The Home of an Unknown Race

THE HOME OF AN UNKNOWN RACE.

One of the many remarkable relics of prehistoric races to be found in the upper Ohio Valley is old Fort Ancient, in Warren County, Ohio. Grass-grown circumvallations, shaded by majestic trees moss-grown with age and stray mounds containing broken pottery fragments of bones, arrow heads, and buried altars where the sacrificial ashes still linger mark the former home and final burying place of an unknown race. The old fort is Located close to the banks of the Little Miami, and is surrounded by fully five miles of breastwork. … The fort is divided into three sections; the northern, which is catted the New fort from indications that it was built last; the middle fort, which is narrow and had gateways and walls dividing it from the others, and is thought to have been designed as a citadel; and to the south the old fort opening into it from the middle fort is the great gateway, which is flanked on either side by a large mound. This central point is perhaps the most interesting of all. Bones, weapons and other signs of human occupancy which have been found lying near the surface indicate that a battle once raged at this point. In the Old Fort is a part known as the cemetery where many stone graves have been located. When the earth is removed, the stones are found in regular order on the top of the grave making a complete covering and beneath the stones the skeletons are found buried in the earth. Weapons and pottery are also found in the graves The skeletons which have been exhumed in the fort, and nearer the surface are supposed to be the remains of those who fell in battle; while a large number of human bones found on the west side of the hill under a pile of stones are supposed to be the remains of enemies who were interred after the battle. The skulls that have been exhumed are of two classes, the long heads and the broad heads, which indicate either that two races have occupied the fort or that its occupants were a mixed race. The arrow heads and spear heads are of several kinds of flint: red, white, black, and yellow. As flint is not found in the vicinity the natives doubtless procured their supplies from other sections. … There is but one natural spring within the walls of fort ancient, and there has been considerable speculation as to where the people obtained their water supply during times of siege, at several places there are indications that artificial reservoirs were con­structed and there are also traditions of a subterranean passage to the river. … Numerous graves as well as the ash-pits of these villages have been opened some of the skeletons are well preserved bones of animals and the antlers of deer have been dug up and shells of the mol­luscs which flourish in the river on whose banks the village stood are found in the graves and in ash heaps showing that they were used as ornaments and that their contents were appreciated as food. The natives valued the pearls that these mussels produced and there is a theory that the great heaps of shells at the mouth of the river were cast there by pearl hunters. To the north and south part way down the fort hill and on the hills opposite, are terraces twenty feet in width which extend dis­tances of several hundred fees These, like the stone pavement which lies between the parallel walls are a puzzle to antiquarians. They are the only specimens of pavement known to have been the work of the aborig­ines and two suggestions have been made as to their purpose; one that it was used for games the other that it was a place for sacrifices. … There are few Indian traditions which throw any light upon the history of these great prehistoric works. As to the age of the fort, it has been asserted by some to be four thousand years old; but the weight of opinion is that one thousand will cover its existence meanwhile the walk of old Fort Ancient, the graves of the moundbuilders their tools, implements, weapons, relics of their spoils and the ashes of their fires, are mute as to the origin or destiny of the race—W.G. Irwin, in the Scientific American.