The Prehistoric World; Or, Vanished RacesAllen, Emory Adams
History
The Prehistoric World; Or, Vanished Races
Allen, Emory Adams
Archaeology; Indians; Prehistoric peoples
Mounds and effigies by no means complete the description of Mound
Builders’ remains. One of the most interesting and mysterious
class of works is now to be described. Early travelers in Ohio
came here and there upon embankments, which were found to inclose
tracts of land of various sizes. It was noticed that the
embankments were often of the form of perfect circles, or
squares, or sometimes octagons, and very often combinations of
these figures. It was further evident that the builders sought
level, fertile lands, along the various river courses. They very
seldom built them on undulating or broken ground. Often have the
very places where civilized man has laid the foundation of his
towns proved to be the sites of these ancient works of the Mound
Builders, and thus it has happened that many of the most
interesting works of antiquity have been ruthlessly removed to
make way for the crowded streets and busy marts of our own times.
The larger number of inclosures are circular, often of a small
size. Where they occur separately they either have no gateway, or
but one. Sometimes the circles are of very large size,
surrounding many acres. Sometimes, though not very often, a ditch
was also dug inside the embankment. This last circumstance is by
many regarded as a strong proof that the primary object of these
circles was not for defense.59 But an inclosure of this kind,
even with the ditch on the inside, if surmounted by a row of
pickets or palisades, would prove a strong position against
Indian foes armed with bow and arrow. The Mandans constructed
defenses of this kind around their villages.60 As to the original
height of the walls, in the majority of cases it was not very
great, generally from three to seven feet.
It is estimated that in Ohio alone there are fifteen hundred
inclosures, but a large number of them have nothing especially
worthy of mention. Some, however, are on such a large scale that
they call from all more than a passing glance. In contemplating
them, we feel ourselves confronted by a mystery that we can not
explain. The ruins of the old world excite in us the liveliest
feeling of interest, but we know their object, their builders,
and their probable antiquity. The mazy ruins at Newark, and other
places in Ohio, also fill the mind with astonishment, but in this
case we are not certain of their antiquity, their builders are
unknown, and we can not conjecture with any degree of certainty
as to their use. Before so many uncertainties imagination runs
riot, and we are inclined to picture to ourselves a scene of
barbaric power and magnificence.
High Bank Works.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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