Mound (earthwork)

“ The situation of the mound on high ground, near the margin of the plain, and the porous quality of the earth, are admirably calculated to preserve any perishable substance from the certain decay which would attend it in many other situations. ”

“ Masses of stone and vast quantities of pumice and mud were then thrown up to a great height for two days and nights, and, falling on the sides of the vent, formed a great mound, which was climbed up by adventurous persons on the third day, a quiet one. The ejections were resumed on the next day, when several persons who undertook to climb the hill were killed or injured, but ceased on the seventh or eighth day. The mass of the hill, which is four hundred and forty feet above the sea, was chiefly composed of the materials which were thrown out during the first two days and nights. ”

“ 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. ”

“ A deep cleft on a mountain-crest, a bowl-shaped hollow scooped out of a hillside, a profound ravine, a conical mound or a group of such mounds, rising conspicuously above a bare moorland, a solitary boulder of gigantic size, or a line of large boulders—these and many other prominent elements in the scenery, alike of the Lowlands and the Highlands, have arrested attention from the earliest times. ”

“ My theory is that the mound was not erected by a vast company of busy workers as were the pyramids, but that it was begun at first for purposes of observation, that as interments were from time to time made in it sufficient earth was carried up to effect the purpose, until in centuries the enormous aggregate of earth was formed. ”

“ In excavating the earth of this mound, large quantities of human remains, pottery, half-burned wood, &c., &c., were thrown up; furnishing conclusive evidence, were any requisite farther than regularity of outline and relative position, of the artificial origin of these earth-heaps. About six hundred yards above this group, and linked with it by several inconsiderable mounds, is situated one completely isolated, and larger than any yet described. It is upward of thirty feet in height, about one hundred and fifty feet long, and upon the summit five feet wide. ”

“ Another mound on the Holston River, 2 miles above the two heretofore described, was examined. This was 60 feet in diameter and 41⁄2 feet high. The original surface of the earth had been first covered over about 3 inches thick with charcoal, then the bodies or skeletons laid on it, and each walled up separately with river rock. These were then covered with black earth, over which was cast a layer of sand about the same thickness, the remainder being top soil. ”

“ 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.” ”

“ It is true that this mound, and all those that are found near it, is composed of a successive number 81 of horizontal and perpendicular strata, and has about the middle a zone or belt, consisting of a vein of petrified clay. If from these two facts it would be inferred that at a certain height the substance of which the horizontal and perpendicular strata are formed, is susceptible of being hardened so as to approach the nature of stone, then we might perhaps account in some manner for the wonderful formation of this curious ornament. ”

“ No patter is sometimes the best game to play, and look as if you were learning a lot. However, on being asked about the mound, I said, 'It's only an old earth mound that has grown over green. It may have been there fifty years, not more, perhaps less.'
"Really, it was full of fangs that ought to have been screwed on the bolts, a heap of them, too. ”

“ The mound is wholly artificial. It is conical and truncated, and of oval plan. Its summit measures, north and south, about 25 yards, and east and west about 40 yards, and its height is from 20 feet to 40 feet, according to the depth of its ditch, which is greatest on the northern side. The slopes are steep, the red earth having little disposition to slip.
The summit was crowned by a shell keep placed about 3 feet within the edge of the slope, and therefore about 23 yards north and south, by 38 yards east and west. ”

“ A mound of the kind found in our region is a very much flattened cone, or round-topped hillock of earth. It is built usually, if not invariably where the soil is soft and easily dug, and it is generally possible to trace in its neighborhood the depression whence the mound material has been taken. The mounds are as a rule found in the midst of a fertile section of country, and it is pretty certain from this that the mound builders were agriculturists, and chose their dwelling places with their occupation in view, where the mounds are found. ”

“ Whether any significance may attach to the predominance of stone, in some of the mounds, is a question difficult to answer. It occasionally happens that a mound of stone occurs in the midst of a group composed of earth. Such was the case with one which formerly stood within the limits of Chillicothe. As a general rule, however, the mound is composed of material found upon the spot or taken from pits near by; and stone mounds oftenest occur where, from the hardness of the soil or the abundance of stones, it would be easiest to construct the tumulus of the latter material. ”

“ All around the site of the mound the soil to the depth of 20 inches is composed of the débris of old camps, a mixture of ashes, mussel shells, bones of fishes and wild animals, charcoal, broken pottery,&c.; and here hundreds of implements of stone, bone, and shell have been obtained. The big mound is said, by persons who have often seen it before the hand of vandalism desecrated it, to have been more than 30 feet high by 150 feet in diameter at the base. ”

“ The large masses composing mound breakwaters give them great stability against the attacks of the sea; and, moreover, the wide base of the mounds enables them to be deposited on a sandy or silty sea-bottom, without any fear of settlement or undermining. ”

“ The mound was 8 feet high by 80 feet in circumference. It was built of rough blocks of limestone, limestone dust, and earth, tightly packed together, forming a tough, resistant mass. The mound was completely removed to the ground level, but nothing of interest except chips of flint, fragments of obsidian knives, and potsherds was found till the ground level was reached. ”

“ On a recent visit we climbed the northern mound, which is fairly steep, reaching a height of 528 ft., the only side that one can ascend, being covered with short slippery grass, which renders it somewhat dangerous. ”

“ Eight or ten of us ascend to the top of the mound from whence the shaft or column of clay and sand ascends about 150 feet above the mound, which is about 200 feet high, making 350 feet above the level of the plains, and one of the greatest curiosities I have ever seen in the West, and can be seen distinctly thirty miles on the plains. ”

“ Then and not till then surface erosion becomes an important factor and the profile of 301 the mass becomes finally rounded. But it will be readily seen that a slight difference of texture, or thickness, or exposure, or some trifling difference too minute for observation, might easily add many decades to the apparent age of a mound. The walls once fallen, however, the rounding or smoothing of the mounds would probably proceed at an equal rate throughout the group, and study of the profile gives a fairly good estimate as to the comparative age of the mounds. ”

“ They should be thrown out as deep as can be done with a plow, then followed by subsoiler twelve to eighteen inches deep. Draw the surface earth back into the crosses creating a mound. Plant the trees there and fill up the ditches by back-furrowing, and bring the land to a perfect level. ”

“ At a rate depending on the amount of solid matter ejected by the crater, the mound will grow in the course of time to be a mountain, and often secondary craters or temporary openings, connected at some depth with the main passage leading to the central vent, will form on the sides of the mound or mountain. ”

“ 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. ”

“ I have examined a small quantity of the dust taken from one of the shells found in the grand mound, with the microscope, and though I am not perfectly certain, yet I believe there are traces of some farinaceous substance to be seen. On skirting the shores of the Lake of the Woods into which Rainy River runs, at the present time, you are struck by the fact that there are no Canadian farmers there, and likewise that there are no mounds to be seen, while along the banks of Rainy River both the agriculturist is found cultivating the soil and the mounds abound. ”

“ 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. ”

“ In regularity of size and position there is equal diversity; in some places being as complete as at Mound Prairie, while, in other places, they are of different sizes, and often separated by wide, pebble-covered spaces, as if they were but the remnants of a general erosion of the surface-soil. No one, says Prof. Le Conte, can ride over those thirty miles, and observe closely, without being convinced that these mounds are wholly the result of surface-erosion, acting under peculiar conditions. ”

“ The largest earthen mound, which I call the grand mound because all the graves are facing it, is about ninety feet in diameter, and at this time about 4 feet high; but when first discovered by whites it was 5 or 6 feet high. This mound has not yet been examined, but others in the valley, not so high but larger in diameter, have been looked into and were found to contain graves, pottery ware, pipes and arrow-heads made of dirt or cut out of rock. These are found in the graves in the mound and in those around it. ”

“ From beyond the clay-paved section the winds have brought the light, loose particles of soil and have piled them up in crescent-shaped hills at various places about the plain. The hills vary in size but not in shape. Each mound is as true a crescent as is the new moon, or as could be constructed by the most [Pg 206] skillful landscape gardener. ”

“ Further, in the course of the excavations undertaken at any site, careful note may be made of the relative depths of the strata in which inscriptions have been found. Thus, if [Pg 60] texts of certain kings occur in a mound at a greater depth than those of other rulers, and it appears from an examination of the earth that the mound has not been disturbed by subsequent building operations or by natural causes, it may be inferred that the deeper the stratum in which a text is found the earlier must be the date to be assigned to it. ”

“ In common with the enclosures, the mounds are for the most part composed of earth, though stone mounds are by no means rare. They are sometimes composed entirely of clay, while the soil all around them, for a long distance, is gravel or loam. ”

“ The situation of the base of the mound two feet below the water level cannot be explained on the assumption that refuse from a pile dwelling had been the first cause of its formation. This theory would presuppose modes of living to be followed by the Indians of this coast for which there is no parallel elsewhere, and which are not borne out by other evidence obtained in the study of the mound. If the mound has not risen from the water, then the former land surface must have sunk. ”

“ On a remote spot in a very rough and rugged locality, hemmed in by immense blocks of granite, is a large incubating mound. Save at one point it is encompassed by rocks, but the opening does not grant facilities for the accumulation of vegetable debris, yet the mound continually increases in dimensions. At first glance there seems no means by which such a large heap could have been accumulated for the birds do not carry their materials, but kick and scratch them to the site. ”

“ Close east of the mound, and above 40 feet below its top, is a roughly oval area, about 100 feet east and west by 50 feet north and south, encircled by a bank of earth, outside of which was a ditch, which included also the mound, and was probably the work thrown up by King Edward, and so gallantly held against the Danes. It is very strong, the ground falling away steeply on every side, and especially to the north and west. ”