!2() ARCHEOLOGY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



furnish very imperfect means of protection and resistance; hence it is obvious that 

 they were surmounted by palisades, or by something equivalent. They also have 

 many gateways, or openings, which must have been defended by perishable' or 

 temporary obstructions. 



The enclosures whose form, position, and attendant circumstances, indicate that 

 they were erected for other than defensive purposes, are elaborately exemplified. 

 They are termed sacred enclosures, on the ground that the supposition of their 

 being designed for religious rites and ceremonies is the most natural and satis- 

 factory one. Some of them prove to be circles or squares of exact proportions: 

 and precisely the same dimensions have been found in separate localities. The 

 characteristics ascribed to them are, that they are often in a position to be com- 

 manded by adjacent heights; that when a ditch occurs, it is within the embank- 

 ments; that, although occasionally isolated, they are usually in groups, forming 

 fanciful figures, but evidently the result of a plan or system; that the larger circles 

 are oftenest found in combination with rectangular works, and connected with 

 them either directly or by avenues; that the walls are comparative^ slight, from 

 three to seven feet high, seldom accompanied by a ditch, and formed from earth 

 taken evenly from the surface near them, or from large pits in the neighborhood ; 

 and that they enclose pyramidal mounds not much elevated, flat on the tops, with 

 graded paths of ascent, and well adapted to be used for altars or for the founda- 

 tions of sacred edifices. 



The greater number of circles are said to have a nearly uniform diameter of two 

 hundred and fifty feet ; yet many of the examples given contain from twelve to 

 twenty-five acres, and some include a space of fifty acres. 1 



The broad and graded avenues ascending the plateaus on which the principal 

 structures are situated, as if prepared for the solemn march of a procession ; the 

 lines of low parallel embankments uniting in a curve at one end, suggesting no 

 conceivable design of practical utility; and the nature and discovered uses of the 

 tumuli connected with the systems of works designated as sacred, are explained 

 and delineated in a manner which confirms and illustrates their adaptedness to 

 the purposes ascribed to them. 



If Messrs. Squier and Davis were enabled thus to corroborate previous opinions 

 respecting the two classes of Enclosures, they were even more successful in exem- 

 plifying the characters and designs of the various kinds of Tumuli. 



The low conical or dome-shaped tumuli within the enclosures termed sacred, or 

 closely adjoining them, were found to exhibit these peculiarities. At their bases 

 beneath the vertex were raised and concave symmetrical fabrics, usually of clay, 

 that might well be called altars, inasmuch as they had upon them the customary 

 evidences of sacrifice : There were human bones mixed with the articles likely to 

 be most precious to a rude people, viz : beads, pipes, images, and other ornaments 

 and implements ; all of which had been subjected to fire of sufficient intensity or 

 duration to bake the fabric of clay on which they were deposited. Then over 



1 The greal circle al Newark, enclosing 30 acres, lias a wall of 12 feet perpendicular height and 

 50 feet ba.se; with an interior ditch 7 feet deep and 35 feel wide. 



