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



bounded by an embankment, at present about two feet high, composed of earth 

 taken up evenly from the surface, or brought from a distance. It has an entrance 

 to the left, two hundred and seventy-five feet wide ; the embankment upon either 

 hand terminating in a small mound, between four and five feet high. The area 

 of the enclosure is level, and covered with forest : the trees are, however, small, 

 owing probably to the nature of the soil, which is thin and gravelly. The plain 

 is here fifty feet above the adjacent bottoms. 



About a mile north-east of this work, on the opposite bank of Indian creek, are 

 three large mounds, on a line with each other. On the lower bottom or terrace, 

 opposite to each mound, is a corresponding hole or excavation, from which the 

 earth composing them was doubtless obtained. 



PLATE XXX. No. 8. 



ANCIENT WORK NEAR BOURNEVILLE, ROSS COUNTY, OHIO. 



The small work here figured is one of the most beautiful in the State of Ohio. 

 It is situated upon the highest terrace, directly facing, and about one mile distant 

 from, the great stone hill-work of the Paint creek valley (Plate IV). It consists 

 of a wall of earth, eight or ten feet in height, with a broad and shallow exterior 

 ditch. In figure it is elliptical, with a transverse diameter of seven hundred 

 and fifty, and a conjugate diameter of six hundred and seventy-five feet. It has 

 a gateway one hundred and twenty feet wide, leading into it from the south-west. 

 It opens upon a small spur of the terrace, which has been artificially rounded and 

 graded, so as to make a regular and easy descent to the lower level. Upon either 

 side of this grade, the banks of the terrace are steep and irregular. A very copi- 

 ous spring of water starts from the bank near the wall, a little to the right of the 

 entrance. A small circle and a couple of mounds are situated on the next lower 

 terrace, at the points indicated in the plan. 



This work is admirably preserved, and is remarkable as being the only circular 

 work at present known, which has its ditch exterior to the walls. The proprietor 

 esteems the soil much richer within the enclosure, than upon the adjacent plain. 

 We are unprepared to ascribe any other than a religious origin to this structure. 



