Mound (architecture)

“ At Hereford, besides the keep mound, now removed, there is a mass of earth at the north-east corner of the outer area, a part of the bank, and at Cardiff also, besides the keep mound, are two masses of earth upon the north-east and south-east corners of the enclosure, forming, which there the keep mound does not, a part of the bank. Such subordinate mounds are not uncommon in earthworks of all ages, and are totally distinct from the grand isolated moated mound which gives character to the earthworks of the ninth and tenth centuries, both in England and Normandy. ”

“ It crowns a low mound, about 6 feet high, and 50 feet broad at the top, evidently artificial. If the mound ever had a proper moat, it has been long filled up. The tower is now about 40 feet high, and may have been 5 feet or 6 feet more. It is a cylinder of 36 feet in diameter, with walls 7 feet thick. Ten feet above the ground is a bold, half-round string or cordon, below which the wall batters, and469 at the base is 10 feet thick, augmenting its diameter there to about 42 feet. ”

“ It has already been remarked, that the mounds are the principal depositories of ancient art, and that in them we must seek for the only authentic remains of the builders. In the observance of a practice almost universal among barbarous or semi-civilized nations, the mound-builders deposited various articles of use and ornament with their dead. ”

“ One of the most singular characteristics of these mounds is that they seem invariably to be composed of earth brought from a greater or less distance. The surface of the surrounding ground usually comes up to the base of the mound in a smooth level, when it does not already possess a natural elevation; but there is no evidence of the ground anywhere in the neighborhood having been disturbed to furnish the earth for their construction. ”

“ The mound previously mentioned rests upon another of larger size, of equally graceful contour, and besprent with brilliants which sparkle like immense diamonds. To the right is a cascade of formation which has trickled and solidified from rock to rock and from ledge to ledge in graceful curves from the roof to the floor.
Those who have seen water arrested by congelation on an extensive weir, and rendered opaque by hoar, can form a tolerably correct idea of the kind of beauty here represented in stone. ”

“ It is a ditch to look down on from above, and also to walk along in its depth, and to look up on each side. The ground is not absolutely open all round; some obstructions of farm-buildings, and the like, hinder one from stepping out the horse-shoe quite as far as it goes; but the top of the mound—if mound is the right word—is perfectly free. There are fragments of masonry left everywhere, but there is no continuous wall anywhere, nor any scrap of detail by which we could fix a date. ”

“ The proprietor of the estate on whose grounds these ruins are located used this mound as a stone-quarry. An excavation of thirty feet revealed no secret chambers.
The probabilities are that it is solid throughout. A grand staircase, fifty-six feet wide, leads up to the top of this mound. Mr. Stephens tells us that three ranges of buildings occupied the summit, and his drawings represent the same. The roof of the one forms a promenade in front of the one above. So each range of buildings rests on a foundation solid from the ground. ”

“ Mounts were constructed of wood or stone, curiously adorned within and without. They were also made in the old barrow shape of earth and covered with grass. The top of the mount was often adorned with a summer-house, or arbor. The mount at Hampton Court, constructed in 1533 on a brick foundation, was the first specimen of its day; and the arbor upon it was a very elaborate affair, made of wooden pales and trellis-work. Sometimes the mount, instead of being a raised and detached mound, was formed like a long bank raised against an outer wall. ”

“ We may continue to question, but the locked secrets of by-gone deeds will be borne on no zephyr, however soft, to gratify the longings of those who try to lift the misty veil of obscurity. When searching for a record of the architects of these pyramidal structures, we find our mind drifting upon the quicksands of instability. That the archæological history of the mound-builders in America is in its infancy cannot be doubted, although some imagine they have probed it to the foundation, as they have stood where a few bones, beads, and pottery were thrown out. ”

“ The sharp edges of the slabs and the clearness of the ornamental carving are sufficient to prove that the age of these tombs and monuments cannot be so very remote, although remote enough to have led to the effacement of the township to which they belong. Sometimes a mound, where no mound would naturally occur, indicates the base of one of the larger buildings. ”

“ It will shortly be seen that the mound first described (number 2 of the plan) probably belongs to the class of altar or sacrificial mounds, or those which were connected with the superstitions of the builders. The human remains found in that, as in mound number 3, were, most likely, deposited subsequent to their erection. It is not impossible that the mound last named is of a later date than those upon the higher ground.
79 The perfect regularity which the plans exhibit, it will readily be understood, does not actually exist. The angles of all these structures are more or less rounded. ”

“ The mounds that form this avenue are of conical or semispherical form, and of different dimensions, the largest being over thirty feet in height. They are built of stone fragments, earth, and clay, and stand close together, so as to resemble in some parts a continuous embankment. Six cross-embankments divide the southern part of the Path of the Dead into compartments, three of which have a mound in their centre. ”

“ The mound is both large and lofty, and is surrounded by the remains of an earthen embankment. It is divided almost into two distinct equal parts by a ravine or watercourse, where an ascent probably once led from the plain to the edifice on the summit of the platform. Awad had opened several deep trenches and tunnels in the mound, and had discovered chambers, some with walls of plain sun-dried bricks, others panelled round the lower part with slabs of reddish limestone, about 31⁄2 or 4 feet high. ”

“ M. W. DICKESON, some new facts respecting this mound. “On digging into it, vast quantities of human skeletons were found; also numerous specimens of pottery, including vases filled with pigments, ashes, ornaments, etc. The north side of the mound is supported by a wall of sun-dried bricks, two feet thick, filled with grass, rushes, and leaves. A shaft has been sunk in the mound to the depth of forty-two feet, without reaching the original soil.” ”

“ But it is perhaps somewhat too costly: the thing to be done is to carry the sand or gravel with brick voussoirs, six inches thick, or, at any rate, with the least thickness of voussoir which will be safe; and to do this requires peculiar arrangement of the lines of the arch. There are many arrangements, useful all in their way, but we have only to do, in the best architecture, with the simplest and most easily understood. We have first to note those which regard the actual shell of the arch, and then we shall give a few examples of the superseding of such expedients by Mont-Cenisian masonry. ”

“ From the immense quantity of bricks which lie scattered in the vicinity of the mound, I think it probable that the ancient city was built in the plain, and that the mound covers what may have been the acropolis or temple, or some other public building or buildings similar to those of Khorsabad, the original uses of which have not yet been determined. ”

“ The lower mounds, or most of them, must have been constructed as foundations of the more important edifices of the mound-building people. Many of the great buildings erected on such pyramidal foundations, at Palenque, Uxmal, and elsewhere in that region, have not disappeared, because they were built of hewn stone laid in mortar. For reasons not difficult to understand, the Mound-Builders, beginning their works on the lower Mississippi, constructed such edifices of wood or some other perishable material; therefore not a trace of them remains. ”

“ The principle in human nature which leads to the erection of mounds is living and active to-day. The shaft which surmounts Bunker Hill is but a modern way of memorizing an event which in earlier ages would have led to the erection of a mound, and the polished monument which marks the resting place of some distinguished man was raised for the same purpose as the mounds heaped over the chiefs and warriors of another age. ”

“ They show us the idea of the Mound-Builders wrought out in stone and embellished by art. The decorations, and the writing also, are wholly original. There is no imitation of the work of any people ever known in Asia, Africa, or Europe. It appears evident [185] that the method of building seen in the great ruins began with the ruder forms of mound-work, and became what we find it by gradual development, as the advancing civilization supplied new ideas and gave higher skill. ”

“ The Tell is a mound with steep slopes, from two or three to twenty or thirty feet high; a large Tell is often surrounded by smaller ones irregularly scattered; they are of no particular shape, and they show no signs of stone masonry, being outwardly earthen mounds, whilst inwardly, Captain Warren’s excavations proved them in some cases to consist of sun-dried bricks. ”

“ Squier is eminent authority, and scholars delight to honor him for his researches. We take the liberty, however, to question some of his conclusions. How does he know that this structure was ever used for any other purpose than as a mound? It is indeed a singular way to construct a mound, but when we learn of the existence of mounds showing the different methods of work—some solid, some with walls, others with rude rooms, still others with rooms towards the top—why not say that this many-storied building was simply one style of mound-building? ”

“ Then this type of structure comes to be regarded as the normal for house-building everywhere. "Through this natural series of changes in type there is a tendency to the development of mounds as sites for habitations and for the council-house of the clan or tribe, the sites being either separate mounds or single large mounds, according to circumstances. Thus the study of the living Seminole Indians and of the shell-mounds in the same [Pg 382] vicinity ... suggests a possible origin for a custom of mound-building at one time so prevalent among the North American Indians [858] ." ”

“ Another 103argument for the construction of the mounds at a remote period, and which is certainly of little more value than Indian tradition, is that which supposes the Mound-builders to have erected works on the lowest of the river terraces existing at the time of their occupancy of the country. Much stress has been laid on the fact that no works have been found on the lowest-formed of the river terraces which mark the subsidence of the western rivers. ”

“ Such are the prevailing characteristics of this class of mounds. It will be remarked that while all have the same general features, no two are alike in their details. They differ in the number and relative position of their sand strata, as well as in the size and shape of their altars and the character of the deposits made on them. One mound covers a deposit made up almost entirely of pipes, another a deposit of spear-heads, or of galena or calcined shells or bones. ”

“ The term mound-builders is distinctively applied to the race that constructed the remarkable earthworks of the valley of the Ohio, and of the interior of the United States in general, but it is true that in nearly all parts of the world the practice of mound-building has prevailed, sometimes among nations that come within historical epochs. ”

“ At different levels, from that of a few inches above the timber flooring to 3 feet higher, and over the whole mound, were found many fireplaces, one or two covered over with two long stones, leaning against each other lengthways, like the roof of a house, but most of them formed by placing two long narrow stones (fragments of the rock of the district, which breaks off easily in that form) parallel with each other, leaving a space between, which was paved with small [59] stones and formed a hearth. ”

“ The four sides of the huge mound face the cardinal points, the whole being composed of alternate strata of adobe bricks and clay. The sides are mostly overgrown with trees and shrubs; but a winding road, well paved with stones laid in broad, deep steps, leads to the top. The constant wear of centuries has thrown the original shape somewhat out of harmony with the supposed idea ”

“ I conclude, therefore, that this mound and terrace with its flight of brick-paved approach was a temple. At the foot of the hill is a larger mound, where also images, large and small, have been discovered. A colossal figure, mutilated, lies neglected here.
A few feet off are other terraces and mounds, from which small statues have been exhumed. ”

“ Though hundreds of groups of mounds marking the sites of ancient villages are to be seen scattered over the Mississippi Valley and Gulf States yet nowhere can there be found an ancient house. The inference is therefore irresistible that the houses of the mound- builders were constructed of perishable materials; consequently that the builders were not sufficiently advanced in art to use stone or brick in building, or else that they lived a roving, restless life that would not justify the time and trouble necessary to erect such permanent structures. ”