140 A N C 1 E N T M O N U M E N T S . 



India; they dot the steppes of Siberia and the vast region north ol tlie Black Sea. 

 they hne the shores of the Bosphorus and MecUterranean ; they are found in old 

 Scandina\ ia, and are sinjiuhirly niuncrou.s in the British islands. In America, they 

 prevail Ironi the great lakes of the north, through the valley of the Mississippi, 

 and the seats of semi-civilization in Mexico, Central America, and Peru, even to 

 the waters of the La Plata on the south. We find them also on the shores of the 

 Pacific ocean, near the mouth of the Columbia river, and on the Colorado of 

 C ahl'ornia. With the character of those abroad we have little, at present, to do, 

 except perhaps to note some of the more striking features which they exhibit in 

 common with those of our own valley. 



Allusion has already been made to the number and dimensions of the mounds 

 of the West. To say that they are innumerable in the ordinary use of the term 

 would be no exaggeration. They may literally be numbered by tiiousands and tens 

 of thousands. In form, as observed in a preceding chapter, they are generally 

 simple cones, frequently truncated and sometimes terraced. They are also ellip- 

 tical, pear-shaped, or ol" a square pyramidal form, — in the last case always 

 truncated, and most usuall}^ having one or more graded ascents to their summits. 

 These varieties are partially illustrated in the cut at the head of this chapter, and 

 will be amply exhibited in the pages which follow. No doubt can be entertained 

 that their forms were, in great part, determined by tlie purposes for which they were 

 designed, and may therefore be of use to us in ascertaining their character. Thus, 

 if any were designed to ser^ e as the sites of temples, or as " high places " for the 

 performance of religious rites and ceremonies, it is evident they would be con- 

 structed with special reference to these objects. 



In common with the enclosures, the mounds are for the most part composed 

 of earth, though stone mounds are by no means rare. Tlicy are sometimes 

 composed entirely of clay, while the soil all around them, for a long distance, is 

 gravel or loam. The object of this may perhaps be Ibund in the fact that mounds 

 composed of such materials better resist the action of the elements, and preserve 

 their Ibrm. There is certainly no dili'erence in their position or contents which 

 would justify the supposition that any peculiar dependence existed between the 

 material composing the mound and the purposes to which it was devoted. Whether 

 any significance may attach to the predominance of stone, in some of the mounds, 

 is a question difficult to answer. It occasionally happens that a mound of stone 

 occurs in the midst of a group composed of earth. Such was the case with one 

 which formerly stood within the limits of Chillicothe. As a general rule, however, 

 the mound is composed of material found upon the spot or taken from pits near by ; 

 and stone mounds oftenest occur where, from the hardness of the soil or the abun- 

 dance of stones, it would be easiest to construct the tumulus ol' the latter material. 



In respect to the position of the mounds, it may be said that those of Ohio occur 

 mostly within or near enclosures; sometimes in groups, but oftener detached 

 and isolated, and seldom with any degree of regularity in respect to each other. 

 Such is l)elieved to be the case gciicralhj throughout the entire valley of the 

 Mississippi. A section of the Ohio valley, however, embraced between the 

 mouths of the Cuyandottc and Scioto rivers, an extent of si.xtv miles, which was 



