The two mounds last described are the only ones yet discovered possessing altars of stone; and, although it is likely there are others of similar construction, their occurrence must be very rare.
Such are the prevailing characteristics of this class of mounds. It will be remarked that while all have the same general features, no two are alike in their details. They differ in the number and relative position of their sand strata, as well as in the size and shape of their altars and the character of the deposits made on them. One mound covers a deposit made up almost entirely of pipes, another a deposit of spear-heads, or of galena or calcined shells or bones. In a few instances the symmetrical altar, of which so many examples have been given, is wanting, and its place is supplied by a level floor or platform of earth. Such was the case with mound No. 1, in the plan of the great work on the North fork of Paint creek, already referred to. This mound, although one of the richest in contents, was one of the smallest met with, being not over three feet in height. Its deposit was first disturbed by the plough, some years ago, and numerous singular articles were then taken from it. Upon investigation, in place of the altar, a level area ten or fifteen feet broad was found, much burned, on which the relics had been placed. These had been covered over with earth to perhaps the depth of a foot, followed by a stratum of small stones, and an outer layer of earth two feet in thickness. Hundreds of relics, and many of the most interesting and valuable hitherto found, were taken from this mound, among which may be mentioned several coiled serpents, carved in stone, and carefully enveloped in sheet mica and copper; p158 pottery; carved fragments of ivory; a large number of fossil teeth; numerous fine sculptures in stone, etc. Notice will be taken of some of the most remarkable of these, under the appropriate heads.
Fig. 46.
Another singular mound of somewhat anomalous character, of which a section is herewith given, (Fig. 46,) occurred in the same enclosure with the above. It is numbered 2 in Plate [X], and is remarkable as being very broad and flat, measuring at least eighty feet in diameter by but six or seven in height. It has two sand strata; but instead of an altar, there are two layers of discs chipped out of hornstone, (A A of the section,) some nearly round, others in the form of spear-heads. They are of various sizes, but are for the most part about six inches long, by four wide, and three quarters of an inch or an inch in thickness. They were placed side by side, a little inclining, and one layer resting immediately on the other. Out of an excavation six feet long by four wide, not far from six hundred were thrown. The deposit extends beyond the limits of the excavation on every side. Supposing it to be twelve feet square, (and it may be twenty or thirty,) we have not far from four thousand of these discs deposited here. If they were thus placed as an offering, we can form some estimate, in view of the facts that they must have been brought from a great distance, and fashioned with great toil, of the devotional fervor which induced the sacrifice, or the magnitude of the calamity which that sacrifice was perhaps intended to avert. The fact, that this description of stone chips most easily when newly quarried, has induced the suggestion that the discs were deposited here for the purpose of protecting them from the hardening influence of the atmosphere, and were intended to be withdrawn and manufactured as occasion warranted or necessity required. It is incredible, however, that so much care should be taken to fashion the mound and introduce the mysterious sand strata, if it was designed to be disturbed at any subsequent period. There is little doubt that the deposit was final, and was made in compliance with some religious requirement. An excavation below these layers discovered traces of fire, but too slight to be worthy of more than a passing remark.
A mound marked E in the plan of the great work, Plate [XXI], No. 2, was found to enclose an altar of small dimensions, which contained only a few perforated wolf’s teeth and some fifteen or twenty bones of the deer, all of them much burned. Six or eight inches above the deposit was a stratum of large pebbles.
It has been remarked that some of the mounds of this class contain altars which have been but slightly burned, and that such are destitute of remains. A few altars have been noticed, which have been much burned, but having no deposit upon them, except a thin layer of phosphate of lime, which seems to have incorporated itself with the clay of which they are composed, giving them the appearance of p159 having been plastered with mortar. Nos. 6, 9, and 18, in “Mound City,” are examples of this class. No coals or ashes were found on any of these; they appear to have been carefully cleaned out before being heaped over.
An explanation of this circumstance may probably be found in the character of a certain class of small mounds, occurring within enclosures and in connection with the altar mounds. In the plan of “Mound City” so often referred to are several of these, numbered 14, 15, 16, 19, 20, 21 and 23, respectively. They are very small, the largest not exceeding three feet in height, and are destitute of altars. In place thereof, on the original level of the earth, was found a quantity, in no case exceeding the amount of one skeleton, of burned human bones, in small fragments. That they were not burned on the spot is evident from the absence of all traces of fire, beyond those furnished by the remains themselves. They appear to have been collected from the pyre, wherever it was erected, and carefully deposited in a small heap, and then covered over. In one instance (mound No. 19) a small
Fig. 47. hole had been dug, in which the remains were found. A section of this mound is herewith given, Fig. 47. The deposit is indicated by the letter a. This feature is analogous to the cists of the British barrows. That the burning took place on some of the altars above mentioned is not only indicated by the presence of the deposit of phosphate of lime upon them, but is absolutely demonstrated by finding, intermixed with the calcined bones, fragments of the altars themselves, as if portions had been scaled up by the instrument used in scraping together and removing the burned remains.