(RETURN TO THE TITLE PAGE) 20 - HISTORY OF ROSS AND HIGHLAND COUNTIES, OHIO. CHAPTER II. THE PRE-HISTORIC RACE. The Earth Monuments of the Mississippi Valley.—Their wide Distribution and Vast Number.—The Various Classes of Works.--Sacred Enclosures, or Walled Villages.— Fortifications.—The Skill Exhibited in Defensive Works.—Different Classes of Mounds.—Their contents. --Art Remains and Implements.--Crania from the Mounds—A Signal System along the Valley of the Scioto.—Great Archaeological Wealth of Ross county.—Its Immense Inclosures.—Dunlap's Work. —Liberty Township Rem ains. —H opet own Enclosure. —M ound City.—The Famous Fort Hill of Highland County.—Deductions and Speculations Concerning the Ancient People. ONLY the earth monuments enclosing a few relics of rude art and the last lingering remains of mortality— crumbling skeletons which literally turn to dust as the places of their sepulture are invaded—have endured to silently and solemnly attest in the nineteenth century the existence of a vast and vanished race, a people whose origin, nature, progress and ultimate destiny are shrouded in a gloom that cannot be dispelled, and only feebly pierced by a few faint rays of light. Strive as we may, by what little there is of the accumulated light of study, we can know but little of the people who occupied this continent prior to the age at which its written history begins. The race to which we ascribe the name of Mound Builders is one of which no chapter of history can be produced. No record has been left; no misty legends or traditions have been handed down to give us an idea of the character and condition of the ancient race. We can only gain an uncertain and unsatisfying glance behind the great black curtain of oblivion, and upon the vast questions concerning the people, can obtain no absolute knowledge. We may search the silent monuments that stud a thousand landscapes of the Mississippi valley, and deduce conclusions from the facts discovered, in regard to the magnitude of the ancient population, and to some extent of its degree of civilization; but as to the greater questions, whence did it come? and whither did it go ? we can only indulge in speculations, fanciful, fascinating and futile. It shall be our endeavor in this chapter to convey to the reader general ideas of the extent and nature of the antiquities abounding in Ohio, and without advancing speculations of our own, or attempting to indicate the probable origin of their builders or the cause of their disappearance, to briefly summarize the deductions and the theories of some of those students who have given this great subject the most careful consideration. GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. The ancient works, commonly attributed to the Mound Builders, are spread over a large extent of country. They dot the valleys from the Alleghenies to the far northwest and extend from the lakes to the Gulf of Mexico. They are to be found upon the Missouri, a thousand miles from its junction with the Mississippi; upon the Kansas and Platte, and on other remote western rivers. They spread over the valley of the Mississippi, and line the shore of the gulf from Texas to Florida, and extend in diminished numbers into South Carolina. They occur in great numbers in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Missouri, Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee, Louisiana, Mississippi, Al- HISTORY OF ROSS AND HIGHLAND COUNTIES, OHIO - 21 abama, Georgia, Florida, and Texas, and are less numerously distributed through the western parts of New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and North and South Carolina, as also in Michigan, Iowa, and the Mexican possessions. That the earthworks are distributed evenly over this territory should not be imagined. They are confined, principally, to the valleys of the rivers and large streams, and those discovered elsewhere have been small. Many points of resemblance exist between the works in various parts of the country, which go to establish a kindred origin, but notwithstanding this fact, they may be properly separated into three great geographical divisions. In the region bordering the upper lakes, in Wisconsin, and, in a lesser degree, in Michigan, Iowa, and Missouri, are found a succession of very peculiar remains, which bear only a slight analogy to those found in the other groups. These are great basso relievos upon the face of the earth, bearing the forms of beasts, birds, reptiles, and occasionally of men. They have been discovered in great numbers, and usually in ranges which seem to have some connection or relation to each other. They extend across Wisconsin in a southwestern direction from Fond-du-lac to the Mississippi, and are found also in other parts of this State and those heretofore mentioned. What may be called the second geographical division, includes the Scioto valley earthworks, which will be more specifically considered in this chapter than those of the country at large. This division may be described as lying mostly within the valley of the Ohio and its tributaries. The third division may be defined as embracing the States along the Gulf of Mexico and the Southern Mississippi. The mounds in this division are of increased size and regularity of form, and they seem more closely allied to the Teocalli-shaped structures that abound in Mexico, while the enclosures, on the other hand, which are numerous farther north, are diminished in size and importance. Here, too, traces of bricks are found in the mounds and in the walls of the enclosures. It is not within the province of this chapter to give an extended account of the southern or far northern and western group of earthworks, but to dwell more particularly upon those of the great central division, and in conclusion to present some theories and speculations upon the race of people by whom they were built. "The number of tumuli in the State of Ohio may be safely estimated at ten thousand, and the number of enclosures at from one thousand to fifteen hundred."* They are most numerous, as heretofore stated, along the larger streams, and the seats of the most dense population of the ancient people seem to have been along the Ohio, the Scioto and the Miamis, although they are scattered more or less numerously over almost the whole State. Not far from one hundred enclosures and five hundred mounds are found in Ross county, and along the fertile valley of the Scioto from the Ohio to Columbus it is safe to say there were at least three times this number of ancient remains, Surprising as is their number, their extent is equally a *Squier and Davis' "Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley." matter to excite the wonder of all who give this subject any study. Lines of embankment, varying in height from five to thirty feet, and enclosing areas of from one to fifty acres, are common, and enclosures of from one to two hundred acres are not unfrequently to be seen. Occasionally even this great size is exceeded. The mounds are of all sizes, from those but a few feet in height and a few feet in diameter, to the size of the great mound at Miamisburgh, Montgomery county, Ohio, which is sixty- eight feet in perpendicular height and eight hundred and fifty-two in circumference at the base, containing over three hundred thousand cubic feet of earth. Mounds of this kind are most common in the south, and the usual dimensions of those in the section of country represented in this work are considerably less than those of the mounds above mentioned. The greater number are from six to thirty feet in height by forty to one hundred in diameter at the base. Flint, in his geography, says: "We have seen mounds which would require the labor of a thousand men employed upon our canals, with all of their mechanical aids and the improved implements of their labor, for months." Lewis and Clark describe an enclosure on the Missouri river which they estimated to contain six hundred acres. All of these constructions are composed of earth or stone, and sometimes these materials are mixed, though rarely. In some instances the earth and stone composing these works are foreign in the locality, and must have been brought a considerable distance, but in the greater number of cases it has been removed from the surrounding plain. Deep pits often exist near the embankments or mounds. These are the wells of Caleb Atwater and other early writers on American antiquities. It is possible that a few were wells, or that the earth having been removed to be used in the erection of an elevation, they may have been secondarily designed for cisterns, reservoirs, or wells. The larger portion of the enclosures are regular in outline, and the forms of the square and the circle most often occur, either singly or in combination. Some are parallelograms, some ellipses, others polygons, regular or irregular. The irregular works are those which partake most of the character of defences, and are usually made to conform to the nature of the ground upon which they are situated, running along the brows of hills or cutting off the approaches to strong natural positions. The regular works, on the contrary, are found upon the level river terraces, great care having evidently been taken to select those least broken. It is in such localities that the combination of the square and circle is found, sometimes communicating with irregular modifications of these forms by avenues consisting of parallel lines of embankment. Detached parallels are also numerous. The mounds are usually simple cones, sometimes truncated and occasionally terraced with graded or winding ascents to the summits. Some are elliptical and some pear-shaped, and others squares or parallelograms, with flanking terraces. Another variety of remains are the causeways or roads and the graded descents to rivers. The alluvial terraces 22 - HISTORY OF ROSS AND HIGHLAND COUNTIES, OHIO. or river bottoms, as has been already remarked, were the favorite locality with the builders. The principal remains are found where the bottom is the widest and the soil most fertile. Some of the largest and most singular are at the junction of streams, as at Marietta, the mouths of Grave creek, of the Muskingum, Scioto, and Great Miami and ocher places. "It is worthy of remark," say Messrs. Squier and Davis, in their admirable work, "that the sites selected for settlements, towns and cities by the invading Europeans are often those which were the especial favorites of the Mound Builders and the seats of their heaviest population." In confirmation of this remark may be mentioned the towns of Marietta, Newark, Portsmouth, Chillicothe, Circleville and Cincinnati, in Ohio; Frankfort, in Kentucky, and St. Louis, in Missouri. "The centers of population are now where they were at the period when the mysterious race of the mounds flourished." The earth and stone works may be divided into two classes—Enclosures and Tumuli, or Mounds. These constiture a single system of works, but for obvious reasons it is proper to classify them as above. The two great classes may again be divided into minor classes, viz.: Enclosures for Defence, Sacred and Miscellaneous Enclosures, Mounds of Sacrifice, Temple Mounds, Mounds of Sepulture, etc. The general character of the aboriginal monuments having been briefly indicated, we shall endeavor to give the reader a more particular description of each of the several classes of remains. DEFENSIVE WORKS. A large and interesting class of the Mound Builders' works are of such a nature that the object for which they were constructed is indisputable. This kind of enclosures, or "forts," as they are commonly called, are to be found throughout the length and breadth of the Mississippi valley, from the Alleghanies to the ranges of the Rocky mountains, The rivers that flow through this vast basin, have worn their valleys deep into what was originally a plain, leaving broad terraces. The sides of these terraces are generally steep and difficult of access, and sometimes absolutely inaccessible. These are the very points that would naturally be selected by any people as the sites of defensive works, and hence it is not a matter of surprise that these heights arc found to be occupied by strong and complicated works. The locations have evidently been chosen with great care. They occupy the highest points of land, are never commanded from neighboring positions, and while rugged and steep on most sides, have one or more points of easy approach, in the protection of which the builders seem to have exerted their skill to its utmost. The usual defence is a simple embankment thrown up along and a little below the brow of the hill, varying in height and substiantability according to the degree of protection afforded by the natural declivity. Upon the side where the peninsula or promontory merges with the main land of the terrace or plateau, the enclosure is usually found to be guarded by double or overlapping walls, or a series of them, having sometimes an accompanying mound, designed, it may be, for a lookout, and corresponding to the barbican in the system of defence of the Britons of the middle ages. Works have been found which must originally have been by the side of streams, but from which the latter have receded in some cases half a mile. There is no instance of any fortification, enclosure, tumulus or other relic of the race of Mound Builders, having been found upon the lower or latest formed river terraces or bottoms. This is an important fact, and, in connection with the one which precedes it, affords strong evidence of the remoteness of the age in which the valley of the Ohio was the abiding place of this pre-historic people. Works of defence are found at Bourneville, Ross county, where the top of a high hill, having an area of one hundred and forty acres, is enclosed by a stone wall; in Butler and Highland counties upon the Little and Great Miami rivers; in Licking county, Greene, Warren and Preble counties, and a great many other places, that might be mentioned, had we sufficient time to enumerate them. These works, considered in a military point of view as forts, are in well chosen localities invariably, are well guarded, and with an adequate force, it seems rational to surmise, may have been absolutely impregnable to any mode of attack practiced by a rude or semi-civilized people. As natural strongholds they could not be excelled, and the amount of labor and skill expended in the artificial strengthening of the positions can not but arouse the admiration of the most stolid, and cause surprise to every student of our American antiquities. Some of these works are enclosed by miles of wall, from ten to fifteen feet in height, measuring from the bottom of the ditch. With all of the facilities and labor-saving appliances of the present age, the construction of such extensive works would be a large undertaking; and when we reflect how comparatively rude, at the best, must have been the means in the possession of the people who raised the defensive works that abound in the valleys of the Ohio and Mississippi and their tributaries, we have some means of judging of the number of inhabitants the country must have had in the pre-historic era, and of the character of these people. Some of the "forts" have "dug holes" which contain at the present day large quantities of water, and which, it is not improbable, may have been designed as reservoirs from which a vast number of people, in a state of siege, may have drawn their water supply. All of the details of construction in the more important of these works point conclusively to the character of the works. That they were intended for military defence does not admit a doubt. The fact that the walls following the angles of the hill formed strong natural bastions, that the embankments are highest where the natural defence was slightest, and that the gateways where ascent was practicable are guarded by double walls or successive series of walls, go to sustain the conclusion. Every avenue is strongly guarded; the principal approaches, at the only points of easy access, are rendered doubly secure, often by the most intricate arrangement of fortifications. In or near almost all of these enclos- HISTORY OF ROSS AND HIGHLAND COUNTIES, OHIO - 23 ures of a defensive nature there is a mound, which may have been a watch or signal tower. Some of the remains of fortifications show large numbers of openings which it has been surmised by various students of archaeology were not all intended for places of ingress and egress, but were, for the most part, occupied by block-houses or bastions, composed of timber, which has long since, perhaps many centuries ago, decayed. A notable enclosure in which this peculiarity occurs is "Fort Ancient" in Warren county, Ohio. Here, too, is shown a strong evidence of the skill of the ancient race, and of their design. Across an isthmus connecting a singular peninsular-like hill with a large plateau the artificial wall is not less than twenty feet in height, or twice as high as that which skirts along the top of the precipitous descent. From the many manifestations that these works afford of the military judgment of their builders, it is safe to conclude that the fortifications were in all particulars the best, to secure the objects they sought, and that what may seem to us evidence of weakness or insufficiency might appear very differently had we a knowledge of the Mound Builders' system of warfare, and of the nature of the people who were their opponents. One great principle may be laid down, from an examination of the ancient remains, viz.: those works that were primarily and principally intended for defence were situated upon the best natural sites, and they were irregular in form. What scenes of slaughter, deeds of bravery and heroism, may have been enacted upon and within these walls on which the grass has been growing for centuries; upon which great monarchs of the forest have slowly developed and rotted away, we can only imagine. But that here was felt the awful shock of war we cannot doubt. Such vast works were not raised because of any groundless fears; they were for defence against a known and powerful enemy; they were constructed through the exercise of a wonderful industry and steadfastness of purpose. It is safe to suppose that the race who toiled to rear these almost imperishable walls of earth had the hardihood and the courage to fight to the last against any foe —to conquer if they could, die if they must. In regard to the military works, and the people by whom they were built, an eminent writer upon that subject* has advanced a theory from which we shall quote. After speaking of the small defensive works that form a line through the northern part of the State from Conneaut to Toledo, this archaeologist says: " The most natural inference in respect to this cordon of works, is that they were constructed either to protect the advance of a nation, landing from the lake and moving southward for conquest, or that they formed a line of resistance for a people inhabiting those shores and pressed upon by their southern neighbors." Nearly all of the works at the north are comparatively small, and they are undisputably works of defence. At the south, on the other hand, agriculture and religion seemed to have chiefly occupied *Charles Whittlesey, esq., of Cleveland. the attention of the ancient people. " In view of these facts," continues the writer, " we may venture to suggest a hypothesis without undertaking to assign to it any more than a basis of probability. Upon the assumption that two distinct nations occupied the State—that the northern were warlike, and the southern peaceful and agricultural in their habits -may we not suppose that the latter were overcome by their northern neighbors, who built the military works to be observed upon the Ohio and its tributaries, while the more regular structures are the remains of the conquered people." Messrs. Squier and Davis, in their work upon the Mound Builders, combat this theory. They say : "The differences pointed out are not greater than would naturally be exhibited between the structures of a sparse frontier population, and those erected by more central and dense communities. The vast amount of work necessary to the construction of these forts, precludes the notion that they were hastily constructed to repel a single or unexpected invasion. On the contrary, there seems to have been a system of defences, extending from the sources of the Susquehanna and Allegheny, in New York, diagonally across the country, through central and northern Ohio, to the Wabash. Within this range the works that are regarded as defensive, are largest and most numerous. It may be inferred, from the facts above stated, that the pressure was from the northwest, or that if the tide of emigration flowed from the south it was checked by this line. If, on the other hand, we suppose that in this region originated a semi-civilization, which subsequently spread southward, constantly developing itself in its progress until it attained its culmination in Mexico, we may draw the inference that the savage hordes, before whom the less warlike Mound Builders gradually retreated, or under whose onslaughts those who occupied the frontier entirely disappeared, came from the north. The contest was, in either case, a protracted one. The resemblances between the defences of the Mound Builders, and those exhibited in Mexico and Peru, are numerous, and point to the conclusion that they were the work of the same class of people, though in different eras of the progress of civilization. The consideration of other classes of monuments, especially the sacred enclosures, will show equally strong resemblances, but we shall not just here enlarge upon this branch of our subject, reserving it for consideration in another part of this chapter. SACRED ENCLOSURES. The existence through southern Ohio, and particularly in the Scioto valley, of a class of works very different in form and position from the military works, has been one of the most interesting facts that the students of archaeologoy have to claim their attention, and has been one of the most important as a source of light by which to study the nature of the ancient race. Evidences of a very satisfactory nature are afforded by this class of remains, that the Mound Builders were a religious race, for it has been demonstrated beyond a doubt, by those who have delved for secrets in some of these earth remains, that they were intended and used for sacred pur- 24 - HISTORY OF ROSS AND HIGHLAND COUNTIES, OHIO. poses. The small dimensions of most of the works, their regularity of construction, the occurrence of the ditch, interior to the embankment and the fact that many of them are completely commanded by adjacent heights, are circumstances which combine to 'show that the works were not intended solely or principally for defence, It being evident that this class of remains were not built for military purposes, the above conclusion is inevitable. In general character these works offer an appearance very different from those which have already been described. They are most commonly to be found on the low level broad river bottoms, and seldom occur upon the table lands, or where the surface of the earth is broken or undulating. They are usually square or circular in form, and often these forms are found in combination, Very frequently they are to be seen in groups, though many instances are known of their being isolated. The greater number of the circles are of small size, with a nearly uniform diameter of two hundred and fifty or three hundred feet, and the ditch or fosse invariably appears interior to the wall. These circles have one gateway, which usually, though not always, opens toward the east. Mounds occur within them, which are called sacrificial mounds. The small circles usually occur within larger works of a different character. Numerous little circles, from thirty to fifty feet in diameter, are found in proximity to larger works, and it is conjectured that they were intended for the foundations of lodges or structures of some kind, perhaps the habitations of the chiefs or priests. The larger circles are often found in connection with squares; some of them embrace as many as fifty acres. They seldom have a ditch, but where they do, it is within the wall. As in the case of the rectangular works with which they are combined (and which it is believed never have a ditch), their walls appear to have been constructed of material brought from a distance, or removed evenly from the surface enclosed. It is apparent that care has been taken in the construction of these works to leave the surface of the land enclosed by, and adjacent to, the structures as unkroken as possible.. As it has been shown that the builders of these works displayed in the construction of their military fortifications a knowledge of the value of the exterio1 fosse, this fact alone affords almost positive proof against the hypothesis of military design. The walls usually have been found to be slight, not exceeding a height of from three to seven feet, though in some cases, as in the great circle at Newark and in the works at Circleville, they were much higher, being, at the first-named place, thirty feet, and at the latter, from fifteen to twenty. The square or rectangular works found in combination with the circles are of various dimensions, but it has been noticed that certain groups are marked by a great uniformity in size. Quite a number are of exact squares and measure exactly one thousand and eighty feet across. This uniformity could not possibly be accidental, and it clearly establishes the fact that the builders had some standard of measurement. The square enclosures have almost invariably eight gateways, at the angles and midway between upon each side, all of which are covered by small mounds. In some of the larger enclosures the openings are more numerous. A few remains, probably constructed for the same purpose or purposes as the squares and circles, have been discovered which are of an octagonal form. Near Chillicothe there is one of this .character. The parallels, consisting of slight embankments, seven or eight hundred feet in length, and sixty or eighty feet apart, are considered as belonging to the general division denominated sacred enclosures. The works are so varied in the forms exhibited and combinations effected that it is impossible to convey an adequate idea by description. If they were intended as the temples and consecrated grounds of the ancient race, how great must have been the religious zeal and enthusiasm that led to their erection. The magnitude of these works affords perhaps the greatest objection to the theory that they were formed, entirely for the purpose which we have here supposed. Is it not more probable that the largest of these work, such as that at Newark, which includes within its walls a little less than four square miles, or even those which existed at Circleville, may have subserved several different purposes—that they may, in addition to having been places for worship, have been the theaters where games were indulged in, where marriages may have been celebrated, and great councils held? May they not have been occupied with the tents or houses or temples of the priesthood, or of those among the people who were great in authority, and, lastly, is it improbable that they were intended, also, in case of necessity, to serve as places of refuge from an enemy? With the possibility, however, that the large and somewhat complicated enclosures were used for the several purposes above indicated, there remains the possibility that they were more expressly designed for the celebration of religious or superstitious rites, and upon a colossal scale. There is reason to believe that the religious system of the Mound Builders, like that of the Aztecs, wielded among them a vast and probably controlling influence. Their government may have been a government of the priesthood, one in which their religious leaders exercised also the civil authority, and through its strong sway secured the erection of these monuments, which challenge the wonder of men, as the temples of an unknown God. Messrs. Squier and Davis, in their work, say that these works "were probably like the great circles of England and the squares of India, Peru and Mexico, the sacred enclosures, within which were erected the shrines of the gods of the ancient worship and the altars of the ancient religion. They may have embraced consecrated groves." We know that it has been a practice common to almost every people in every time to enclose their shrines, their places of worship, that they might be guarded from the profanation of man and the desecration of animals. We may reason, therefore, from analogy, that the class of remains which we have been considering were sacred enclosures. But, it may be inquired, what has become of the enclosed shrines? It must be conceded that any edifices not composed of stone or other imperishable material must have long ago disappeared and left no HISTORY OF ROSS AND HIGHLAND COUNTIES, OHIO = 25 trace of existence. Nevertheless, within these enclosures are and have been found the sacrificial altars upon which human beings have undoubtedly been immolated, and pyramidal structures are to be seen which, except that they are composed of earth instead of stone, and have winding, graded ways leading to their summits, instead of broad flights of steps, are similar to those found in Mexico, If these sustained edifices for worship, they were doubtless composed of wood, which ages ago crumbled into dust. This class of works has been found and carefully surveyed and examined, at various localities in Ross county; at Newark, Licking county; at Circleville; in Athens county; Pike connty; at Marietta; at the mouth of the Scioto; in Montgomery county; in Franklin county; and at various other localities in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, and along the Mississippi valley. SACRIFICIAL, SEPULCHRAL, TEMPLE AND MEMORIAL MOUNDS. Stately marble palaces and temples have fallen into shapeless masses of ruins, while the simple mounds, erected by a more rude and primitive people, have withstood the elements and retained almost perfectly their original forms and proportions. Therefore we find scattered, throughout a wide country, the mound monuments raised by an ancient race. These were among nearly all races, in their infancy, the first objects of which ambition and adoration prompted the erection, the primitive memorials of all peoples. They are the principal storehouses of ancient art; they enclose the sacred altars reared in the name of a lost religion ; they hold in sepulture the bones of the distinguished dead. As disclosed by the pick and spade, these mounds and their contents serve to give the investigating archaeologist the most extensive knowledge he can obtain, in regard to the customs of their builders, and the condition of the arts and sciences among them. The mounds found in Ohio and elsewhere, are most commonly divided by the students of this class of antiquities into several classes, viz: Sepulchral, Sacrificial, Temple, Memorial or Monumental, Anomalous Mounds, and Mounds of Observation. There is also a class of Effigies (which seldom occur except in the southwest) that are variously styled Animal, Emblematic or Symbolical mounds. Like the enclosures elsewhere described, these mounds are usually composed of earth, though stone mounds are by no means rare. It occasionally happens that a mound of stone occurs in a group of those composed of earth, as is the case of those which were within the limits of the city of Chillicothe. In respect to the position of the mounds, it may be said that those in Ohio occur mostly within or near enclosures; sometimes in groups, but oftener isolated. Such is believed to be the case generally throughout the Mississippi valley. Messrs. Squier and Davis examined, with especial reference to this point, the works along the Ohio, from the Scioto to the Guyandotte, and found none of large dimensions in the form of enclosures, though mounds, chiefly small ones, were found in abundance. They were placed sometimes in lines as if by design, On the tops of the hills, bordering the valleys in which earthworks are found, mounds occur in considerable numbers, the most elevated and commanding positions being frequently crowned with them, It is conjectured, and upon grounds of the strongest probability, that the mounds of this class were used for the same purpose as the cairns of the ancient Celts, that is, as signal or alarm posts, and they have, consequently, been denominated signal mounds, or mounds of observation. Colonel W. Marshall Anderson, of Circleville, an enthusiastic student of American antiquities, who has devoted much time to the examination of the Mound Builders' remains, holds to the above theory, and has demonstrated by actual survey, made at his own expense, that these signal posts or watch towers, which occur in the Scioto valley, formed a regular chain or system, and that by means of fires upon them, signals could be sent up or down the country, to give warning of the approach of an enemy, or to convey other intelligence. It is by no means improbable, that centuries ago stirring information of danger, of defeat or of victory, may have been flashed from station to station by means of beacon fires, the whole length of the Scioto, and that messages of vast import may have been almost as quickly sent by this means in the pre-historic age, as they now are by electricity. It is an astounding, but in every respect a reasonable conclusion, that before the discovery of America by Columbus, or by the Norse adventurers, intelligence may have been sent from the Ohio river to the interior of what is now the State of Ohio, with at least as great rapidity as in the present age by the steam-driven mail train that sweeps up the valley from Portsmouth to the capital. On the eastern border of the Scioto valley, from Chillicothe to Columbus, about twenty mounds, of the class commonly called mounds of observation, occur, so placed in respect to each other that were the forest of the country somewhat modified, signals of fire might be transmitted along the whole line. There is one upon the hill, nearly six hundred feet high, called Mount Logan, near Chillicothe, which includes in its range the Circleville works and others up and down the Scioto valley. These mounds vary in size according to the height of the natural eminences upon which they are placed. Sometimes they are found so far back from the crests of the hills as to be invisible from the valleys--a fact which, while it does not harm the hypothesis that many of the mounds were intended, primarily, for signal posts, clearly indicates that others were intended for different purposes. Some bear upon their summits the traces of intense heat, whether of fires kindled to serve as signals, or for the celebration of some religious rite, it is not always safe to conjecture. The lines of classification can never be rigidly drawn. There are many mounds that must be regarded as anomalous. The altars or sacrificial mounds have several distinctive characteristics. They occur only within, or near, the enclosures of that class commonly considered as the sacred places of the ancient race; they are usually stratified, and they contain symmetrically formed altars upon 4 26 - HISTORY OF ROSS AND HIGHLAND COUNTIES, OHIO. which are found various remains, all of which have been subjected to the action of fire, The altars are usually of stone or burnt clay, evidently brought from a distance; are of regular form, and rest upon the surface of the original earth at the center of the mound. Upon these altars have been found calcined bones, ashes, charcoal, igneous stones, beads, stone implements and pottery. Sacrifices of animals were, without doubt, here offered to propitiate the gods, and it is probable that human sacrifices also occurred. Although the altars are symmetrical, they are by no means uniform in shape or size. Some are round, some oblong, others square, and they vary from two to fifty feet in length, the usual dimensions being from five to eight feet, The remains found in the sacrificial mounds are, in numerous cases, such as to indicate that the altars had been covered up before the fires upon them were extinguished. The stratification of the mounds is not horizontal, but conforms to the convexity of their shape, and consists of alternate layers of sand, gravel and pebbles. Why the altars were covered is a question that cannot be answered. It may have been in conformance to some religious law, or to preserve them from the profane gaze of the people of another faith than that of their builders, Sepulchral mounds are more numerous than any of the other classes of tumuli. They are generally of conical form, and vary in size from six to eighty or ninety feet in height, the average altitude being perhaps twenty feet, They usually stand outside of the walls of enclosures, and often occur in localities remote from any other monuments, though there are many cases in which they are found in groups, exhibiting a dependence that probably has some meaning. These mounds invariably cover a skeleton, and in rare instances, more than one. The skeletons most commonly have evidences of having been enveloped at the time of their interment in bark, or coarse matting, of which the traces and casts sometimes remain. Occasionally a rude chamber of stone or timber surrounded the human remains. Burial by fire seems to have been frequently practiced by the Mound Builders in Ohio and the other Northern States, and urn burial undoubtedly prevailed in the Southern States. With the skeletons are found various remains of art, rude utensils of different kinds, ornaments and weapons. The fact that such articles are always found in close proximity to the human remains indicates that the Mound Builders, like the North American Indians, had the superstitious and delusive notion that the implements and weapons would be useful to the deceased in the future state. It is vulgarly believed that the ancient race reared mounds over the resting places of all their dead, an idea which is readily dispelled by reflection upon the immensity of their population and the comparatively small number of mounds. A people so numerous as the Mound Builders must have been, and living in the country, as there is evidence they did, for a long period, must have had vast cemeteries. The conclusion to which all archaeologists have come in regard to this matter, is, that only the illustrious chieftains or priests of the race were honored by the rearing of mounds over their places of sepulture, and that the greater number, the common people of the race, were buried by the simple process of interment. Day after day, and year after year, since the present race pushed westward into the valleys of the Ohio and Mississippi, the ploughshare has uncovered remains which have well-nigh returned " to the dust whence they came." So common has been the occurrence of unearthing human remains in some parts of the country that the discovery scarcely elicits remark. The wasting banks of the rivers occasionally display vast cemeteries, and names have been given to several localities from such exposures. At various places thousand of graves are said to occur, placed in ranges parallel with each other, and extensive ancient burial places are well known in Missouri and Tennessee. It is not to be wondered at that when the bones in the mounds have so nearly crumbled into shapeless fragments, those buried in the common plain, and which are necessarily less protected from moisture, should in many cases have passed to that condition nearly or quite indistinguishable from the mould that surrounds them. There are doubtless grand depositories of the dead who thronged our valleys, and raised the silent monuments of their toil all about us. We know not when we tread the earth of our village streets or the green turf of the fields, but that we walk over the remains of thousands of forms, which an age ago were pregnant with the same life and spirit of which we are possessed. By some students it is maintained that the size of the sepulchral mounds bears some relation to the rank and importance, when living, of the personages over whom they have been erected. It is conjectured that where several tumuli are found in juxtaposition, the largest covers the remains of some hero or chief among the people and the small ones those of members of his family, or perhaps those who were his counsellors and aids. In many instances the remains of Indians have been found in the mounds, usually interred near the surface. The comparatively recent date of their entombment is established by the fact that with the remains have been discovered silver ornaments, objects such as have never been found in the lower depths of the tumuli, and clearly of such origin as would point to their manufacture or introduction by the early French or English explorers. In instances where large numbers of human remains have been unearthed in the digging down of mounds, the verdict of those qualified by research to judge, has been that they were the skeletons of Indians. It is probable that the ceremonies of interment among the Mound Builders were conducted with great regularity of system, and that they were deliberate and solemn observances, regulated by religious customs and celebrated with all of the pomp and dignity that have characterized similar ceremonies among most superstitious races. It is not improbable that in certain cases a special practice may have been observed. The presence or absence of charcoal layers and also the evidences of incremation or of simple inhumation may be accounted for upon this hypothesis. The greatest of the mounds of this class is at the mouth of Grave creek, upon the Ohio, twelve HISTORY OF ROSS AND HIGHLAND COUNTIES, OHIO - 17 miles below Wheeling, in the State of Virgina. Its height is about seventy feet, and its circumference at the base about one thousand. When excavated, in 1838, it was found to contain two chambers, one upon the level of the surrounding plain, containing two skeletons, and another thirtyfeet above, which contained but one skeleton. It is conjectured that the latter was placed upon the top of the mound as first erected, and that earth was then piled upon it until the mound reached its present proportions. With the remains in this great mound were found between three and four thousand shell beads, a number of ornaments of mica, bracelets of copper, and various articles carved from stone. Small mounds, of the kind which has here been described, abound along the valley of the Ohio and the Scioto. "The Temple mounds are not numerous in Ohio, and, it is believed, only occur at Marietta, Newark, Portsmouth, and in the vicinity of Chillicothe. They are usually in the form of truncated cones, and when of other form than the cone have invariably flattened or level tops. Some have a large area and slight elevation, and are called platforms. Some are terraced and some have graded ways or spiral ascents to their summits. The object for which the mounds of this class were reared was, it is conjectured, to furnish sites for temples or "high places" for the performance of the religious rites of the people. Along the Mississippi river the timber southward investigations have been carried, the larger and more perfect are tumuli of this kind found to be. They constantly increase in size until they merge by imperceptible degrees of improvement into the form and magnitude of the Teocalli of Mexico. Some remarkable temple mounds occur in Kentucky, on the Cumberland river, and elsewhere. In Whiteby county is one three hundred and sixty feet long, one hundred and fifty wide and twelve high, with graded ascents; and at Hopkinsville, Christian county, is one of great size, upon which the court house is built."* These mounds, whether found in the north or south, are generally of large base and small altitude. "The supposition is that the summits of these temple mounds were crowned with structures of wood that served the purpose of temples, all traces of which, owing to the perishable nature of the material used in their construction, have disappeared." t Memorial or monumental mounds belong to the class of tumuli that were constructed to perpetuate the memory of some important event, or in honor of some great personage. Many of the mounds found along the Ohio, and in fact throughout the country from the lakes southward, are believed to be of this class. The practice of raising mounds of stone or earth among the ancient Hebrews and other nations of antiquity is a well authenticated matter of history sacred and profane. It is supposed that the Mound Builders, like those races, and like the civilized people of the present age, reared many of their mounds to serve simply as monuments or memorials of great deeds accomplished. * Squier and Davis. + Isaac Smucker. Beside the classes of tumuli already described are many others of various constructions and characteristics, as the stone heaps, for instance, which occur in connection with the works and sometimes alone, and the mounds composed of what appear to be ashes and portions of charcoal. By far the most striking and peculiar constructions, however, are the animal mounds of the northwest, The field in which this class of remains occur is embraced within the southern part of Wisconsin, and extends from east to west about one hundred and fifty miles. The effigies or animal mounds are simply raised figures or great basso relievos of beasts, birds, reptiles and sometimes of men. They are from a foot to six feet in height. The belief has been expressed by some good authorities that these works were intended to be heraldic symbols, or symbolical mounds, which may have been erected as objects of worship or altars upon which sacrifices were offered, or perhaps they "served some other purposes connected with the religious worship of their idolatrous and superstitious constructors." " Of the three most notable examples of effigies in our State," says Mr. Smucker, of Newark, "two are situated in Licking county. One of these is near the center of an ancient work commonly called 'The Old Fort,' which is an enclosure of high banks, within a mile of Newark, containing within its embankments nearly thirty acres. It is called Eagle mound, from its supposed resemblance to an eagle on the wing. At all events it represents a bird of immense proportions with its wings outspread. * * * * Its length is, approximately, two hundred feet, and it measures about the same from tip to tip of wings. Excavations into the middle of this effigy brought to light an altar which gave indications of the action of fire upon the earth and stones composing it, while the presence of ashes and charcoal strongly suggested sacrificial offerings." The other, called Alligator mound, is situated upon the summit of a hill about six miles west of Newark. The shape and form are distinctly represented. Near Brush creek, in Adams county, is the most extensive and remarkable effigy mound in Ohio. "It is in the form of a serpent [we quote from Mr. Smucker] of more than a thousand feet in length, his body forming graceful curves and his tail terminating in triple coils. The embankment which constitutes the main body of the serpent is about five feet in height, measures thirty feet in width, and diminishes in size both toward the head and tail." The mouth is widely open, as if in the act of swallowing or ejecting an oval figure, which rests partly within the distended jaws. "The combined figure has been regarded by some as a representation of the oriental cosmological idea of the serpent and the egg." A singular class of remains is found in Missouri. They consist of small tumuli having, as a general thing, the form of an ellipse, and measure about twenty-five by eighteen feet. They are very numerous in some localities, always occur near the streams, and are arranged in straight lines, with regular streets between them, as if they were the remains of mud houses, or the foundations upon which some kind of structures had at one time stood. 28 - HISTORY OF ROSS AND HIGHLAND COUNTIES, OHIO THE ART REMAINS found in the various earthworks of the Mound Builders consist mostly of articles of pottery and implements, weapons and ornaments made of flint, bone, ivory, shell, stone and metal. No traces of wooden utensils are found. If the ancient race had such they have perished completely. But few and faint evidences have been found of materials which formed articles of dress. The Mound Builders seem to have attained a considerable degree of skill in the art of making pottery, and the various specimens that have been found exhibit a delicacy of modeling and finish which compare favorably with the ancient Mexican and Peruvian pottery, which they resemble in many particulars. They are superior to anything of known Indian origin. The material of which they are composed is a fine clay, usually worked nearly pure, though sometimes containing an admixture of sand, pulverized quartz, or mica, The articles found have been urns, bowls, vases, pipes, and rude sculptures, probably idols, representing men and animals. But comparatively few of these specimens have been found in Ohio. They are more numerous, and of finer and larger proportions, in the South. Articles of metal have been discovered in considerable numbers. They are of such appearance as to indicate that the makers had no knowledge of the art of reducing metals from the ores or of forming them by the aid of fire. Most of the implements and ornaments appear to have been shaped by hammering. Copper is among the metals that occur most commonly, and of it axes, breast-plates and various ornaments are composed. Silver only occurs as the plating or covering of other metals. It is laid on with great delicacy, over copper, in thin leaves. Copper axes and drills or chisels, hammered from rods of this metals, have been found at various places in Ohio the Scioto valley and other parts of the State. Ornaments of copper have been found encircling the arms of skeletons in the sepulchral mounds, and are not unfrequently discovered upon the altars enclosed in the sacrificial mounds. Gorgets or breast-plates of the same metal frequently occur, as do also discs, tubes, beads, etc. These articles, like the axes, have not only been found in the tumuli of the Southern States, but in those of the Northern, and specimens of all have been picked up at Chillicothe, Circleville, and other places in the vicinity of the Scioto. Implements of stone, flint arrow and spear heads, and axes of obsidian greenstone, porphyry and granite are among the articles found in the largest quantity and variety, The axes vary in size from two to ten inches in length, and from slight weight up to that of a dozen pounds. They were evidently intended, in most cases, to be attached to handles, and were designed for various uses, as battle-axes, or simple cutting or crusting instruments, of value in the arts of peace and industry. Awl and needle-shaped instruments, made of polished bone and horn, are of frequent occurrence. The immense quantities in which these pipes have been unearthed would indicate that the Mound Builders were great smokers. They are of an almost infinite variety of forms, sizes and substance, some simple and others very elaborate in design. Most are worked in porphyry, and display a finish which would indicate that their makers were considerably advanced in the arts. A large proportion of the articles found in the mounds may be classed as ornaments. Beads may be counted, in some instances, by hundreds, and even thousands, each one of, such appearance as to indicate no inconsiderable labor of production. They are formed of metal, bone, ivory, shells and other materials. Pendants of quite elaborate workmanship are common. Many of the beads, pendants, gorgets, and nameless ornaments, are of peculiar and oft-recurring form, a fact that leads to the conclusion that they had a conventional significance, and were worn as insignia or badges of distinction. Mica seems to have been much regarded by the Mound Builders, and has frequently been found in the sepulchral mounds and elsewhere, both in its crude state, and in the form of various ornaments. The sculptures from the mounds belong to the highest grade of remains left by the ancient race. There is nothing imposing about them, but they are remarkable for the faithfulness with which they represent animals and birds of other climes than those in which they are found, and they thus are of value as indicating the emigration, extensive communication, or a cotemporaneous existence of the same race over a vast extent of country. The sculptures, like all the other remains, are more numerous toward the Gulf of Mexico than in the north. Representations of the human head have been found under such circumstances as to leave little doubt that they belonged to the mound era, Images of animals are much more common than those of the human head or figure. Their leading characteristics are such as to point to an identity between them and the larger and more elaborate sculptures found in Mexico. The art remains are immeasurably beyond anything that the North American Indians are known to have produced, even at this day, with all of the suggestions of European art, and the ad vantages afforded by steel instruments."* ANCIENT REMAINS IN ROSS AND HIGHLAND COUNTIES. There is no richer archaeological field than Ross county. It contains one hundred enclosures, many of which are of great size and about five hundred mounds. The section of the Scioto River valley embraced within the county limits and the beautiful valley of Paint creek are most clearly shown to have been favorite localities with the ancient race as they were at a later period with the Indians. Here was a seat of the Mound Builders densest population. A section of twelve miles of the Scioto valley, having as its central point the city of Chillicothe, exhibits ten groups of large works, accompanied by a great number of mounds. Within one enclosure, "Mound City," there are twenty-four tumuli, and the whole surface of the country round about may be said to be dotted with them. Of the ten enclosures which appear in this comparatively small territory, four have two and a half miles of embankment each, and two of them enclose an *Squier and Davis. HISTORY OF ROSS AND HIGLAND COUNTIES, OHIO - 29 area of a hundred acres apiece, while the others embrace areas of no small magnitude. A section of six miles of the valley of Paint creek exhibits three works about equal in size to those in the Scioto, and several lesser ones. We give brief descriptions of the most important of these works, and of the celebrated defensive enclosure in Highland county, generally known as "Fort Hill." One of the most singular of the remains is what is known as Dunlap's, situated on the right bank of the Scioto, six miles above Chillicothe, and near the Infirmary, It is lozenge shaped or rhomboidal, measures eight hundred feet on each side, and has an avenue eleven hundred and thirty feet long, extending to the southeast, and also a short avenue leading from a gateway to the north and connecting with a small circle. Along the western wall runs the bank of a plain, elevated a number of feet above the level of the work, upon the brow of which is situated an outwork eighty feet wide by two hundred and eighty in length. It overlooks the larger work and has a gateway leading to it, and the bank seems to have been graded to a more gentle descent. In a line with the avenue and within a distance of about three-quarters of a mile are a number of mounds, one of which is about fifteen feet high, truncated and having an area at the top, the diameter of which is about fifty feet, the base being one hundred feet in diameter. These are the only monuments known which are reached by the overflow of the river, The truncated mound was the place of refuge during the high water of 1832 by a family, with their cattle, horses and other stock, numbering about one hundred. This mound was opened by Messrs. Squier and Davis and an imperfect examination made by them before they had acquired the large knowledge of the subject which they afterwards exhibited in their splendid contribution to American archeology. Many fragments of rude pottery and a few whole speciments have been found in the vicinity of these works. What is known as the Hopetown group of works is situated four miles north of Chillicothe, on the east bank of the Scioto, and upon land at present owned by a Mr. Dun. These works consist of a circle and in conjunction therewith a much more important enclosure, which appears at first glance to be a rectangle, though in reality it is an irregular octagon.* The circle extends in to the octagonal enclosure, instead of being connected in the usual manner, The octagonal enclosure measures nine hundred by nine hundred and fifty feet, and the diameter of the circle is one thousand and fifty feet. The walls of the circle are now very slight, but, although cultivated for many years, can be easily traced. They were never more than three or four feet in height. Some portions of the wall of the octagonal enclosure have been, to a certain extent, modified in height and form by the plow, but upon one side (thanks to the foresight and in-   *Messrs. Squier and Davis, in their elaborate work, map and describe this enclosure as rectangular in shape—an error for which it is difficult to account. The existence of the stones in the center of the enclosure, show the effects of great age, and which, undoubtedly, formed a pavement or altar. telligent interest of Mr. Joseph Smith, who farms the land) the embankment has been left unchanged. It shows upon this, the western side, a: height of about twelve feet, and the crest of the embankment is sufficiently wide to accommodate a horse and carriage. In the center of the octagonal enclosure was, undoubtedly, a place of sacrifice, or an altar upon which, possibly, burned the perpetual fire that may have formed a feature in the superstitious worship of the ancient race. The stones which originally formed this floor or altar, now scattered by successive plowings over an area of several rods, show unmistakable signs of having been subjected to intense heat. Slight traces remain of two or three mounds that were within the enclosure. Two small circles are contiguous to the octagon upon the east side, and four or five hundred feet to the north there is another circle two hundred and fifty feet in diameter. There are parallel walls extending from the northwestern corner of the octagon towards the river to the southwest, and they terminate at the edge of the terrace, where the river certainly once had its course, and, very probably, in the time of the Mound Builders' occupancy of the country. The walls were very slight. Were these works surmounted by palisades, they would have formed no mean defence against any mode of assault known to barbarous or semi-civilized people, but their position and the shape of the works preclude the possibility of a serious belief that they were intended for such purpose, and they have been classed among the division of works commonly supposed to have been primarily designed as places for religious worship or other great public observances. About a mile northeast of the works we have just described, is the "Cedar Bank" enclosure, situated upon the table lands, and bordering the river. It consists of a wall and outer ditch, which constitute three sides of a parallelogram, of which the fourth side is protected by a bank or bluff seventy feet in height. The size of the enclosure is ten hundred and fifty by fourteen hundred feet. There are gateways, each sixty feet wide, at the centers of the northern and southern sides. Just inside of the northern entrance is an elevated square two hundred and fifty feet llong by one hundred and fifty broad, and three or four feet high, with the remains of which were, doubtless, graded ways, at each end. Parallel walls, connected at the ends, occur in connection with this work. The Columbus pike passes obliquely through them. About one third of a mile south of these works there is a small circle, having a double wall, extending half of its circumference, and an elevated square or truncated pyramid of about one hundred and twenty feet base. All around are minor works, consisting of little mounds and circles, and small low terraces, mostly obliterated by time and the ploughshare, Mound City is in many respects the most remarkable of works in the Scioto valley. It is situated upon the western bank of the Scioto, and between three and four miles north of Chillicothe. In outline the enclosure is nearly square, with rounded corners, and consists of a simple wall, about three feet high. Its site is the level 30 - HISTORY OF ROSS AND HIGHLAND COUNTIES, OHIO of the second terrace. The area of the enclosure is thirteen acres. Within the wall there are twenty-four mounds, nearly all of which were excavated previous to 1846, by Messrs. Squier and Davis, through the permission of the owner of the land, Henry Shriver. In many of these mounds were found altars and human remains, thus clearly establishing the fact that this enclosure had been one of the chief places of religious worship by the ancient people. The altars were found, in nearly all cases, to be low, dished-shaped structures of burned clay, symmetrical in form, though not of uniform size. All of these mounds containing altars were found to be stratified, the greater portion of their substance commonly being gravel, and the thin layers composed of sand. In some cases evidence was offered that the altars had been heaped over while the fires were still burning. Mingling with the charcoal and bones upon the altars quantities of broken pottery, various kinds of implements, shells, and other objects were found, and in one tumulus there was a regularly laid pavement in the form of a cresent, composed of plates of mica. The entire length of the cresent, from horn to horn, could not have been less than twenty feet. Besides the implements of stone, there have been unearthed from the tumuli in Mound City many copper axes, gravers, tubes, gorgets, and other articles. If we assume the hypothesis most commonly entertained that the ancient people who built these earthworks were the predecessors or progenitors of the early Mexican race—we may reason that it is altogether probable these altars were once the scenes of human sacrifice, for as all students know this horrible practice was extensively carried on by the Mexicans, at the time of the advent of the Spaniards among them. Besides the large works already described, all of which lie north of Chillicothe, Messrs. Squier and Davis surveyed three others, which were doubtless walled towns, all lying within eight miles of Chillicothe. In fact, there was an extensive group of works on the site of the city, which has been completely adulterated. Just east of the city, by the side of the river, there was a large enclosure, combining two circles and a square, and further south, still remains what is known as the "High Bank work." It is just five miles from Chillicothe, upon the third terrace, to the base of which the river has worn its way, leaving an abrupt bank seventy-five or eighty feet in height. There are many coincidences between these and the Hopetown works. They consist of an octagon and a circle in conjunction, the former measuring nine hundred and fifty, and the latter ten hundred and fifty feet in diameter. The octagon, like that at Hopetown, is not regular. Another point of resemblance between the two groups of works is that of the height of the walls, those of the octagonal enclosures, in each case, being very much superior to those of the circles. Like the Hopetown work, the High Bank has, in connection with it, two small circles. At various places around the works are the usual pits, or "dug holes," some of them quite large. A number of small circles occur about a hundred rods from the octagon, and a fourth of a mile below is a very large truncated mound. The Liberty township work, intersected by the Chillicothe and Richmondale road, is situated upon the third terrace and upon the east side of the Scioto. It is an enclosure consisting of a great circle over one thousand seven hundred feet in diameter, enclosing an area of forty acres; a square, ten hundred and fifty feet in diameter with an area of twenty-seven acres, and a smaller circle, a fraction over eight hundred feet in diameter. The embankments throughout were even when surveyed in 1846, very slight for so large a work, being nowhere more than four feet high. There are some indications that they were constructed in great haste, for instance, the occurrence of dug holes interior to the work, whereas, in the great majority of the large enclosures, the surface of the ground appears to have been carefully leveled. The great circle has numefous small openings, but the walls of the smaller one are entire throughout. The square enclosure has eight entrances, those upon the sides being covered by small mounds while those at the angles are without this protection. There are several small mounds in and about this immense enclosure, and one large one which is over a hundred and fifty feet long by about twenty in height. This mound, when excavated, was found to contain two enclosures of timber, and an altar upon which was a fine carbonaceous deposit, resembling burned leaves or straw, perhaps the residue of a vegetable sacrifice or the offering of the "first fruits" of the season. The timbers that had composed the enclosures, had entirely decayed, but perfect traces or casts were found of decomposed materials. A skeleton, partly burned, was found in one of the enclosures, and with it a thin plate of copper, seven inches long and four broad, perforated as if for attachment to the dress, also a large porphyry pipe. The bones seemed to have been enveloped in a coarse matting, too much decayed to be distinctly made out. Stone enclosures answering the same purpose as those made of timber, have frequently been found, and within them crumbling human remains. One mound within the limits of Chillicothe, razed to the ground at an early day, covered a small enclosure formed by the setting upon edge of flat stones, across which others were laid. To give a full description of even the most important ancient monuments in Ross county is an undertaking too vast for the limits of such a chapter as this must necessarily be. We aim simply to give the general reader something of an idea of the occupation of the county by the pre-historic race. The specialist and student must avail himself of the opportunity afforded by the perusal of elaborate works, and make original research in this fascinating field for observation. A ponderous volume could be written upon the earthworks of a twenty mile section of the Scioto valley and the interesting remains along Paint creek, and still the subject would not of necessity be exhausted. We might give detailed descriptions of the junction group, southwest of Chillicothe, and of the large works elsewhere on Paint valley, between ChilliCothe and Bainbridge ; of the stone fortified hill of one hundred and forty acres area, near Bourneville; of "Clark's works," and those HISTORY OF ROSS AND HIGHLAND COUNTIES, OHIO - 31 that occupied the site of Frankfort, on the north fork of Paint ; of the peculiar stone work upon Black run, fifteen miles from Chillicothe; but the details would prove dry reading for those who have no especial interest in the subject, and entirely inadequate to those who are enthusiasts in this branch of archxology. It is sufficient that all of the most important works are carefully located in the various township histories in this volume, and the records thus given will in future years serve as the best guide to those who may wish to visit them. It is worthy of note that one of the most perfect skulls ever found in the mounds, and one which incontestibly belonged to the race who built the earthworks, was discovered in a singularly constructed mound upon the summit of High hill, which overlooks the valley of the Scioto, and is situated four miles below Chillicothe, upon the west side of the river. This skull, described by Professor Morton in his elaborate work " Crania Amerieana," was of unusually large size, and exhibited a facial angle of eighty-one degrees. The internal capacity of the skull was ninety cubic inches seven inches greater than the mean capacity of the Mongolian skull, three inches greater than that of the Caucasian, and eight inches greater than that of the American Indian. In Highland county is a remarkable work, which we shall describe at length, because it is indisputably a defensive work, and, therefore, entirely different from those we have heretofore mentioned in this chapter (except one near Bourneville). It is the largest and finest work in Highland county. The ancient remains do not abound there as in Ross county, but there are, nevertheless, many mounds and a few small enclosures. The work which is widely known as "Foot Hill" is in the southern part of the county, about twelve miles from Hillsborough and thirty from Chillicothe. The defences occupy the surface of a hill which stands entirely isolated, and rises precipitously to a height of five hundred feet above Brush creek, conspicuous, grand, rugged and almost inaccessible. The almost perfectly level summit of this hill, which has an area of forty-eight acres, is covered with huge forest trees, and others equally large, stately monarchs of the wood, that long ago succumbed to age and the blast, lie prostrate upon the ground, again merging their rich substance with the earth from whence it came. Running along the crest of this hill, and making a complete border, is an embankment, composed of earth and stone, with a ditch interior to it. The length of the embankment is more than a mile and a half. In height, measuring the bottom of the ditch, it is from six to ten feet, with a base of from thirty-five to forty feet. It is thrown up a little below the brow of the hill, and the outward slope is more abrupt than that of the hill. The ditch is not far from fifty feet across, and, in many places, is through the layer of Waverly sandstone upon which the soil of the hill rests. There are thirty-three openings in the wall, at eleven of which there are fillings in the ditch corresponding to the causeways that are constructed across the moats that sometimes surround modern fortresses. It is most probable that only these eleven openings were intended for egress or ingress. The work is naturally divided into three parts. The southern is the broadest and largest. This is, in a measure, separated from the central division by the narrowing of the plateau, and the central portion is connected with the third, and most northern, by an isthmus only one hundred feet in width. The northern extremity is a bold bluff ledge, the top of which is two hundred feet wide, and twenty feet above the wall. This is the most prominent part of the hill. It commands a view of the entire fortification (or would, were it entirely denuded of vegetation), and of a wide extent of country. It was, no doubt, the citadel from which the ancient garrison looked out upon the fields around and below them. The rock, which has here been laid bare by excavation, bears traces of igneous action. It must not be understood that, at this time, the "wall" presents anything of the appearance that the use of the word may imply. The stones and earth lie in an irregular mass, and there is no evidence that the former were ever laid together with any care or plan. That the embankment is of artificial origin, however, is indisputable; and that it was intended, primarily and solely, for defence against some powerful enemy, there is not the slightest ground for doubt. The situation is well chosen, and the artificial defences make this natural stronghold absolutely impregnable to any mode of attack, that could have been known in the age when the fortification was constructed. The degree of skill displayed, and the amount of labor expended in making these artificial defences "challenge our wonder and excite our surprise." When we take into consideration how very rude, at the best, must have been the means that this ancient people had at their command, we can gain something of an idea of the immense toil of constructing such a work; of the necessity that compelled it, and of the large number of workers that must have been employed upon this single fortification. The undertaking would be a great one, even with the aid of all the mechanical appliances, and numerous` advantages of the modern time.