Fig. 19.—Circle and Mound, Greenup County, Kentucky.
The above view, taken on the spot, will illustrate the appearance of this class of works. Nothing can exceed their regularity and beauty, when clothed with turf or covered with forest trees.
PLATE XXIX. No. 1. ANCIENT WORKS, MONTGOMERY COUNTY, OHIO.[62]
These works are situated on the east bank of the Great Miami river, six miles below Dayton, Montgomery county, Ohio. They are built upon the second bottom or terrace, which is here nearly a mile broad, and elevated about twenty feet above the river. The plan of the group coincides very nearly with that of some of the p083 more regular works of the Scioto valley. (See Plates [XX] and [XXI].) It seems never to have been completed; at any rate, the various parts were never connected. A portion of the great circle A has been washed away by the river, which here encroaches upon the second terrace. The diameter of this circle is one hundred feet greater than that of the corresponding large circle of the Scioto works; and the same proportionate increase in size is to be observed in the square and lower circle. The embankments are now between five and six feet high, and have a base fifty feet wide. They are composed of a tough, yellow clay, which is found to be superimposed on the loam of the original level. It must have been brought from a distance, as there are no excavations perceptible in the vicinity. The embankments, as in the case of several other works which have been noticed, appear to have been some time or other subjected to the action of fire. They are unaccompanied by a ditch.
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- XXIX.
- No. 1. Ancient Works six miles below Dayton, Montgomery Co. Ohio.
- No. 2. Ancient Work and Animal Effigy, Scioto Co. Ohio.
- No. 3. Ancient Works near Worthington, Franklin Co., Ohio.
The Miami canal extends through these works, and the little town of Alexandersville is laid out over a portion of the smaller circle. The clay composing the embankments is now much used in the manufacture of bricks, and but a little time will elapse before the work will be entirely obliterated.
We can only regard this structure as kindred in its purposes to those above alluded to in the Scioto valley, and associate it with the superstitions of the builders. It tends to confirm the impression produced by the other works, that some significance attaches to the combination of the two circles and the square.