S A C R T F I C I A L M O IT N D S . 143 



ALTAR OR SACRIFICIAL MOUNDS. 



The general characteristics of this class of mounds are : 



1st. That they occur only within, or in the immediate vicinity of enclosures or 

 sacred places.* Of the whole number of mounds of this class which were exam- 

 ined, four only were found to be exterior to the walls of enclosures, and these 

 were but a few rods distant from them. 



2d. That they are stratified. 



3d. That they contain symmetrical altars of burned clay or stone ; on which are 

 deposited various remains, which in all cases have been more or less subjected to 

 the action of fire. 



The fact of stratification, in these mounds, is one of great interest and import- 

 ance. This feature has heretofore been remarked, but not described with proper 

 accuracy ; and has consequently proved an impediment to the recognition of the 

 artificial origin of the mounds, by those who have never seen them. The 

 stratification, so far as observed, is not horizontal, but always conforms to the 

 convex outline of the mound.f Nor does it resemble the stratification produced 

 by the action of water, where the layers run into each other, but is defined with 

 the utmost distinctness, and always terminates upon reaching the level of the 

 surrounding earth. That it is artificial wil' however, be sufficiently apparent after 

 an examination of one of the mounds in which the feature occurs ; for it would 

 be difficult to explain, by what singular combination of " igneous and aqueous " 

 action, stratified mounds were always raised over symmetrical monuments of 

 burned clay or of stone. 



The altars, or basins, found in these mounds, are almost invariably of burned 

 clay, though a few of stone have been discovered. They are symmetrical, but 

 not of uniform size and shape. Some are round, others elliptical, and others 

 square, or parallelograms. Some are small, measuring barely two feet across, 

 while others are fifty feet long by twelve or fifteen feet wide. The usual dimen- 

 sions are from five to eight feet. All appear to have been modelled of fine clay 

 brought to the spot from a distance, and they rest upon the original surface of the 



* It is not assumed to say that all the mounds occurring within enclosures are ahar or sacrificial 

 mounds. On the contrary, some are found which, to say the least, are anomalous ; while others were 

 clearly the siles of structures, or temple mounds. 



f Some of the mounds on the lower Mississippi, as we have already seen in the chapter on the 

 aboriginal monuments of the Southern States, are horizontally stratified, exhibiting numerous layers, from 

 base to summit. These mounds differ in form from the conical structures here referred to, and were 

 perhaps constructed for a different purpose. Some are represented as composed of layers of earth, two 

 or three feet thick, each one of which is surmounted by a burned surface, which has been mistaken for a 

 rude brick pavement. Others are composed of alternate layers of earth and human remains. The 

 origin of the latter is doubtless to be found in the annual bone burials of the Cherokees and other southern 

 Indians, of which acoounts are ojiven bv Rartrnm and the early writers. 



