PLATE XXX. No. 3. ANCIENT WORK NEAR BOURNEVILLE, ROSS COUNTY, OHIO.
The small work here figured is one of the most beautiful in the State of Ohio. It is situated upon the highest terrace, directly facing, and about one mile distant from, the great stone hill-work of the Paint creek valley (Plate [IV]). It consists of a wall of earth, eight or ten feet in height, with a broad and shallow exterior ditch. In figure it is elliptical, with a transverse diameter of seven hundred and fifty, and a conjugate diameter of six hundred and seventy-five feet. It has a gateway one hundred and twenty feet wide, leading into it from the south-west. It opens upon a small spur of the terrace, which has been artificially rounded and graded, so as to make a regular and easy descent to the lower level. Upon either side of this grade, the banks of the terrace are steep and irregular. A very copious spring of water starts from the bank near the wall, a little to the right of the entrance. A small circle and a couple of mounds are situated on the next lower terrace, at the points indicated in the plan.
This work is admirably preserved, and is remarkable as being the only circular work at present known, which has its ditch exterior to the walls. The proprietor esteems the soil much richer within the enclosure, than upon the adjacent plain. We are unprepared to ascribe any other than a religious origin to this structure. p087