PROCEEDINGS OF THE OHIO ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 393 



about three years in its construction, if it could proceed without 

 any interruptions from bad weather and other causes connected 

 with their tribal and domestic economy. There is, therefore, no 

 escaping the inference that the construction of this single mound 

 required a highly organized society in which a large number of 

 individuals were moved by a common impulse and were con- 

 trolled by centralized authority. 



If we consider the construction of Fort Ancient, the evidence 

 is still stronger. The total amount of earth contained in the 

 protective wall of this fortification is estimated at 172,000,000 

 cubic feet ; but as the dirt was taken from the near vicinity we 

 may reasonably assume that each workman could transfer to 

 the fortification 60 baskets of material or 30 cubic feet per day. 

 This would represent approximately 6,000,000 days' work which 

 would occupy 1,000 men about 17 years. 



Mr. Gerard Fowke's conservative estimate concerning the 

 entire number of earthworks in the state is equally impressive. 

 "On the estimate of 30,000,000 cubic yards for the prehistoric 

 works of the State, one thousand men, each working three hun- 

 dred -days in a year, and carrying one wagon load of earth or 

 stone in a day, could construct all the works in Ohio within a 

 century." (Archaeological History of Ohio, p. 85). 



Considerable progress has recently been made in collecting 

 facts bearing upon the religion of the mound builders, and con- 

 cerning the extent of their commerce and their artistic attain- 

 ments. We are now happy to announce that through the efiforts 

 of our society the facts bearing upon these subjects are open 

 to study in our own state. It has been humiliating to the citizens 

 of Ohio that up to recent times they were compelled to go beyond 

 the borders of the State to study the best collections of the mound 

 builders' relics. The great original collection of Squier and 

 Davis, who were the first ones to explore the mounds, was so 

 little appreciated in our own country that an eminent archaeologist 

 of England had no difiiculty in purchasing it and spiriting it away 

 to the other side of the Atlantic, this was Mr. Blackmore^ of 

 Salisbury, England. But it is comforting to know that he took 

 pains properly to install it in his museum at Salisbury where it 



