The North Americans of Antiquity: Their origin, migrations, and type of civilization consideredShort, John T. (John Thomas)
History
The North Americans of Antiquity: Their origin, migrations, and type of civilization considered
Short, John T. (John Thomas)
Indians -- Origin; Indians of Mexico -- Antiquities; Indians of North America -- Antiquities
The vast number as well as the magnitude of the works found in the
State of Ohio, have surprised the most careless and indifferent
observers. It is estimated by the most conservative, and Messrs.
Squier and Davis among them, that the number of tumuli in Ohio equals
10,000, and the number of enclosures 1000 or 1500. In Ross County
alone, 100 enclosures and upwards of 500 mounds have been examined.
Some of the works exhibit fine engineering skill; such, for instance,
are those near Liberty, Ohio, where two embankments, each forming a
perfect circle, are found in conjunction with a perfect square. The
larger circle measures 1700 feet in diameter and contains forty acres,
while the smaller has a diameter of 800 feet. The square contains
twenty-seven acres and measures 1080 feet on each side. One set of
works in Pike County consists of a circle enclosing a square, the
four corners of which each touch the circular embankment. The opening
or doorway through the circle is opposite the opening in the square.
Prof. E. B. Andrews found a conical mound enclosed by a circle, the
base of the mound reaching to the edge of the ditch outside of which
is the circular wall. The mound was located on the Hocking River,
nine miles northward of Lancaster, Ohio (see _Tenth Ann. Rep. of
Peabody Mus. of Arch. and Eth._, p. 51). The works at Hopetown, near
Chillicothe, present several combinations of the square and circle.
The two principal figures of these works are a square and circle—each
containing exactly twenty acres. The discovery of these geometrical
combinations—executed with such precision—in many parts of the country,
lead to the belief that the Mound-builders were one people spread over
a large territory, possessed of the same institutions, religion, and
perhaps one government. These facts are highly important as shedding
light upon the degree of their civilization. The evidence is ample
that they were possessed of regular scales of measurement, of the means
of determining angles and of computing the area to be enclosed by a
square and circle, so that the space enclosed by these figures standing
side by side might exactly correspond. In a word, their scientific and
mathematical knowledge was of a very respectable order.
[Illustration: Works in Liberty Township, Ross County, Ohio.]
[Illustration: Celts. (Nat. Mus.)
The large celt, upper line, from a mound (Tenn.). The others Surface
Finds.]
[Illustration: Aboriginal Chisels, Gouges and Adzes. (Nat. Mus.)
Surface Finds.]
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