﻿198 Cincinnati Society of Natural History. 



three feet thick, composed of yellower soil, was dug through. The clay soil 

 then entirely disappeared, and a black, soft, easily-spaded soil, containing 

 numerous specimens of the fresh water muscle, in a disintegrating state, 

 followed. This layer was about six feet thick, and was underlaid by 

 another of clay, similar to that on the bluff. This last layer was about 

 one foot thick, and was underlaid by a cone-shaped cavity, containing the 

 remains of a sepulchre, etc. The layer of clay immediately above this 

 cone was extremely hard. It seemed to have the appearance of being 

 wetted and then pounded down. It was picked through with the greatest 

 difficulty. Above it, at the beginning of the layer of black soil, a piece of 

 a meta-tarsal bone of a deer, very highly polished, was removed. By a 

 short calculation it can readily be seen that the distance from the summit 

 to the top of the conical cavity, in the centre of the base of the mound, is 

 25 feet. Before going further, I want to remark that there was no indi- 

 cation present of this mound having been erected at different periods. Had 

 these layers been added one after another, with considerable intervals of time 

 between , weeds, grasses, and other vegetation would have grown upon the first, 

 and their roots penetrating some inches into the layer beneath, would have left 

 their molds or themselves behind as evidence of their growth, and would have 

 warranted the assertion that subsequent layers were added, with an inter- 

 val of time between. No such evidences existed ; therefore it is but reason- 

 able and rational to believe that all the various stata, or layers, were built 

 with only slight intervale of time between their construction. This point 

 is especially mentioned here, because an article published in the Popular 

 Science Monthly, about two years ago, advanced the theory that mounds are 

 the accumulated dirt of ages, to which every passer-by reverently added 

 his quota, in a similar way to that of the ancient Celts, who thus added to 

 their piles of stones, called cairns,, erected over the graves of some es- 

 teemed men, and a custom which also existed in the State of New York 

 among some branches of the Iroquois. Notwithstanding the plausibility 

 of the theory, it is worthless, because it is directly contradicted by the 

 facts, and is, therefore, of no consequence. 



It is also proper at this point to consider, not only the fact that a very 

 considerable amount of labor was required to erect this mound, but also 

 to point out the fact that a very large amount of the earth used in its con- 

 struction, viz. : the black loam, containing muscle shells, six feet thick, 

 and probably, also, half of the mixed layer above it, was of soil which 

 could only have been procured at some distance, the most accessible 

 point being the narrow creek bottom at the foot of the bluff. How was that 

 soil carried up the bluff, 250 feet high ? Why should they resort to the 



