144 



ANCIENT MONUMENTS. 



earth. In a few instances, a layer or small elevation of sand had been laid down, 

 upon which the altar was formed. The height of the altars, nevertheless, seldom 

 exceeds a foot or twenty inches above the adjacent level. The clay of which they 

 are composed is usually burned hard, sometimes to the depth of ten, fifteen, and 

 even tAventy inches. This is hardly to be explained by any degree or continuance 

 of heat, though it is manifest that in some cases the heat was intense. On the 

 other hand, a number of these altars have been noticed, which are very slightly 

 burned ; and such, it is a remarkable fact, are destitute of remains. 



The characteristics of this class of mounds will be best explained, by reference 

 to the accompanying illustrations. It should be remarked, however, that no two 

 are precisely alike in all their details. 



I Peijtett and coar-sr yffrrf>f 



Scale 



horizon faJ /jfee/. , 



^i:rticaJ Gfl loJrtrJi 



Fig. 



The mound, a section of which is here given, occurs in " Mound City," a name 

 given to a group of twenty-six mounds, embraced in one enclosure, on the banks of 

 the Scioto river, three miles above the town of ChilUcothe. (See Plate XIX, 

 mound No. 1.) It is seven feet high by fifty-five feet base. A shaft, five feet 

 square, was sunk from its apex, with the following results : 



1st. Occurred a layer of coarse gravel and pebbles, which appeared to have been 

 taken from deep pits surrounding the enclosure, or from the bank of the river. 

 This layer was one foot in thickness. 



2d. Beneath this layer of gravel and pebbles, to the depth of two feet, the earth 



was homogeneous, though slightly mottled, as if taken up and deposited in small 



^^^1^--,.. -s^,»™^^ loads, from different localities. In one place appeared a de- 



'^ ""^ posit of dark-colored surface loam, and by its side, or cover- 



^ iiig it, there was a mass of the clayey soil from a greater depth. 



it? _: ig The outlines of these various deposits could be distinctly 



traced, as shown in Fig. .30. 



3d. Below this deposit of earth, occurred a thin and even layer of fine sand, a 

 little over an inch in thickness. 



4th. A deposit of earth, as above, eighteen inches in depth. 



r)th. Another stratum of sand, somewhat thinner than the one above mentioned. 



6th. Another deposit of earth, one foot thick ; then — 



7th. A third stratum of sand ; below which was — 



8th. Still another layer of earth, a few inches in thickness; which rested on — 



9th. An altar, or bnsin, of burned clay. 



