A glance at the outline map on page 4 shows the location of these ancient works. It will be noted that the southern one-half of the state was the favored region, especially along the courses of the streams and rivers flowing southward to the Ohio. An automobile trip through southern Ohio affords an excellent outing or vacation, and makes it possible to see the actual Mounds and other structures of the long ago. Some of them, the tourist will note, are merely heaps of earth, more or less pointed at the top and ranging from slight elevations, hardly noticeable above the surface of the fields, to others as much as twenty, thirty, or even forty feet in height. The tallest Mound of this kind in Ohio is the great Miamisburg Mound, near the town of that name, in Montgomery County, which is 70 feet high and covers nearly three acres of ground. These conical Mounds, as they are called, are shaped like a chocolate drop. They are far more numerous than any other kind of earthen structures and, as we shall see presently, they served as monuments to the dead; that is, they were burial mounds—tombstones. Next in point of numbers are the ancient fortifications, built as means of protection from enemies. Usually they are the more or less level tops of hills or plateaus, with steep slopes and ravines offering ready-made obstructions to the approach of enemies. Around the edges of the area set aside for the “fort” earthen and stone walls were thrown up, and probably wooden pickets or stakes were set into these as further protection from without. Among the largest and finest of these old fortifications in Ohio are the noted Fort Ancient, in Warren County, and Fort Hill, in Highland County. [Illustration: Fig. 3—The Walls of Fort Ancient.] [Illustration: Fig. 4—Map of Fort Hill, Highland County, Ohio.] FORT HILL, HIGHLAND COUNTY, OHIO. _Surveyed by E. G. Squier & F. H. Davis, 1846._ SCALE 500 ft. to the inch. Fort Ancient, perhaps the greatest prehistoric fortification in the United States, is permanently preserved as one of Ohio’s State Memorials. It consists of two principal divisions, known as the Old Fort and the New Fort, the two being connected by a narrow passageway enclosed within earthen walls. Fort Hill, in Highland County, is not as large as Fort Ancient, but is finely preserved, very bold in outline, and most picturesquely located. Other important Fortifications are Glenford Fort, in Perry County; Miami Fort, near the mouth of the Great Miami River; and Spruce Hill, in Ross County. There is another type of earthwork, resembling somewhat the old forts, but which served a different purpose. We shall learn more of these in connection with Hopewell culture Mounds, to be described later.