EXPLORATION OF ALTAR MOUNDS IN OHIO. 33 
per implement, shell beads, and two large sea shells which had been cut to form 
vessels. 
Another mound contained a sort of refuse pile on one side, and under the 
centre a bed of burnt clay and ashes, containing the fragments of four pottery 
vessels and several flint knives. The pottery vessels have since been restored, 
and one proves to be richly ornamented by incised markings forming squares. 
No sign of the use of the mound for burial was found. 
The largest mound of the group was fourteen feet high and fifty feet in di- 
ameter, and proved to be one of the most interesting, from the numerous layers 
composing it, and the rich character of the offerings upon its altar. Beneath the 
mound, a little to one side of the centre, Avas an ash-pit six feet deep. This ash- 
pit is the first ever found beneath a mound. Its contents were similar in charac- 
ter to those in the Madisonville Cemetery, except that it contained fewer imple- 
ments. The mouth of the ash-pit and the surface of the ground about it were 
covered with ashes and animal remains. At the other side of the centre of the 
mound was found the altar of burnt clay. Its base was sunk a little in the 
ground, and from its top ran off, over the ashes and animal remains, a thin layer 
of burnt clay. 
The altar was about four feet across, and shaped like a basin, - On it were a 
great number of ornaments and three large sheets of mica. The contents of the 
altar were covered over by a layer of flat stones, and .this by layers successively 
of sand and ashes, sand and loam, gravel, ashes, burnt limestone and clay, clay 
and charcoal, flat stones, clay, and lastly, the sod covering the surface. 
Another mound, nine feet high, covered eighteen ash-pits and contained two' 
altars near together, seeming to have been erected over a large altar. One of 
these altars contained in its basin many interesting ornaments of shell, mica, and 
copper, fragments of carved stone and terra cotta images. Partly covering these 
objects was a layer of pieces of coal (bituminous), and over all this altar was a 
layer of flat stones, covered by a layer of sand, this extending also across the other 
altar, upon which only ashes were found. The layer of sand was completely 
covered by a layer of flat stones, over which were successive layers of ashes and 
sand, ashes, clay, ashes and charcoal, clay and sod. 
Several of the other mounds were also erected in layers and covered altars. 
The mound on the river bank was of especial interest, from the fact that it was 
found to be completely covered with stones, carefully laid just below the sod. 
The specimens collected from this group of mounds show the high attain- 
ments of the mound-builders in the treatment of metals, and also a distinct or- 
der of potter's art, higher than has been known heretofore from the mounds. In 
contact with the mica and other material in the large mounds, small masses of 
iron were found, which at first sight might lead to the inference that the mound- 
builders were acquainted with the use of iron, or that the mound was erected 
after contact with the whites ; but on careful examination this proved to be bog 
iron, which had formed upon the altar since the erection of the mound. Upon 
VII-3 
