SQUIER AND DAVIS. 119 



* 

 zontal dimensions, and connected with systems of dependent works, were spread 



numerously through those southern districts. 



The central or intermediate region, between the northern and southern extremes, 

 was the principal field of investigation by Messrs. Squier and Davis, as it had been 

 that of Mr. Atwater. To this their personal explorations were confined ; and 

 notices of antiquities beyond its limit necessarily assume a supplementary position 

 in the work, as derived exclusively from extraneous sources of information, and 

 are not strictly embraced within the descriptive classifications applied to the 

 varieties of remains they had themselves examined. 



Although the vestiges of ancient art and labor, in all their forms, usually con- 

 stitute an associated system, the different earth and stone-works, for convenience 

 of exploration, were resolved into two general classes, viz : Enclosures, bounded 

 by embankments, circumvallations, or walls ; and simple tumuli, or mounds. Of 

 these, subordinate divisions were made; as Enclosures for Defence, and Enclo- 

 sures for Sacred and Miscellaneous Purposes; Mounds of Sacrifice, Temple 

 Mounds, Mounds of Sepulture, &c. 



The writers state that "nothing can be more plain than that most of the re- 

 mains in northern Ohio are military works." They are of a slight character, 

 requiring palisades upon their embankments to render them of much service for 

 protection; but they are contiguous to water, usually cutting off the bends of 

 rivers, guarding the space thus enclosed from access by land, or they are on the 

 high bank of some stream, and invariably have no higher land near them from 

 which they could be commanded. The walls are generally double, and the ditch 

 always without. The scarcity of mounds, the absence of pyramids of earth, and 

 of rectangular works, and their general difference from the fortified positions 

 nearer the Ohio, are supposed by Messrs. Squier and Davis to indicate that they 

 belonged to a distinct people. 



It is mentioned that entrenchments of a similar character occur still further 

 northward and eastward, and also in Kentucky and Tennessee, implying the 

 existence of sparse but warlike tribes around that central region which bears 

 evidence of denser population and more stationary habits of life. 



The defensive works of this interior section are described as exhibiting much 

 judgment in the choice of their locations and much skill in their construction. 

 They are usually upon places above the level of the surrounding country, and 

 naturally difficult of access, having on all sides, or all but one, a precipitous 

 descent. The common defence is a simple embankment thrown up along, or a 

 little below the brow of the hill, varying in height and solidity as the declivity is 

 more or less steep ; but the parapets, in form and character, are adapted to the 

 nature of the position, which is guarded by a fosse, by double walls, and mounds, 

 or other contrivances, as circumstances require. 



These fortresses vary in size, enclosing from five acres to one hundred and forty. 

 The average of twenty-four of them is forty-six acres. Within some of the largest 

 are marks of habitation, as if they had been occupied by communities in some time 

 of prolonged danger. The smaller ones are most numerous. The w-alls of earth 

 and stone, it is remarked, although often high and heavy, would in themselves 



