NORTH AMERICAN ARCHEOLOGY. 
15 
is a basin, or table, of burnt clay, carefully formed into a symmetri¬ 
cal form, but varying much both in shape and size. Some are round, 
some elliptical, and others, squares or parallelograms, while in size 
they vary from two feet, to fifty feet by twelve or fifteen. The 
usual dimensions, however, are from five to eight feet. They are 
almost always found within sacred enclosures ; of the whole number 
examined by Messrs. Squier and Davis, there were only four which 
were exterior to the walls of enclosures, and these were but a few 
rods distant from them. 
The “ altar ” is always on a level with the natural soil, and bears 
traces of long continued heat; in one instance, where it appears to 
have been formed of sand, instead of clay, the sand for a depth of 
two inches is discoloured as if fatty matter of some sort had been 
burned on it. In this case a second deposit of sand had been placed 
on the first, and upon this, stones a little larger than a hen’s egg, 
were arranged so as to form a pavement, which strongly reminds us 
of the ancient hearths in the Danish Kjokkenmoddings. 
In a few instances, traces of timber were found above the altar. 
Thus in one of the twenty-six tumuli forming the “ Mound City ” 
on the Scioto Diver, were found a number of pieces of timber, four 
or five feet long, and six or eight inches thick. “ These pieces had 
“ been of nearly uniform length ; and this circumstance, joined to 
“ the position in which they occurred in respect to each other and to 
“ the altar, would almost justify the inference that they had sup- 
“ ported some funeral or sacrificial pile.” * The contents of these 
mounds vary very much. The one just mentioned contained a quan¬ 
tity of pottery and many implements of stone and copper, all of 
which had been subjected to a strong heat. The pottery may have 
formed a dozen vessels of moderate size. The copper articles con¬ 
sisted of two chisels, and about twenty thin strips. About fifty or 
a hundred stone arrow-heads, some flakes, and two carved pipes, 
completed the list of articles found in this interesting tumulus. In 
another mound nearly two hundred pipes were buried. Generally 
speaking, the deposit is homogeneous. “ That is to say, instead of 
“ finding a large variety of relics, ornaments, weapons, and other 
“ articles, such as go to make up the possessions of a barbarian 
“ dignitary, we find upon one altar pipes only, upon another a 
“ single mass of galena, while the next one has a quantity of pottery, 
“ or a collection of spear heads, or else is destitute of remains, 
“ except perhaps a thin layer of carbonaceous material. Such could 
“ not possibly be the case upon the above hypothesis, for the spear, 
“ the arrows, the pipe, and the other implements, and personal 
“ ornaments of the dead, would then be found in connection with 
“ each other.” f 
This conclusion does not seem to us- altogether satisfactory; and 
although these altar-containing mounds differ in so many respects 
* Squier and Davis, 1. c p. 151. 
f Ditto, p. 160. 
