Dr. Wilson, who was a resident in the neighbourhood, and took much personal interest in antiquarian investigations, told me he had observed that the larger burial places seemed to have been raised gradually, and at intervals. He had formed the opinion that the Indians usually traced upon the surface of the ground the outer base of the tumulus. Within the inclosed space a number of skeletons were then laid and covered over with layers of earth or small mounds. Over these, after a certain time had elapsed, more skeletons were placed and similarly covered. This system of burial was continued until the mound was completed. There were evidences of a great burning having taken place upon the top of every successive series of burials. The nature of the contents of such of the smaller mounds as had been opened varied in many respects. In some instances nothing was found except ashes and broken pottery. In others were skeletons together with stone pipes, chisels made of hard greenstone, flint arrow heads, bone awls and numerous beads. There were also occasionally found a few rudely made copper rings. In a mound which was supposed to be a child’s grave, a necklace of beads, strung upon a kind of fibre, was placed round the neck of the skeleton.
There was a large cairn, above forty feet in height, placed a few miles south of the town, which was destroyed about the middle of the present century in order to obtain materials for constructing a portion of the banks of a canal. When the stones were removed, fifteen small mounds composed of earth were discovered ranged in a circle at some distance from the centre, and near the outer part of the base. There was also a central mound which contained a quantity of human bones. In one of the outer mounds the explorers saw a hollow wooden trough, in which was a skeleton and several rings made of copper. I examined some fragments of this trough that were preserved in the Museum. The wood was black and very hard. It was considered that the mounds beneath the cairn contained earth that must have been brought from a distance. This singular fact is in accordance with what has been observed in other Indian works, and probably has a special significance.
Judging from the character of the relics that have been discovered in the Ohio mounds,[16] it does not appear that there is any reason to justify the conclusion that the Mound Builders differed in their condition of civilisation from the other Indian tribes. The consideration of this subject has been made perplexing in consequence of the existence of the numerous burial places of the tribes who were settled in this region after the arrival of the Europeans. In several mounds were found gunbarrels, silver crosses and other objects which are undoubtedly of foreign workmanship. The crosses were usually placed upon the breasts of the skeletons, and from this circumstance it is probable that they belonged to Indians who had been converted by the French missionaries.
After I had seen the principal burial places of the Mound Builders, I proceeded to look at the largest and most important group of that class of earthworks, which were considered by Messrs. Squier and Davis, who surveyed them in 1845, to have been raised for the purpose of religious ceremonial, and who accordingly called them sacred inclosures. It has also been conjectured that they may have been fortified camps.
They are situated a few miles from Newark, upon a slightly elevated plain, about forty feet above a river now called the Licking Creek. Upon two sides of them there are smaller streams, respectively named, South Fork and Racoon Creek: thus the camps are surrounded on three sides by water. The site chosen by the Indians was well adapted for the purpose of defence, when the habits or requirements of the tribes were such as to make it desirable for them to establish their dwelling places as near as possible to a river. The inclosures are designed with skill, and their construction must have involved arduous and long continued labour, which was probably executed in consequence of the apprehension of serious danger from the attacks of enemies. Upon an examination of their formation, it becomes evident that the men who traced the lines of the embankments, followed clear and well-defined rules.
As these earthworks are, with respect to their principles of construction, the most remarkable of their kind in North America, it is expedient to investigate their plans with careful attention. The inclosure, which is marked A on the annexed ground plan, consists of a large octagonal work connected with a smaller circular work. The octagon contains an area of about forty acres, surrounded by an embankment whose existing average height slightly exceeds five feet. There are eight entrances or gateways placed at equal distances from each other. They are guarded by mounds, made sufficiently wide to extend a little beyond the width of the openings and thus cover the approach. These mounds are of the same height as the ramparts, and are placed within them. They were made flat upon the top, and possibly the platform thus made was useful for defensive operations.
At one end of the inclosure the ramparts leave the octagon, and form two parallel banks leading into the circle B. This approach is nearly one hundred yards long and about fifteen yards wide. At its termination the banks turn to the right and left, and form a circular work containing an area of twenty acres. At the outer edge of the circle and opposite to the entrance, is placed a large flat-topped mound, attached to, but outside the general line of the banks. This mound, according to my measurements, was twelve feet in perpendicular height, and had a platform on its summit which was about one hundred and eighty feet long by thirty feet wide. In consequence of being several feet higher than the embankments and outside their line, it commands the approaches to that part of the inclosure. There is no exterior or interior ditch to either of these works.
Plan of Indian Inclosures and Parallel Embankments near Newark, Ohio
From the central, or eastern opening of the octagon a long low line of parallel embankments connect it with another group of earthworks which, in the plan, is marked C. The inclosure has been, in many parts, destroyed or levelled, but it is possible to trace its original form. It appears to have been an exact square, containing an area of twenty acres. This square is connected with the circular work D by parallel banks in the same manner as the octagon is joined to the circle B, but they are of greater length and magnitude. At the entrance, where the banks diverge outwards and begin to form the curve of the circle, they rise to a height exceeding fifteen feet.