322 NORTH AMERICAN ARCHEOLOGY. 



ter's wlieel appear not to liave been known, though that " simple approximation 

 to a potter's wheel may have existed," which consists of " a stick of wood grasped 

 in the liand by the middle, and tui-ned round inside a wall of chxy formed 

 by the other hand or by another workman."* 



Among the most characteristic specimens of ancient American pottery are 

 the pipes. Some of these are simple bowls, smaller indeed, but otherwise not 

 unlike a common every-day pipe, from which they differ, however, in having gen- 

 erally no stem, the mouth having apparently been applied direct to the bowl. 

 Others are highly ornamented, and many are spirited representations of monsters 

 or of animals, such as the beaver, otter, wild cat, elk, bear, wolf, panther, rac- 

 coon, opossum, squirrel, manatee, eagle, hawk, heron, owl, buzzard, raven, swal- 

 low, parroquet, duck, grouse, and many others. The most interesting of these, 

 perhaps, is the manatee or lamantin, of which seven representations have been 

 found in the mounds of Ohio. These are no mere rude sculptures, about which 

 there might easily be a mistake, but "the truncated head, thick semicircular 

 snout, peculiar nostrils, tumid, furrowed upper lip, singular, feet or fins, and re- 

 markable moustaches, are all distinctly marked, and render the recognition of 

 the animal complete." t This curious animal is not at present found further 

 north than the shores of Florida, a thousand miles away. 



ORNAMENTS. 



The ornaments which have been found in the mounds consist of beads, shells, 

 necklaces, pendants, plates of mica, bracelets, gorgets, &c. The number of 

 beads is sometimes quite surprising. Thus the celebrated Grave Creek mound 

 contained between three and four thousand shell-beads, besides about two hun- 

 dred and fifty ornaments of mica, several bracelets of copper, and various 

 articles carved in stone. The beads are generally made of shell, but are some- 

 times cut out of bone or teeth ; in form they are generally round or oblong*,- 

 sometimes the shell of the Unio is cut and strung so as to "exhibit the convex 

 surface and pearly nacre of the shell." The necklaces are often made of 

 beads or shells, but sometimes of teeth. The ornaments of mica are thin plates 

 of various forms, each of which has a small hole. The bracelets are of copper, 

 and generally encircle the arms of the skeletons, besides being frequent on the 

 "altars." They are simple rings, "hammered out with more or less skill, and 

 so bent that the ends approach, or lap over, each other." The so-called "gor- 

 gets" are thin plates of copper, always with two holes, and probably, therefore, 

 worn as badges of authority. 



EARTHWORKS. 



Defensive cnrlosurcs. — The works belonging to tlie first class "usually oc- 

 cupy strong natural positions," and as a fiiir specimen of them we may take the 

 Boiimcville cnclosur(; in Iloss county, Ohio. "This work," say Messrs. Squier 

 and Davis (1. c, p. 11,) "occupies the summit of a lofty detached hill, twelve 

 miles westward from the city of Chillicothe, near the village of Bourneville. 

 " The hill is not far from four bundled feet in perpendicular height ; and is re- 

 markable, even among the steep hills of the west, for the general abruptness 

 of its sides, which at some points are absolutely inaccessible." * * * * 

 "The defences consist of a wall of stone, Avhich is carried round the hill a little 

 below the brow ; but at some places it rises, so as to cut off the narrow spurs, 

 and extends across the neck that connects the hill with the range beyond." 

 It. must not, however, be understood that anything like a true wall now exists ; 

 the prc.i-ent appearance is rather what might have been " expected from the 

 falling outwards of a wall of stones, placed, as this was, upon the declivity of 



* Squier and Davis, 1. c, p. 195. t Squier and Davis, 1. c, p. 252. 



