374 ANTHROPOLOGY. 



MOUNDS AND EARTHWORKS OF RUSH COUNTY, INDIANA. 



By F. Jackman. 



The remains of the early inhabitants of this and its adjoining counties 

 are quite numerous, and in most respects similar, though it is evident 

 either that different races dwelt here at about the same time or that they 

 had different modes of burial or worship, for it is my opinion that these 

 mounds were places of burial made in accordance with their religious 

 rites. The only traces of these lost races in this section are small cir- 

 cular mounds, from 25 to 40 feet in diameter, and 7 to 10 feet in height, 

 except one set of earthworks, which seem to have been some kind of 

 fortification or works of defense. They are located about two miles 

 «aiu. ^M'^l^g^ south of Rushville, near the Eushville 



*JP«*MM9fam ** aml Moscow i )lke ' on what 1S wel1 



|K.#:^ ! - F ' i;S h% % known as the Hilligos farm. The 

 A / j%$e^ / ^».*fe^ '"1#P B surrounding country is rough and 



%?f^' !l ^\S broken for miles around, but this is 



,^%#^*»^rf%fife#%^'Sa% D the highest point. A small stream 

 ^^^^^^^ijj^!^:^^ fed by a spring runs on the south 

 E side of them, and Flat Rock River 



Fig. 1. is half a mile to the easi The works 



are in a woods-pasture, but the adjacent land is mostly tillable. No 

 geological changes have taken place since their erection. They con- 

 sist, first, of a curved elevation (Figure 1, A, B) 300 yards long, about 

 ."» feet high at one end and 25 feet at the other, making the top per- 

 fectly level with the horizon, the site sloping to the south. It is 

 perfectly level, smooth and rounded on top, and 30 feet wide. Sec- 

 ond, a, straight bank behind the one just mentioned 200 yards long, 

 5 feel high at one end, and 25 feet at the other. In the middle of this 

 hank is a circular mound 80 feet in diameter and 5 feet high (above 

 the top of the bank). Extending from the mound, between the two 

 grades, is a semicircular plain on alevej with the base of the straight 

 ridge, and extending towards the larger semicircle 50 yards. The inter- 

 mediate space is a gully GO yards wide, sloping to the south. The south 

 half of the larger semicircle I think to be a natural elevation smoothed 

 down. The others are undoubtedly artificial. The spaces between A 

 and C and B and D are open, but would be very easily guarded. The 

 country immediately south and west is very hilly and broken for about 

 two miles. The works are mostly covered with large ash, poplar, and 

 beech trees, and have never been explored. 



Must of the mounds in the immediate vicinity of Milroy I have ex- 

 plored. One group, which I have not opened, is on the farm of Thomas 

 Meek, four miles southeast of Milroy. It consists of one large mound 

 30 feet in diameter, G feet high, surrounded by five smaller ones 10 feet 



