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SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 78 



Most of the works are on the upland, close to the river bluff. 

 Beginning at the south there is first a square, flat-topped mound 

 eighteen feet high, covering a fourth of an acre ; the sides are still 

 so steep as to be difficult of ascent. It stands close to a tributary 

 bayou beyond which, toward the south, no mound or other structure 

 exists within three or four miles. Next in order is a nearly circular 

 inclosure measuring somewhat more than three hundred feet across. 

 This has a flat side bordering a moat lying along the outer margin of 

 an embankment which is in the form of a rude semi-circle with each 



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Fig. 244. — IMarksville. Mound 8, showing structure. 



end at the top of the bluff ; in fact, it seems that part of it has fallen 

 with the caving of the bank. The length of this embankment is thirty- 

 three hundred feet. Inside of it are two flat-topped mounds, each 

 with its highest point thirteen feet above the surrounding surface. 

 One of them covers about three acres, the other being somewhat 

 smaller. It would seem that they were once quadrangular, but their 

 outlines are so altered by cultivation and erosion that this is not 

 certain. There were also within the enclosure a low mound eighty or 

 ninety feet across, one somewhat smaller, and a conical mound twenty 

 feet high. 



