166 The Use of Mica Plates by the Mound-Builders. 



coloration of the earth, seen by myself, occurred in mounds of small 

 .size, and in which no human remains were found. 



The placing of bodies in a vault, such as we have suggested, might 

 account for the poor state of preservation in which skeletons are found. 

 If the remains were placed upon the ground, and compact earth 

 thrown directly on them, and piled to the height, say, of fifteen feet, 

 the date of burial must indeed be remote to account for the decay 

 generally witnessed, especially when we consider that many of these 

 mounds occupy natural rounded-off elevations favorable to the pre- 

 servation of whatever they may have contained. 



We can not, however, consent to the great antiquity which some 

 have given to these monuments. In the last number of the Cincin- 

 nati JouBNAL OF Science, Prof. R. D. Smith speaks of " three feet 

 and a half' of soil which was passed through in making an excavation 

 in the top of a mound, and which had, as he supposes, accumulated 

 since its construction. He suggests that this circumstance might fur- 

 nish a clue to its age. The top of the mound being level, and large 

 enough to be cultivated as a garden, was certainly favorable for the 

 accumulation of soil. But was it quite clear that a depression did not 

 at one time exist at the center, or place of making the excavation ? 

 Any old depression or excavation would have been filled up by tillage, 

 if from no other cause. After describing the potdike hole, which, it 

 was thought, marked the original height of the mound, the Professor 

 says : " The excavation was continued to the level of the suri'ouudiug 

 country, but without further results." Now, if his conclusion is cor- 

 rect, that three feet and a half of soil had formed on the top of the 

 mound since it was built, then, evidently, the excavation lacked at 

 least this distance of reaching the original base ; for surely the soil 

 upon the surrounding ground, or "surrounding country," would ac- 

 cumulate as rapidly as it would upon the top of the mound. 



My observations, which, I confess, have been quite limited, go to 

 show that the original bases of these mounds are found to be but a 

 trifle below the surrounding ground. In the case of the one described 

 at the commencement of this article, no actual measurement, it is pre- 

 sumed, was made ; but the base of the mound, where the skeletons 

 were found, was mentioned as being on a level with the ground adja- 

 cent. In the case of two mounds of small size, and which were situ- 

 ated on quite level ground, I could, by the eye, perceive but a slight 

 difference ; their bases could not have been but a few inches below 

 the surrounding ground. Trenches were dug from the circumference 

 to the center, their bottoms following the top of the original soil. Cuts 

 through the old earth-works show that there has been but a slight ac- 



