A KCI LK< >LOGY. (AMEBICAN.) 



13 



that they are less able now to perform many 

 which n.-ecity formerly compelled them 

 ticc. 

 I in- Kill us of Fort Ancient. A description 



of Fort Ancient, on the Little Miami river, 

 in Warren County, Ohio, which i> a erted to 

 be the -r.-atest of all prehistoric earthworks in 

 the Mi"i ippi valley, has Ixsen published by 

 Mr. Warren K. Moorehead. based upon surveys 

 made I >y hinoelf with Mr. Gerard Fowke and 

 Mr. Clinton Cowen. The fort is situated on a 

 plateau el. -i- to the river bank, at a height of 

 O'i'.i feet abqye low water and about 900 feet 

 alu.ve the level of the sea. Its irregular contour 

 i- is.TP,' feet in length, but a diameter drawn 

 from north to south is only 4,993 feet long. The 

 structure consists of two large inclosures, called 

 the old and new forts, connected by a narrow 

 _vway, at the southern end of which, where 

 it is narrowc.-t. is the "Great Gateway." Oppo- 

 site this, at about one third the length of the 

 passage, is the -Crescent Gateway." The space 

 between the.-e gateways is called the "Middle 

 Fort." and appears to have been the strongest 

 part of the work. Many graves, skeletons, and 

 remains of human work were found in and 

 around the fortifications, and evidences of an 

 ancient village site in the vallev. The whole 

 convinces tin- author that the work was built for 

 d.-feii-e. and that it was a rallying point for a 

 large population Inhabiting a district of consid- 

 erable extent, and was often the scene or witness 

 of lierce battles. A high opinion is expressed of 

 the ability of the constructors of their patience 

 in carrying, with their imperfect machinery, so 

 large a work to completion ; of their judgment 

 in -electing the site, "the best for the purpose 

 which the Ohio valley offers" ; of the skill with 

 which the walls are carried around the entire 

 inclosure ; of the care with which weak and ex- 

 pM-.'d points were strengthened; and of other 

 features of thoir engineering. Their skulls also 

 indicate the possession pf a higher intelligence 

 than the majority of the tribes whom the settlers 

 of western Ohio found there. Mr. Moorehead 

 believes that they were Mandans. The site of 

 Fort Ancient has been bought by the State of 

 Ohio, and will be preserved as a public park. 



The Mounds of Tennessee. The name 

 "stone-grave men" is applied by Mr. John P. 

 Thruston, of the Tennessee Historical Society, 

 to a race whose dead were placed in box-shaped 

 graves made of stone slabs, often constructed with 

 much care. A hundred or more of these graves 

 are occasionally found, arranged in tiers or layers, 

 in a single burial mound, with utensils and treas- 

 ures deposited in them which tell much of the 

 conditions of their domestic life. The remains 

 of forts, villages, and settlements of the same 

 people have been discovered in considerable num- 

 bers. The inscribed stones, idols, images, totems, 

 potteries, pipes of chipped stone, smooth stone, 

 copper, bone, and shell betoken an artistic taste 

 and technical skill beyond those of our Indian- 

 am! of the mound-builders of the States farther 

 north, and are more on the level of the best New 

 Mexican work. Some finely finished large flints, 

 de-iguated as scepters, and ceremonial imple- 

 ments are remarkable. The most remarkable ar- 

 ticles, however, are shell gorget-, carved with in- 

 tricate figures in which the human form may be 



di-ccrned, the style of which suggests Mexican 

 and Central American work. Oneof them, from 

 tin- Mae.Mahoii mound. Se\ ii-rvillc, rcpre-cut- 

 two human figures in combat, and is regarded a 

 the highc-t example of alx.riginal art ever found 

 north of Mexico. A uiii<|iic stone in the collec- 

 tion of the Tennessee Historical Society has en- 

 graved upon it the representation of a group 

 of mound-builders, with their banners, weapons, 

 costumes, and manner of dressing the hair fully 

 shown. The relics afford evidence of a trade t hat 

 was perhaps coextensive with the continent. 

 The author's study of the ancient houses sug- 

 gests comparison with those of the Mandans. 



Palaeolithic Implements In America. In 

 Prof. Otis T. Mason's survey of the archapol- 

 ogy of the Potomac region, stone implements 

 are represented as found in profusion in the 

 fresh-water portion of the lower Chesapeake 

 drainage. But while polished axes are found 

 here and there, the polished implement is the 

 exception, not the rule, especially on the higher 

 ground. The chipped implements have also a 

 ruder appearance than those from regions where 

 finer varieties of stones are .accessible. Mr. 

 Thomas Wilson has found evidence of two pe- 

 riods of occupation of the region the one palae- 

 olithic and ancient, the other neolithic and mod- 

 ern. The camp sites along the water courses 

 yield many chipped arrow heads, spear heads, 

 knives, polished implements, soapstone \ 

 ami (lottery: while the hills back from the river, 

 wanting in these, furnish coarser, flaked arte- 

 facta, mixed with broken implements and spalls. 

 Mr. Wilson describes tlu? pala-olithic instruments 

 of the District of Columbia and the United 

 States generally as always chipped, never pol- 

 ished, almond-shaped, oval, or sometimes ap- 

 proaching a circle ; having their cutting edges 

 at or toward the smaller end, while neolithic 

 stones have them toward the broad end: as fre- 

 quently made of pebbles with the original sur- 

 face sometimes unworked in places; and as ex- 

 ceedingly thick when compared with their width. 

 They were usually made of quartz, quartzite, or 

 argillite, while the neolithic man used any ma- 

 terial that could be ground to a smooth surface. 

 They are not known to have been used by the 

 American Indians, who when found by Euro- 

 peans were in the neolithic stage. Not one of 

 the Indian monuments that have been explored 

 has yielded pala-olithic implements. The articles 

 found in the District of Columbia are of the same 

 type as palaeolithic implements found in the 

 Trenton gravels at Little Falls, Minn., in Jack- 

 son ( 'ounly, Ind., at Claymont, Del., and at Love- 

 land, Ohio"; and all together contribute to prove 

 that a palaeolithic period existed in the Lnited 

 State-. 



Man in the Glacial Aye. Some important 

 facts are adduced by Prof. G. Frederick Wright 

 as having come to light during the past two years 

 bearing upon the connection of man with the ice 

 age in North America. One of these is the dis- 

 covery of the clay image that was found in a 

 well at Nampa, Idaho, described in the "Annual 

 Cyclopadia" (iss'.l. page 18). Another is the 

 finding, by W. C. Mill-, of n flint implement of 

 pala-oiithie type in the gravels of the Tusca- 

 rawas river at Newcomer-town. Ohio, fifteen feet 

 below the surface of the glacial terrace border- 



