ANCIENT WORKS NEAR ROCK RIVER. 47 



Nearly the whole interior of the inclosure appears to have been either excavated 

 or thrown up into mounds and ridges ; the pits and irregular excavations being quite 

 numerous over much of the space not occupied by mounds. This want of regularity 

 is opposed to the opinion that these excavations were for the cellars of buildings, as 

 suggested by some. 



In a letter from Mr. J. C. Brayton, of Aztalan, he says : " Several feet below the 

 surface of the large square mound near the northwest corner of the inclosure was 

 found, a number of years ago, what appeared to be the remains of cloth, apparently 

 enveloping a portion of a human skeleton. Its texture was open, like the coarsest 

 linen fabric; but the threads were so entirely rotten, as to make it quite uncertain 

 of what material they were made.^ 



" Numerous fragments of earthenware have been taken from the mounds at 

 different times : portions of broken vessels, varying in size (judging by the curve of 

 the fragments), from a few inches to three feet across the rim. 



" A number of rusty gun-locks, in scattered fragments, have been discovered at 

 or near the surface of the ground ; and pieces of iron, copper, and brass, have been 

 found in the neighborhood. But all these, being relics of the recent Indian popu- 

 lation, fail to throw any light upon the great questions of who made these works, 

 and for what purpose were they constructed. The Winnebagos, the last occupants 

 of this interesting locality, always answer in the negative by a significant shake of 

 the head, when asked if they can tell who erected the mounds." 



Mr. Brayton, who has resided in the vicinity of these works since their dis- 

 covery, is of the opinion that none of the mounds have sensibly changed from 

 natural causes since the first settlement of the country in 1836. 



Our examination of the tumuli exterior to the inclosure led to no very important 

 results. The third from the north end of the long row, seen on the plate (about 

 four feet high and thirty feet in diameter), was penetrated to the bottom, and the 

 opening enlarged below in every direction. A post (apparently tamarack) had 

 been inserted, and was now all decayed, except a portion near the bottom.^ This 

 may have been set in since the building of the mound, which was composed of 

 black and yellow soil intermixed, having beneath gravel composed mostly of lime- 

 stone pebbles. K these smaller tumuli ever covered any deposits, they are now so 

 completely decayed that not the least trace of them can be discovered. 



While at Aztalan we were informed that upon opening one of the larger mounds 

 some years ago, the remains of a skeleton were found, inclosed by a rude stone 



» This is probably the same that was forwarded by Dr. King to the National Institute of Wash- 

 ington. — See Silliman's Journal, XLIV, 38. 



^ This post may have been the remains of a medicine pole, such as was erected by the Mandans. 

 According to Mr. Catlin, the Mandans were in the habit of erecting mounds of earth near their vil- 

 lages about three feet high, around which were arranged in circles the skulls of the dead, after their 

 bodies had decayed on the scaffolds. On each mound was erected a pole, hung with articles of mys- 

 terious and superstitious import. Something of this kind may be the origin of the numerous smaller 

 mounds in Wisconsin, in which no traces of artificial or human deposits could be found. — See N. Am. 

 Indians, I, 190. 



