The North Americans of Antiquity: Their origin, migrations, and type of civilization considered — John Shaqi
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 military works of the Mound-builders, other than those previously
mentioned as existing on the Lakes and in Western New York State,
are of a twofold character, consisting first of fortified eminences,
of which an instance is found in Butler County, Ohio, where 16³⁄₁₀
acres are walled in on the summit of a hill, and the entrance to the
enclosure guarded by a complicated system of covered ways. On Paint
Creek, Ross County, a remarkable stone work encloses 140 acres, in
the centre of which was an artificial lake, probably to supply water
in case of a siege. Perhaps the most remarkable fortification left
by the Mound-builders is that known as Fort Ancient, Ohio, on the
Little Miami River, forty-two miles north-east of Cincinnati. The
specialist is already familiar with the oft-quoted description of the
Survey by Prof. Locke, made in 1843. We will therefore only refer to
a few of the measurements contained in that description. “The work
occupies a terrace on the left bank of the river, two hundred and
thirty feet above its waters. The place is naturally a strong one,
being a peninsula defended by two ravines, which, originating on the
east side, near to each other, diverging and sweeping around, enter
the Miami, the one above, the other below the work. The Miami itself,
with its precipitous bank of two hundred feet, defends the western
side.” * * * “The whole circuit of this work is between four and five
miles. The number of cubic yards of excavation may be approximately
estimated at 628,800”. The embankment stands in many places twenty feet
in perpendicular height. The most interesting and valuable paper on
this work is that by Mr. L. M. Hosea, of Cincinnati, in the _Quarterly
Journal of Science_ (Cincinnati), October, 1874, p. 289 _et seq._ This
writer observes that it has often been remarked that the form of Fort
Ancient resembles a rude outline of the continent of North and South
America. None of the mounds contained in the enclosure have yielded
any relics of special interest. The greatest possible diversity of
opinion exists concerning the antiquity of the abandonment of the
works. Judges Dunlevy and Force, the latter in his memoir on the
_Mound-builders_,[33] estimate the period as a thousand years, while
Mr. Hosea thinks several thousand years would be required to produce
the numerous little hillocks and depressions which mark the spot where
trees have grown, fallen and decayed. Reasoning from other data, we are
inclined to the more conservative opinion of Judge Force as altogether
the safer. Fort Ancient, which could have held a garrison of 60,000 men
with their families and provisions, was one of a line of fortifications
which extend across the State and served to check the incursion of the
savages of the North in their descent upon the Mound-builder country.
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