206 



A N C I E N T M O N U M E N T S , 



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I'ifi. 80. 



Fig. 90 represents an ornament, of something the 

 same character with the above. It is formed of a 

 copper plate of considerable thickness, which has 

 been fashioned so as to present a convex surface. 

 It is also perforated with two holes, and is identical 

 in this respect, as well as in shape, with a large class of stone ornaments or 

 implements found in the mounds, and of which notice will be taken in another 

 place. 



A large number of discs or medals of copper have 

 been obtained from the mounds. They resemble, to 

 use a familiar illustration, the bosses observed on 

 harnesses. Some of these are not less than two 

 inches, but most are about one inch and a half in 

 diameter. They are formed of thin plates of copper, 

 arc perfectly round, and concavo-convex in shape. 

 They are found only on the altar-mounds, where they 

 seem to have been placed with their edges together, 

 in pairs. Owing to the great heat to which they have 

 been subjected, and subsequent oxydation, nearly all 

 of them are so cemented together that they cannot be separated without 

 breaking them into fragments. Their present appearance is very well exhibited 

 by Fig. 91. Some of them, of more elaborate workmanship than the rest, and 

 which have been more favorably situated for preservation, have been separated.* 



These articles, it will be observed, display more skill in working the metal, than 

 any of those previously noticed. They present every appearance of having been 



F., 



pressed into shape, in the way in which similar articles are formed at this day. 

 In opening one of the mounds, a block of compact sandstone was discovered, Fig. 



* l)r. DuAKii, in liis " View of Cincinnati," describes several ornaments or instruments found in a mound 

 ill Cincinnati, whicli arc somewhat analogous to those described in the text, if not identical with them. 

 " Severiil copper articles were discovered, each consisting of two sets of circular, concavo-convex plates ; 

 the interior one of each set connected with the other by a hollow axis, around which had been wound 

 some lint." Articles, answering to this description, were found, a few years since, in removing a mound 

 on Paint creek, ten miles distant from ChiUicotlie. In this case, we are assured by the individual who 

 discovered lliem, tliat the axis was wound round witli a well-twisted and compact thread, resembhng tine 

 linen pack-thread, which was stained green by the salts of the copper, to which its preservation is entirely 

 attributable. It is possible that some of the larger discs, above described, were originally thus connected. 



