414 MOUND EXPLORATIONS. 



Oil its back, witli head uphill (north). Ui)ou the breast was a well 

 formed and well finished sandstone gorget, and on it a black, leaf- 

 shaped tlint im])lemeut and a small hematite celt. No bones of the 

 right arm were found alongside. those ot the body, but a careful search 

 resulted in finding them in a line of ashes running out at right angles 

 ft'om the shoulder. Upon the bones of the open hand were three piles 

 of small, black fiint knives, five in each pile, all with the points turned 

 toward the shoulder. 



Two other conical mounds and one rock heap at this place were 

 opened, but nothing of interest was found in them save fragments of 

 bones in beds of coals and ashes on the natural surface of the ground. 



The ancient roadway, which in several i)laces upon the sloping side 

 of the hill is trnly a " graded way," seems to have been fully 20 feet 

 wide, somewhat rounded in the middle, and rather higher than the 

 natural surface. On the slope the lower side is graded up and sus- 

 tained by a line of flat stones, and the upper side cut down precisely 

 as a modern roadway is formed. The oldest settlers, when they first 

 came to this region, found it covered with forest trees, as were the 

 other ancient works. The entire length of this road was oiiginally 

 about half a mile, but a portion of it has been obliterated by cultiva- 

 tion. Possibly this is an old military road. 



ANCIKNT WORKS NEAR CUARLESTGN. 



Along the Kanawha river from 3 to 8 miles below Charleston are 

 the most extensive and interesting ancient works to be found in the 

 state of West Virginia. They consist of fifty mounds, varying in 

 diameter from 35 to 200 feet and in height from 3 to 3.5 feet; some 

 eight or ten inclosures containing fi-om less than 1 to fully 30 acres ; 

 circular, clay-lined pits from G to 8 feet broad and as many feet in 

 depth, and box-shaped stone cists. All are fonnd on the upper river 

 terraces beyond the reach of the highest floods. A plat of the group 

 from Mr. Middleton's survey is given in I'l. xxvii. 



Upon a commanding height, overlooking alike the village of Spring 

 Hill and all of these works, is au ancient iuclosure containing about 20 

 acres. There are also on most of the. high and jutting points of the 

 bordering bluffs — here fiom 200 to 400 feet high — rock heaps 30 to 90 

 feet in diameter and 4 to 8 feet high. 



For convenience the mounds and inclosnres are numbered generally 

 down the valley, commencing with the Criel mound (No. 1, PL xxvii). 

 Those not corresponding to this order were added from a subsequent 

 examination. 



An enlarged plan of this mound and the works immediately around 

 it is given in Fig. 201, and a section of the mound itself farther on in 

 Fig. 202. 



lnch)sure a is 550 feet in circumference, with a surrounding earthen 

 wall and interior ditch. The wall, where undisturbed by the plow, is 



