SEPULCHRAL MOUNDS. 215 



a circular eminence, with a flat top, upon which is elevated 

 the Great Council House. At the other end is a flat-topped, 

 square eminence, about as high as the circular one just men- 

 tioned; "upon this stands the public square." 



These, and other accounts given by early travellers among 

 the Indians, certainly throw much light on the circular and 

 square enclosures ; some of which, though classed by Messrs. 

 Squier and Davis under this head, seem to me to be the 

 slight fortifications which surrounded villages, and were un- 

 doubtedly crowned by stockades. We have already seen that 

 the position of the ditch is in reality no argument against 

 this view ; nor does the position of the works seem conclusive, 

 if we suppose that they were intended less to stand a regulai 

 siege than to guard against a sudden attack. 



Sepulchral Mounds. 



The Sepulchral mounds are very numerous in the central 

 parts of the United States. " To say that they are innumer- 

 able in the ordinary sense of the term, would be no exag- 

 geration. They may literally be numbered by thousands and 

 tens of thousands." They vary from six to eighty feet in 

 height ; generally stand outside the enclosures ; are often 

 isolated, but often also in groups ; they are usually round, 

 but sometimes elliptical or pear-shaped. They cover gene- 

 rally a single skeleton, which however is often burnt. Oc- 

 casionally there is a stone cist, but urn burial also prevailed 

 to a considerable extent, especially in the Southern States. 

 The corpse was generally buried in a contracted position. 

 Implements both of stone and metal occur frequently ; but 

 while personal ornaments, such as bracelets, perforated plates 

 of copper, beads of bone, shell, or metal, and similar objects, 

 are very common, weapons are but rarely found ; a fact 

 which, in the opinion of Dr. Wilson, "indicates a totally 



