490 



MOUND EXPLORATIONS. 





has beeu plowed away. The inclosure A is not e.vactly as jshowii; the 

 iuterior level area is ueaily square, but the ditch is uot of the same 

 width all around, leaving a level space betweeii it and the embank- 

 ment, as one would suppose from the sketch. When excavated the 

 ditch was made wider at four alternate parts^, so as to give a circular 

 outline around the outside and to leave at the same time a sqixare in- 

 closed area with rounded corners. (See Fig. 324, made from these sur- 

 veys.) A gravel pit which has been opened ou the slope of the terrace 

 west cuts off' that ])ait of the embankment almost to the ditch ; but the 

 structure of the Avail is so much like that of the ground below, that a 

 person ascending from the lower terrace would never suspect its exist- 

 ence until he had reached a i>oint where it can be seen from above, there 

 being no line of demarkation, all having the same appearance. The 

 "wall" shown south of this work, along the edge of the terrace where 

 it bends to the east, can no longer be traced. A ditch has beeu dug 



along near tlfe edge, probably to get 

 dirt for mounds or circles, and the 

 wall, or supitosed wall, was i)robably 

 only the natural earth left outside 

 of this ditch. Its top is not so high 

 as the level just north of the ditch, 

 as shown by S(|uier and Davis, in 

 section e/, and no higher thau along 

 the brow farther east. At the point 

 where the ditch turns north, how- 

 ever, the earth from it has been 

 thrown up to form a wall along its 

 eastein margin- meeting the circle 

 as shown. That there has never 



Fig. 324.— Circled, Seal townsbip ivorks. , n i • i i , it 



been a wall which has beeu washed 

 away by the river is proven by there being a wide fence row outside 

 the ditch, and the ground along this fence row has been plowed. Mr. 

 Barnes, who remembers when Squier and Uavis made their survey, 

 says it was never much higher than now, the slight reduction that hai^ 

 taken place being due to cultivation. He says also that he helped to 

 clear the work having the interior ditch, and its appearance was never 

 essentially different from what it is now. 



Between the circle I) and the half circle east of it is a place leading 

 down to the next level like those at High Bank, namely, such a depres- 

 sion as would result fioni the wash of an old path. The half circle 

 extends quite up to tlie edge of the bluff" and the ends have fallen off", 

 showing a section. In the circle 7) the interior level area is very small 

 compared with the size of the ditch an<l embankment; the ground 

 begins to slope almost at the entrance. 



The work shown in supplementary plan X is a mile above the other 

 grouj), close to the pike, on laud belonging to T. W. Sargent's heirs. 





