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CHAPTER IX. ANOMALOUS MOUNDS.
Besides the mounds already described, the purposes of which seem pretty clearly indicated, there are many which will admit of no classification. Some of them possess features in common with all classes, and seem to have been appropriated to a double purpose; while others, in our present state of knowledge concerning them, are entirely inexplicable. As these mounds differ individually from each other, it is of course impossible to present anything like a general view of their character. We can therefore only describe a few of the more remarkable, dismissing the remainder with the single observation that their features do not indicate any specific design, and are not sufficiently distinct or uniform to justify or sustain a classification.
One of the most singular of these mounds, and one which best illustrates the remark that certain mounds were probably made to subserve a double purpose, is situated within a large enclosure on the east bank of the Scioto river. (Marked c e, Plate [XX].) A plan and section of the mound are herewith presented (Fig. 67).
Fig. 67.
It is an irregular oval in form, and is one hundred and sixty feet long, ninety broad at its larger end, and twenty feet in height. Excavations were made at the points indicated in the section. The one towards the right or smaller end of the mound disclosed an enclosure of timber, eight feet square, and similar, in all respects, to those found in the sepulchral mounds, except that, in this instance, posts eight inches in diameter had been planted at the outer corners, as if to sustain the structure. These posts had been inserted eighteen inches in the p179 original level or floor of the mound. The holes left by their decay were found filled with decomposed material; when this was removed, they exhibited perfect casts of the timbers. The casts also of the horizontal timbers were well retained in the compact earth, and one of the workmen, without much difficulty, was enabled to creep more than half the way around the enclosure which they had formed. Within this chamber the earth was as firm as in any portion of the mound. Upon removing a portion, a skeleton partly burned was found, and with it a thin copper plate seven inches long and four broad, perforated with two small holes; also a large pipe of bold outline, carved from a dark compact porphyry (Fig. 68). The bones seemed to have been enveloped in a species of matting, which was too much decayed to be distinctly made out. The floor of the mound, it should be mentioned, so far as explored, was composed of clay, was perfectly level, and had been burned to considerable hardness.
Fig. 68.—Half size.
The second excavation (B) was made in the larger end of the mound, somewhat to one side of the centre, at a spot marked by a depression in the surface. At the depth of twenty feet was found an altar of clay of exceeding symmetry. This was sunk, as shown in the section, in the general level or floor of the mound, and had been surrounded by an enclosure in all respects similar to the one above described, except that the timbers had been less in size. A fine carbonaceous deposit, resembling burned leaves, was found within the altar. Amongst the decayed materials of the surrounding enclosure were found several skewers, if we may so term them, in lack of a better name, made of the bones (ulna) of the deer. They were finely tapered to a point, and had evidently been originally highly polished. Some were not less than nine or ten inches long. Though apparently sound, they were found to be exceedingly brittle, retaining little if any of their animal matter. Drifts were carried in the course shown in the section, and the evidences of another enclosure discovered. The excavation was suspended at this point, in consequence of heavy and continued rains. The holes soon became partly filled by the caving in of the loose earth near the surface; which discouraging circumstance, joined to the extreme difficulty of digging,[121] prevented a resumption of p180 the investigation. It is very certain that another, perhaps several other chambers are concealed by this mound.