Ancient Earthwork Discovered on Brookville Lake in Indiana

MOUNDS IN INDIANA. By E.D. R. QUICK, Brookville, Indiana. The valley of the White Water River contains some terraces. There are mounds on the two highest of these and on the tops of the hills. I have opened several, finding them to be sepulchral— containing bones, charred and re-charred; a few curved and a few chipped stones. They also contain much charcoal and other evidence of fire. In one case there was a stick, eight or ten inches thick, completely charred. Above this was a layer of clay that had been subjected to heat so intense that it was in some places completely vitrified or glassy in appearance.\
   The mounds are generally low and situated in pairs, a larger and a smaller one, are together on some prominent point. 
    The stone mounds consist of stone and earth, with which are mingled great quantities of bones of men, animals, birds, and reptiles. I know of but one “enclosure” in our county. It is situated on an almost isolated hill, about three hundred and fifty feet above the level of the river. The level surface of the hill, containing about fifteen acres, is in the shape of a horse-shoe, the embankments being a semi-circle joining the ends. The ditch is on the outside.
    We find a great many axes, of all sizes, from a few ounces to thirteen pounds in weight; also fleshers, chisels, gouges, scrapers, etc. In some fields almost innumerable arrow-heads and spearheads are found. We find a few pipes, some gorgets, and double edged or double-pointed implements, like tomahawks, but too light to do service as such. 
    I also have one of the so-called “boat-form ornaments.” I send you drawing of an ornament in my collection. It is of blue slate, banded with black, and shows evidence of rasping and scouring into its present shape. It is perfectly symmetrical in form and shape. We find broken pottery scattered over the river bottoms. Old bones which I have found were so decomposed that nothing satisfactory could be determined with regard to them. At some future time I can furnish casts of my best pieces.

Pike County, Ohio- Hopewell Ceremonial Earthwork

Pike County, Ohio - Hopewell Ceremonial Earthwork 

ANCIENT EXCAVATION, BIG BOTTOM, PIKE COUNTY, OHIO
    THE works here represented are situated on the west bank of the Scioto River near the line between Pike and Ross Counties. The design appears to have been to form a cut or passage from the bottom land above “Switzer’s Point,” to the bottom land below; but what necessity there was for so expensive a road, is beyond conjecture. The Point (as it is called) is only eighteen or twenty feet above the bottom, and is easy of ascent and descent. Only a very small portion of the earth removed is now to be seen; having been transported to some spot which I did not discover. The banks E, E, E, along a part of the edge of the out, are light; only one and a half feet high and ten broad. The sections or profiles a b, and 0 cl, give the dimensions of this ditch, along which the engineers of the Ohio Canal located a portion of their work. If there were any signs of this passage having been acted upon by running water, we might conclude that it had been used for hydraulic purposes; but its sides and bed are very little injured, or worn away; no more so than we might expect from the effect of rains, frost, &c. There are probably other remains in the vicinity, although I could hear of none. At the north-eastern end of the east bank, E, is an artificial mound five feet high and thirty broad; and near the termination of. the western embankment is a natural one, disconnected with the bank. A little to the west and north-west, is a natural ridge which appears to have been trimmed by art, and to have been used in connection with the lower portion of the western line of embankment. The second bluff is elevated from forty to sixty feet above the river, and is gene rally under cultivation, as well as the rich bottoms, which are very extensive.
   This work has not the appearance of a drain for swampy land or ponds; for it is not on the most direct course to the river. If designed as a work of defence, it has rendered the Point by no means inaccessible; for the bottom land on the other side is comparatively solid ground, and the low bluff presents no natural obstacle. The trench itself, unless filled with water, would be but a slight impediment. It is situated within twelve miles of the “Graded Way,” near Piketon, described in the Smithsonian Contributions, I. p. 88. The mass of earth removed is here greater than at Piketon; where a large portion, though not all, is used in forming the bank at the sides. I think it probable that this class of works was connected with religious or superstitious ceremonies.
   

Germantown, Ohio Serpentine Earthen Hopewell Enclosure

Germantown, Ohio Serpentine Earthen Enclosure

The serpentine gateway at Spruce Hill was duplicated at several hilltop ceremonial centers, including the work at Germantown, Ohio.

Serpentine gateway of the Germantown hilltop earthwork is very similar to the Spruce Hill gateway. The approaches to this earthwork looked to be man made and undulated like a serpent.

Parts of the original wall that skirts the bluff are still visible in the winter months.

Fort Wayne and Indiana's Link To Stonehenge

When you think of Stonehenge, you think of the stones, right?  So, what about the "henge" part?

Surrounding Stonehenge is a henge earthwork.  A henge is a circular earthwork with an interior ditch and exterior wall with a gateway aligned to a solar event.  Stonehenge is aligned to the summer solstice sunrise.

The symbolism and function of Stonehenge are important aspects when comparing the henge groups in southern England and Indiana.  The gateway is aligned so that a heel stone in the avenue will throw the the sun's shadow directly into the center of the U shaped trilithons.  The U shaped trilithons represents the vulva of the Earth Mother that is impregnated by the Sun Father.

Henge in England constructed by the Amorite Beaker People.  Soon after their arrival in England (2500 B.C.) the Amorites stopped erecting stone circles within the henges, they were replaced by earthen mounds in the center of the inner platform.

   Henges are common in northern Europe, the Britsh Isles and the Ohio Valley.  They were constructed by whom the archaeologists call the 'Beaker People," and who Biblical scholars call the Amorites. The Amorites were known for their great size. According to the Book of Jubilees (xxix. [9] 11), "the former terrible giants, the Rephaim, gave way to the Amorites.

Small henge with a burial mound within the center located near the larger Stonehenge.

Mounds State Park,in Anderson, Indiana map showing the solar aligment that centered on the cetral burial mound of the large henge.  The mound marked the solar alignents of the summer and winter solstices for over 2,000 years before being completley destoyed by Indiana University archaeologists. 
Mounds State Parks south group of henges is the exeption to the rule that dictates the gateway of the henge be aligned to a solar event.  The gateway of the large henge is to the rising of the bright  star Fomalhaut. Fromalhaut is in the constellation of Pisces (the fish).

Note that the earthwork designated "F' at Mounds State Park was made to represent two intersecting circles making a vesica pisca in the center. This symbol was also symbolic of the female vulva. At Mounds State Park the alignment from the mound in the center of the largest henge to vesica shaped work is to the Winter Solstice sunrise. This is when the sun is at its lowest in the sky and it ae the  three days shortest days.  On the third day the sun moves back to the north, it is on this day that the Sun God is born.

Henge group at Cambridge City, Indiana.  The nortern henge is aligned to the summer solstice sunrise. On the winter solstice sunset, the sun will again align with the gateway.  The southern henge is aligned to the equinox sunrise and sunset.

This is what the southern henge looked like a few years ago.  The deep ditches and central platform still visible. The henge was recently completely covered with dirt by the landowner.  Indiana has made no effort to preserve this ancient treasure.

Another henge is located near Yorktown, Indiana.  The landowner is commited to  not letting university archaeologists damge this site as they have others in the State.

Henge site north of New Castle, Indiana.  6 of the henges and two mounds mounds are still visible in this public park. The site has been heavily damaged by Ball State archaeologists.
Mound #4 was contructed like that at Mounds State Park to represent the vesica or vessel of the fish.

Earthwork henge complex near Stonehenge. Like New Castle and Mounds State Park it has one large henge surrounded by smaller henges.  There also vesica shaped works in the group.

A single henge aligned to the summer solstice sunrise is located in the city of New Castle, Indiana.  It the same size of the henge in Allen County.

What archaeologists are calling the Adams earthwork was discovered or rediscovered by me in 2001. According to archaeologists rules they don't have to cite works from people they consider amateurs. Photo is looking into the gateway that is aligned to the May 1 sunrise.The inner ditch can be seen in the background and foreground. The outer wall was obliterated by farming.

Photo of the Allen County, henge site. Gateway is on the left, with the remains of the deep ditch that surrounded the circular inner platform visible to the right.  From a pipe that was found at this site it dates from 200 B.C. to 200 A.D. and was constructed by the Point Peninsula Iroquois. The Point Peninsula Iroquois were copying many of the burial mound and earthwork types that were being constructed by the Beaker People in southern Ohio and central Indiana.

  
   
    
  

Mound City, Adena Hopewell Enclosure in Chillicothe Ohio

Mound City, Adena Hopewell Earthen Enclosure and Mounds in Chillicothe Ohio in Ross County

       Plate presents a very interesting group of works. They are situated on the left bank of the Scioto river, four miles north of the town of Chillicothe. The enclosure, designated, from the great number of mounds within its walls, "Mound City," is in many respects the most remarkable in the Scioto valley. Through the generous kindness of Henry Shriver, Esq., upon whose estate it is situated, the mounds were all permitted to be investigated; and the work will, in consequence, be often referred to in the course of this volume, particularly when we come to speak of "Mounds."

In outline it is nearly square, with rounded angles, and consists of a simple embankment, between three and four feet high, unaccompanied by a ditch. Its site is the beautiful level of the second terrace, and it is still covered with the primitive forest.

       The first and most striking feature in connection with this work is the unusual number of mounds which it contains. There are no less than twenty-four within its walls. All of these, as above observed, have been excavated, and the principal ones found to contain altars and other remains, which put it beyond question that they were places of sacrifice, or of superstitious origin. [The evidence in support of this conclusion will appear in a subsequent chapter on the mounds and their purposes.]

       These mounds seem placed generally without design in respect to each other, although there is a manifest dependence between those composing the central group, and between those numbered 4 and 5, and 12 and 13. From the principal mound, numbered 7 in the plan, after the fall of the leaves, a full view of every part of the work and of its enclosed mounds is commanded. This mound is seventeen feet high, with a broad base nearly one hundred feet in diameter. The long mound, No. 3, is one hundred and forty feet long, by eighty wide at the base, and ten feet in average height. Broad and deep pits, from which the earth for the construction of the mounds was taken, surround the work. The one occurring at the south-western angle, and of which a b exhibits a vertical section, is at this time eighteen feet deep, by one hundred and twenty feet in width, and over two hundred feet in length. The accumulation of vegetable deposit at the bottom is found, by excavation, to be not less than thirty inches,—a fact which may assist in an approximate estimate of the age of this monument.

The absence of an exterior ditch, as also the fact that the work is commanded from a slightly elevated terrace half a bow-shot to the left, seems sufficient to establish that it was not designed for defence. The skill, which the illustrations of a previous chapter convince us the mound-builders possessed in selecting and fortifying their military positions, is in no degree displayed in this instance. Taking in view also the character and purposes of the mounds as disclosed by excavation, we are certainly well warranted in classing this as a sacred work.

      The custom of enclosing the Adoratorios or Teocallis, upon which their sacrifices and religious rites generally were practised, was universal among the Mexicans. The open temples of the ancient Britons were embraced within parapets of earth, usually, if not always, circular in form. The "tabooed" grounds or sacred places of the Pacific Islanders, are also surrounded, if not by earthen, by stone walls or by palisades.

     One fourth of a mile to the north-west of this work is ay small circle two hundred and fifty feet in diameter, accompanied by two large mounds.

222 Burial Mound and Earthworks to Explore

High Banks Adena Hopewell Enclosure in Ross County, Ohio

High Bank Adena Hopewell Enclosure in Ross County, Ohio

      The beautiful group here represented is situated on the right bank of the Scioto river, five miles below the town of Chillicothe, near the road from that place to Jackson. It occurs at a place where the river has cut its way up to the third terrace, which in consequence here presents a bold bank, rising seventy-five or eighty feet above the water. This point is generally known as the"High Bank," and gives its name to these works. The third terrace here spreads out into a beautiful, level plain of great extent. The principal work consists of an octagon and a circle; the former measuring nine hundred and fifty feet, the latter ten hundred and fifty feet, in diameter. The coincidences, in the dimensions, between this and the "Hopeton Works,"will be at once observed. The octagon is not strictly regular; although its alternate angles are coincident, and its sides equal. The circle is a perfect one. In immediate connection with the work are two small circles, which are shown in the plan, each measuring two hundred and fifty feet in diameter.

lAerial photo of the Highbank earthworks from the 1990s.      

      The walls of the octagon are very bold; and, where they have been least subjected to cultivation, are now between eleven and twelve feet in height, by about fifty feet base. The wall of the circle is much less, nowhere measuring over four or five feet in altitude. In all these respects, as in the absence of a ditch and the presence of the two small circles, this work resembles the Hopeton Works already alluded to. There are no mounds, except the small ones covering the gateways of the octagon. About half a mile to the southward, and connected with this work by lines of embankment, much reduced but still traceable, is a small group of works, partially destroyed by the river. A fourth of a mile below this subordinate group, on the bank of the terrace, is a large truncated mound, thirty feet in height. It does not fall within the area exhibited on the map.

       At various points around this work are the usual pits or dug holes, some of which are of large size. To the left of the great circle, on the brow of the terrace, is an Indian burial place. The construction of a farm road down the bank disclosed a large quantity of human bones, accompanied by a variety of rude implements. A short distance below this point, on the same bank of the river, is the former site of an Indian town.

       A number of small circles occur about a hundred rods distant from the octagon, in the forest land to the south-east. They measure nearly fifty feet in diameter, and the walls are about two feet in height. It has been suggested that they are the remains of structures of some kind, and also that they were the bases of unfinished mounds. There are no indications of entrances or passageways, a circumstance which favors the latter hypothesis. Similar small circles occur within or in the immediate vicinity of several other large works.

222 Adena Hopewell Burial Mound and Earthwork Sites!