mythological or symbolical meaning. In Yucatan it appears 
 carved in stone on the front of one of the large ruined 
 
 o 
 
 buildings. Farther north in Mexico it is common among 
 the Terra-cotta figures and pictographs. On the pottery 
 from the mounds in Missouri it is known as an ornament 
 on at least two specimens which are figured in the Transac 
 tions of the St. Louis Academy of Science. In Tennessee, 
 particularly in the mounds in the eastern portion, it appears 
 on the carved shells, as shown by the numerous specimens 
 in the Cambridge Museum, and in that Museum there is 
 also a carving on a piece of antler, recently found by 
 Dr. Metz in a mound in the Little Miami Valley, which 
 represents the rattlesnake in a conventionalized manner. 
 These were some of the prominent instances, but with 
 them should be remembered the serpent gens of several 
 Indian tribes, and the myths and stories in which the 
 serpent often has a prominent part. Bearing these facts 
 in mind, the speaker said it was not at all surprising to 
 find the serpent of iriiiantic size represented back of the 
 imposing precipice in the beautiful valley of Brush Creek, 
 and he thought it might be regarded either as a symbol, a 
 monument to mark a sacred place, or possibly as a place 
 of worship. 
 
 About two hundred feet to the southeast of the serpent- 
 mound, the earth in the ploughed field, for an acre or 
 
11 
 
 more, is darker than the surrounding soil, and contains 
 many fragments of pottery, flint chips, arrowheads, ham 
 mer-stones, and other stone implements, which were in 
 vain sought for in the light colored soil adjoining. This 
 would indicate either a village site or an ancient burial 
 place, but the long-continued cultivation of the spot pre 
 cludes any definite conclusions until an extended explora 
 tion of the region is made. 
 
 Further to the southeast^ or about five hundred feet 
 from the ''tail of the serpent," there is a conical mound 
 which has never been excavated. It is now about fifteen 
 feet high and sixty in diameter, but it has been ploughed 
 over for many years and is consequently considerably 
 lower than when first known to the Lovett family whose 
 house is near by. 
 
 "Fort Hill" in Highland county was the next place 
 visited and was found to be in every way the remarkable 
 fortification described by Squier and Davis. The immense 
 stone wall, built on the very edge of the hill and even 
 extending down its steep sides, the ditch inside the wall, 
 from which the stones were taken, and the almost inaccessi 
 ble level area of nearly fifty acres covered with a forest 
 growth of great age, all tend to render this one of the 
 most remarkable of the ancient works of the country, and 
 probably no other work in the United States has the 
 impress of antiquity so strongly stamped upon it as this. 
 The growth of vegetation has almost incorporated the 
 artificial wall, twenty to thirty feet or more in width and 
 from eight to fifteen feet in height, with the natural hill 
 side, and immense trees have grown and decayed on the 
 very summit of the wall. One decayed oak stump on the 
 wall still measures over nine feet by seven in its two 
 diameters, 1 and there are several others of six and seven 
 
 i This is probably the decayed stump recorded by Squier and Davis thirty- 
 seven years ago as twentj r -three feet in circumference. The diameters given 
 above were taken across the top of the stump which is still nearly three feet 
 high. 
 
12 
 
 feet in diameter. The accurate description and plan <riv*-n 
 by Squier and Davis render a detailed account of this work 
 unnecessary, the speaker said, but he thought that it 
 should be visited by every one inclined to doubt the 
 antiquity of the gre^t works of the State of Ohio. The 
 much larger and in some respects more scientific structure 
 known as Fort Ancient, although probably as old, did not 
 make such an impression upon him as did this old Fort on 
 the isolated hill, rising some 'five hundred feet above the 
 bottom lands of Brush Creek. 
 
 On the drive down Paint Creek the several earthworks 
 described by Atwater were visited, but they were found to 
 be nearly obliterated, and walls once eight or ten feet high 
 are now barely traceable. This rapid yielding to the 
 levelling hand of man is due to the fact that the earth of 
 which they were composed was principally of surface soil 
 and could be easily levelled or greatly reduced by the 
 plough. The large tumulus near the earthwork marked A 
 on Atwater's map is probably but little changed since his 
 time, and fine photographs were taken of it. The stone 
 fort on the hill near Bainbridge is said to be nearly 
 destroyed and was not visited. 
 
 During the drive down the valley from Bainbridge to 
 Chillicothe, eighteen mounds, all of considerable size, were 
 seen from the wagon. At Chillicothe the party were 
 joined by Mr. Albert Douglas, jr., and Dr. B. F. Miesse, 
 with whom several excursions were made to ancient works 
 in the vicinity. 
 
 About four miles to the northwest of the city, near the 
 fair grounds, there is a large conical mound nearly thirty 
 feet high, from the top of which can be seen three other 
 large mounds, all of whirl) arc eonspiciimi- objects in the 
 valley, as is shown by the photographs taken. 
 
 The Hopeton Works and the adjoining group, designated 
 a> Cedar Bank Works by Squior and Davis, were found to 
 be the best preserved and in several ivspeets the ino-t 
 
13 
 
 interesting of the large earthworks in the Scioto valley. 
 The description and figures given of these groups by 
 Squier and Davis leave little to be said. Of course the 
 constant cultivation of the land has greatly reduced the 
 embankment of the large circle, which was probably never 
 more than five feet in height, but it, as well as the two 
 small circles on the east side of the square, can still be 
 traced. The eleven higher and harder clay walls forming 
 the square have proved a greater obstacle to the plough 
 and portions of them are probably now of about their 
 original height, or nearly twelve feet. In fact these clay 
 walls are so hard and compact that their cultivation is too 
 difficult a matter to be undertaken without going to great 
 labor and expense, as was stated by Squire J. Smith who 
 has given much attention to their structure. To Squire 
 Smith the party were under great obligations for his 
 guidance over the works and to the group a mile above. 
 He has also kindly promised to send to the Peabody 
 Museum a survey of the two groups, with accurate 
 measurements of the walls. Many stone implements and 
 flint chips have been found in and about the enclosures, 
 several of which were given to the speaker, and others 
 were found by the party. 
 
 The earthworks at High Bank, about five miles below 
 Chillicothe, on the Scioto river, were visited, and it was 
 found that great changes had taken place since they were 
 surveyed by Squier and Davis in 1846. All the smaller 
 works adjoining the large circle and octagon have nearly 
 disappeared, and the wall of the large circle is nearly 
 obliterated. Even the seven 1 embankments forming the 
 octagon have been reduced and spread by successive 
 ploughings and cultivation, so that they are now not over 
 four to six feet high, and are ab.out sixty feet wide on top. 
 They seem to have been made of the subsoil of the region, 
 
 iThe wall on one side is so built as to correspond with the two on the 
 opposite side. 
 
14 
 
 but are not so hard and compact as the embankments at 
 Hopeton. Mr. Milton Jones, on whose land a portion of 
 the work is situated, informed the speaker that a number 
 of human bones had been ploughed up in the large circle, 
 and that numerous stone implements had been found within 
 the works; and he kindly gave the Peabody Museum t\\<> 
 polished celts obtained during the present year. He also 
 stated that whenever the walls of the octagon had been 
 ploughed over his attention had not been attracted by any 
 particular objects in the clay. 
 
 In relation to Mr. Morgan's theory that these high walls 
 were erected for the purpose of building the dwelling 
 places of the people upon them, the speaker stated that he 
 thought the general character of works of this class was 
 against the theory. There are many such in Ohio in which 
 the circle is combined with a square or an octagon, and 
 they are all so nearly alike and have so many accessories in 
 common that it is probable they were made by one great 
 people for the same purpose. 1 
 
 While such houses as Mr. Morgan has suggested could 
 have been erected on some of the earthworks, on others of 
 a similar character except in the size of the walls, it would 
 have been useless if not impossible to have built the houses 
 
 !The following giv;s the size of a few of the earthworks to be considered in 
 this connection with the heights of their walls : 
 
 High Bank Works. The octagon contains twenty acres. Its walls were 
 twelve feet high. The circle contains eighteen acres. Its walls were five feet 
 high. 
 
 Hopeton Works. Square twenty acres; walls twelve feet; circle twenty 
 acres ; walls five feet. 
 
 Newark Works. Octagon fifty acres; walls five to six feet; circle twenty 
 acres; walls twelve feet high in one portion, rest six feet. Square tw-nt\ 
 acre- : wulls I'm- to six feet. 
 
 Liberty Works. Square twenty-seven acres ; walls four feet. Large circle 
 forty acres ; walls three feet. 
 
 Marietta Works. Large square fifty acres; walls five to six feet. Small 
 square twenty-seven acres and walls of less height than other. The elev;t< .1 
 platforms of earth inside and near the walls of these squares are two to three 
 feet higher than the walls. 
 
 Portsmouth Works. The eastern wall of the square is ten feet and the 
 \\ >tcrn, part of which is nut u nil, is forty feet high. 
 

 15 
 
 so as to form a means of defense, as he has suggested. It 
 seems far more probable, if such works were defensive 
 villages, that the high walls -were simply a substitute for 
 lower walls which had palisades on their summits. In 
 such walled towns as have been protected from cultivation 
 unquestionable sites of the houses of the people have been 
 found within the walls or embankments, as in Tennessee 
 and Missouri, and in these cases there can be but little 
 doubt that the low embankments were surmounted by 
 palisades. 
 
 Within the Ohio squares and octagons, a large quantity 
 of refuse material and many implements and ornaments 
 have been found, such as would be expected in and around 
 the houses of the people, while nothing of the kind, not 
 even the ashes and charcoal of fires, had been traced on 
 the top or sides of the high embankments. In answer 
 to this it might be said that all signs of the houses, fires 
 and refuse from the dwellings would have been washed 
 from the tops and sides of the walls in the long period of 
 time which has elapsed since they were destroyed. The 
 speaker would say in response that this refuse material 
 would be somewhere, it could not all decay, and he knew 
 from long experience in making explorations that it was 
 always found on the immediate site of the house or in 
 a refuse pile near by. The speaker claimed that we had 
 no right to theorize about w T hat might be done, but by 
 careful examination with spade and pick we should 
 endeavor to find out what had been done, and this not in 
 one place but in many, as it svas by the accumulation of a 
 hundred little facts found under similar conditions that we 
 are led to the proper determination of the whole. As to 
 the supposed wash of the walls and their spreading from 
 that cause, the speaker stated that there was much miscon 
 ception in that connection. Of course grass and other 
 vegetation would soon begin to grow on an embankment 
 a-nd if the embankment was made smooth and compact and 
 
16 
 
 3 cared tor. a> these ancient embankments must h 
 !. the wash and spreading of the walls would he \ 
 >li<:ht indeed, and the greater part would take place du 
 the tir>t years of their uch a pi 
 
 to nature the vegetable growth would at once encroach 
 upon it and protect it from the clement-. In tact, he 
 felt convinced, from many examinations of the ancient 
 mounds of earth, that of all the monuments erected by man 
 none were so enduring: but as <oon a- man started their 
 destruction by removing the vegetation and exposing the 
 unjirotected soil to the winds and rains, disintegration 
 beiran and would continue until vegetation a^ain >pread 
 its protecting arms over the spot. 
 
 The speaker also thought that we must take other things 
 into consideration in relation to Mr. Morgan's theory that 
 the people Avho built these earthworks in the Ohio valley 
 were closely connected with the pueblo people wot of the 
 Rio (frande. that they were, in fact, an otl'shoot from th 
 and hence the peculiar method of architect in 
 
 In this connection it was only nceeary to call attention 
 everal of the arts of the people of the two regions to 
 show that they had nothing in common either in ceramic 
 lecorative art : and from the little we know of their 
 osteo logical remains it could only be said that there WJ 
 ral rex-mblance in their physical character- >ud 
 would probably prove to be common to all the -Teat 
 Mongolian stock to which both })robably beloni:e<l.