668 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 19 2 8 



carora after the year 1722, and as the discovery of a .silver object 

 proves the burial to have been made in historic times it may justly 

 be attributed to the southern tribe. Some member of the tribe may 

 have carried the mica ornament from their ancient home, which was 

 situated near the principal source of supply of that mineral. 



Although so few mounds were raised by the Iroquois, and fewer 

 remain to indicate the sites of their early settlements, nevertheless 

 the country once occupied by their many villages formerly abounded 

 in monuments of a far more interesting nature, and what is true 

 of the country of the Six Nations will also apply to the region ex- 

 tendinof westward along the south shore of Lake Erie and north of 

 the lake to the shores of Georgian Bay, thence eastward to the St. 

 Lawrence — lands occupied by the ancient Erie and Huron, who were 

 related linguistically to the people of the Six Nations. 



It was the custom of these people to surround their villages with 

 palisades or with embankments of earth or of earth and stone which 

 were surmounted by a palisade. A ditch is usually traceable at 

 the foot of the embankment. The camps and villages were thus in- 

 closed to afford protection when attacked by their enemies and to 

 prevent the wild beasts of the forests entering and prowling about 

 the settlements, and it is now difficult to realize that so short a time 

 has elapsed since the heavily forested home of the Iroquois was the 

 haunt of bears and wolves, that moose and deer were so numerous, 

 and the beaver could be found building his dam in every stream. So 

 great was the danger arising from many sources that some of the 

 more important sites were surrounded by two, or even more, lines of 

 palisades, one within the other, thus providing even greater protec- 

 tion to the inhabitants. This had evidently been the custom of the 

 people from the earliest days of their occupancy of the rich valleys 

 of which they were so fond; the palisades have now disajipeared, 

 although in some instances the post holes are still revealed by the 

 discoloration of decomposed wood. Remains of many embanlnnents 

 are standing, but with the rapid development of the country they are 

 gradually disappearing. It is fortunate, therefore, that about the 

 middle of the last century a large number of the more important 

 sites were survej^ed and described, so we may now know of their 

 size and appearance before they were destroyed by the plow. 



THE CURIOUS EARTHWORKS OF SOUTHERN OHIO 



Burial mounds and traces of fortified camps similar to those 

 already mentioned occur in northern Ohio, the home before the 

 middle of the seventeenth century of Iroquoian tribes. In southern 

 Ohio, in addition to many mounds and remains of walls and embank- 

 ments raised to protect the camps, are ancient monuments of an 

 entirely different form, and among them are the most remarkable 



