I20 Cincinuali Society of Natural History. 



the besieged could make sallies and retreats, in order to draw 

 the enemy within the enclosure to be captured? We know 

 that almost all barbarous, or semi-ci\ilized people, regard the 

 capture of their enemies of as much or more importance as 

 killing them in battle. 



While these openings may have served the purpose here 

 indicated, the weight of evidence seems to favor the idea that 

 they were designed to afford ready means of egress and 

 ingress for the inhabitants of the place and surrounding 

 country, the same as we find with all walled town or cities in 

 both ancient and modern times. Probably they were fur- 

 nished with means of closure, but no evidence of such pro- 

 vision has as yet been discovered. However, no thorough 

 exploration of these passages has ever been made. They are 

 generally filled with two or three feet of earth that has been 

 carried down from the ends of the walls. 



It appears somewhat strange that nearly all the earth-works 

 in Ohio and elsewhere in the Mississippi valley, which afford 

 positive evidence of having been constructed for defensive 

 purposes, have numerous openings or gate-ways. While 

 those suspected of having a ceremonial or symbolic significa- 

 tion, have, as a rule, very few. The circular ones generally 

 have but a single opening. 



Most likely, if we could know all the circumstances under 

 which these old works at Fort Ancient were constructed, we 

 would have a better idea of the purposes of the openings. 

 The three and a-half miles of massive walls were not planned 

 and constructed under circumstances of immediate danger. 

 Evidence of cool deliberation and wise calculation is stamped 

 on every feature of the works. Perhaps few modern engineers 

 could show greater skill in constructing earth-works than that 

 exhibited by the old Mound Builders at Fort Ancient. 



The indications, we think, favor the idea that when the 

 building of the heavy enclosing walls was first contemplated, 

 the circumstances surrounding the people had greatly changed. 

 While pressing emergencies did not actually exist, they were 

 discerned in the near future — probably the long and relent- 

 less struggle for supremacy in the Mississippi X'alley, between 

 the Short Heads from the South, and the more barbarous 

 Long Heads from the North, had already assumed a very 



