VII. CLERMONT COUNTY— EARTH-WORKS, ETC. 



PLATE III. No. 1. 



WORK, NEAR NEWTOWN, CLERMONT COUNTY, OHIO. 



Among the curious structures of the mound-builders, there are none more 

 difficult to explain than this. On a detached ridge, composed of limestone gravel, 

 covered with a clay loam, is a low wall, averaging two feet high, and fifteen 

 feet broad, nearly in the form of a circle; although its north and south dia- 

 meter is about twenty-five feet the longer. The average diameter of the circle is 

 four hundred and seventy feet. The flat ridge on which the figure A is situated, 

 is about twenty-five feet higher than the adjacent plain; which is from twenty-five 

 to thirty-five feet above the Little Miami River. Outside of the circular figure, there 

 is a space from twenty to thirty feet wide, on the natural surface of the ground. 

 On the two opposite sides of the circle, where it occupies the height of the ridge, is 

 an external ditch, or excavation, enclosing about half the figure. It is from seventy 

 to eighty-five feet broad at the top, and from twelve to eighteen feet deep. The 

 bottom of this trench is not smooth, and is from seven to ten feet higher than 

 the adjacent plain. Its sides are as steep as the gravel and earth will lie. On 

 the east, in the direction c g, is an embankment or grade, extending by a gradual 

 slope, from the enclosure A to the plain. It is one hundred and sixty-eight feet 

 wide at the neck, where it joins A, and has, at the edges, raised side-walls, like 

 those made for pavements in cities, with a drain or gutter inside. The space be- 

 tween the side-ways is rounded like a turnpike, as represented in the section d e. 

 Its length is six hundred feet, and the side-ways are connected with a low and now 

 almost obliterated wall, turning outwards each way at i, i. Some distance to the 

 north-east is another traceable fragment /, /; and this may, with i, i, have been 

 portions of a large ellipse, now destroyed by time and cultivation. 



The earth from the outside ditches of A was used to form the embankment, c, g, 

 through which a rivulet has cut its way near the eastern extremity. The small 

 circle at c represents a mound eight feet high, a little out of the centre of the work. 

 The group of mounds m, m, m, are from two to fourteen feet in height. B is a 

 circle, with a slight inside ditch, and a broad opening for an entrance. 



The section, a, b, gives the position of the ditch, n, the bank, o, and the space of 

 thirty feet between them, called a berme. 



There are some examples of graded ways among the ancient works of Ohio, but 

 none resembling this. The grade at Marietta leads from a strong work down to 

 the Muskingum River, and had an evident purpose, that of access to water. It is 

 principally an excavation and not an embankment. There is also a grade, partly 

 in excavation and partly in bank, from a portion of the Newark works in Licking 

 County, leading to a branch of Licking, or Pataskala River. 



The great excavated road at Piketown, likewise descended to water. But here, 

 3 



