210 EARTHWORKS IN THE SCIOTO VALLEY. 



Some of the circles, however, are much larger, enclosing fifty 

 acres or more. The squares or other rectangular works 

 never have a ditch, and the earth of which they are com- 

 posed appears to have been taken up evenly from the sur- 

 face, or from large pits in the neighbourhood. They vary 

 much in size ; five or six of them, however, are " exact 

 squares, each side measuring one thousand and eighty feet 

 a coincidence which could not possibly be accidental, and 

 which must possess some significance." The circles also, in 

 spite of their great size, are perfectly round, so that the 

 American archaeologists consider themselves justified in con- 

 cluding that the mound-builders must have had some stan- 

 dard of measurement, and some means of determining angles. 



The most remarkable group is that near Newark, in the 

 Scioto Valley, which covers an area of four square miles I A 

 . plan of these gigantic works is given by Messrs. Squier and 

 Davis, and another, from a later survey, by Mr. Wilson. 

 They consist of an octagon, with an area of fifty, a square 

 occupying twenty acres, and two large circles occupying re- 

 spectively thirty and twenty acres. From the octagon an 

 avenue formed by parallel walls extends southwards for two 

 miles and a half; there are two other avenues which are 

 .rather more than a mile in length, one of them connecting 

 the octagon with the square. 



Besides these, there are various other embankments and 

 small circles, the greater number about eighty feet in 

 diameter, but some few much larger. The walls of these 

 small circles, as well as those of the avenues and of the 

 irregular portions of the works generally, are very slight, 

 and for the most part about four feet in height. The other 

 embankments are much more considerable ; the walls of the 

 large circle are even now twelve feet high, with a base of 

 fifty feet, and an interior ditch seven feet deep and thirty- 

 five in width. At the gateway, however, they are still more 



