The
large mound is an almost perfect oval in form, 160 feet long and some
80 feet across at its widest point, which is about one third of the way
from the northern end ; in height it is nearly 20 feet, or was before
its recent removal. It was partly explored by Squier and Davis in 1846,
and quite extensively by Professor Putnam in 1885, and, unlike the
Effigy mound, had been repeatedly opened and examined in a small way by
both official and unofficial explorers. In 1896, Mr. W. K. Moorehead
took up the work where Professor Putnam had stopped, and carried it
considerably further, under the auspices of the Ohio Archaeological and
Historical Society; and the same body, in 1905, commissioned Mr. Mills
to resume and complete the examination, removing the entire structure
down to its base.
The
Harness mound, unlike the Effigy, was for burial purposes only. There
must have been nearly two hundred. Squier and Davis found one of these,
and possibly another which they mistook for an "altar"; and they state
their belief that the mound probably contained other burials which
their two pits had not revealed. Professor Putnam encountered 12
burials, Mr. Moorehead 27, and the final exploration 133, making a
total of 174. Besides these, an unknown number have been disturbed and
removed by occasional explorers. Of the 174 recorded, only ten had
been buried without being burned ; the rest were all cremated, some
where they were laid, but most of them elsewhere, and the ashes brought
and placed in the grave. This was in all cases carefully prepared,
within a small inclosure of logs, the decayed and charred remains of
which are clearly traceable. The entire mound itself had been outlined
with posts set in the ground, the holes and impressions remaining as
evidence of the fact.
Mr.
Mills outlines the history of this mound, in a way that recalls Mr.
Moorehead's views as to the gradual growth of the Effigy. It began as a
place for the holding of funeral rites and the deposit of the dead,
marked out by lines of posts, which show that it was from time to time
enlarged. Finally, when the place was substantially filled, earth and
gravel were deposited over the whole, and slabs of stone (particularly
noted by Squier and Davis) were laid around it, upon the lower part of
the slope.
Much
description is given of the separate graves or burial chambers, which
are of several types, and of the various details of the cremated and
uncremated interments. The mound is rich in relics, although none of
the profuse sacrificial accumulations of the "altars" were
encountered, this being a mound of burial only. The relics are of the
same kind, in general, as those found in the Hopewell group, and to
specify them in detail would be only repetition. From the 133 graves
opened in Mr. Mills's final investigation, no less than 1200 specimens
