48 ANTIQUITIES OF WISCONSIN. 



wall, plastered witli clay, and covered with a sort of inverted vase of the same 

 materials. 



A number of these mounds have been opened at different times, and their con- 

 tents, having been carried away to various parts of the world, cannot now be 

 recovered. 



With the view of ascertaining the contents of the larger elevations for ourselves, 

 we selected one in Mound Street, ten feet in height, and sixty feet in diameter 

 at the base, into which a trench four feet wide was dug, extending from the south 

 side to beyond the centre, and down to the subsoil or stratum of gravel that under- 

 lies the superficial covering of vegetable mould. 



The earth was quite uniform throughout ; consisting of dark-colored mould and 

 yellowish sandy loam, mixed in small quantities. Ashes, mingled with charcoal, 

 were observed as we went down, and occasionally fragments of human bones. No 

 skeleton was found; no stonework or earthenware — no stone or metallic imple- 

 ments of any kind could be discovered. Bones of some burrowing animals, and 

 the remains of a fish were taken out. Fragments of rotten wood, apparently oak, 

 were found at all depths. They were not charred, nor did they appear to have 

 had any definite arrangement, but were confusedly placed, as if carelessly thrown 

 upon the mound during the progress of its construction. 



From the oft-repeated indications of fire at various depths, we could draw no 

 other conclusion than that this was a "mound of sacrifice," and that at each repeti- 

 tion of the ceremony an addition was made to the height of the mound. 



The gopher^ often burrows in the artificial tumuli to find a dry place for its 

 nest ; and roots of trees penetrate to their lowest depths. 



The question naturally arises in the mind of the observer. For what purpose 

 was this great inclosure made ? Mr. Hyer called it a citadel, and it is usually 

 termed " the fort," and supposed to be a work of defence — a place to which the 

 mound-builders resorted for safety when hard pressed by an enemy. Various 

 reasons have been assigned for this supposition. Its connection with the river, 

 afibrding a means of supply to the besieged — its buttresses or bastions — its out- 

 works — its watch-towers — might all seem to convey the idea of a military work 

 or a fortification. 



Although when we attempt to describe these remains, the technical terms of 

 military men are found convenient, and sometimes applicable ; yet the " fort," the 

 " buttresses," the " bastions," &c., have but remote resemblance to such construc- 

 tions. Expressions like these often lead the superficial observer and reader astray, 

 and may have done so in this case. 



Messrs. Squier and Davis show very conclusively that the circular projections 

 on the exterior of the walls could not have been intended for bastions.^ It is 

 equally clear that a ridge of earth twenty-two feet wide and five feet high, does 

 not need the support of buttresses. 



* The name here universally applied to the thirteen-lined marmot (Spermophilus tridecemlineatus). 

 ° Smithsonian Contributions, I, 132. 



