There is still another class of mounds, found in the American bottom, and elsewhere in the rich alluvial bottoms of the Mississippi, as well as occasionally in Ohio. They are called platform mounds, and are usually square in shape, with a level surface, and from two to thirty or forty feet in height. They are more numerous and of larger proportions in the American bottom, opposite the mouth of the Missouri River. From the elevated position on the top of the great temple mound on the Cahokia Creek, many of the square platforms can be seen; some of them quite near the base of the great mound, others far out on the plain. Numbers of these platforms are utilized by the people in the American bottom for building sites, for which purpose they answer excellently. In excavating in these platform mounds for cellars, wells, foundation walls, etc., great quantities of curious relics of human handiwork are met with, showing they certainly were used for sepulchral purposes; yet some archaeologists are of the opinion that the broad, level tops of these mounds were used for other purposes. In addition to the different kinds of mounds described, we probably have some others in this section, such as signal mounds and treaty mounds; but they have as yet yielded little or nothing of interest. The subject is not by any means exhausted; and, as I propose to continue my explorations, something more of interest may be found. There are, in various parts of the United States, extensive earthworks, consisting generally of walls of clay enclosing considerable areas of land. In Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri they abound; and they are met with in Wisconsin, and still farther west. It is a little singular, that, although the Great American Bottom contains such a grand array, both in size and number, of the ancient mounds, I know of but a single embankment or enclosure; and that was discovered a short time ago in the county of Calhoun, Ill., near the mouth of the Illinois River. ANCIENT AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS OF STONE. By WILLIAM MCADAMS, of Otterville, Ill. AMONG the most interesting relics of ancient people, who in the past inhabited this continent, are their implements used in agriculture. They tilled the soil, and no doubt raised considerable quantities of corn and vegetables. In the great alluvial bottoms, and on the rich soil of the prairie adjacent to the streams, in a region near the mouths of the Missouri and Illinois Rivers, many of these implements are found, showing that in prehistoric times the cultivation of the soil was carried on to a considerable extent. These implements are generally made of stone of a silicious character, which is found in the vicinity. They are mostly of a red or brown, color, but we have seen some very fine specimens of perfectly white chert. They are usually ovoid in shape, and sharp at the broader end, which is generally polished by long use and attrition with the soil. Their usual length is from eight to ten inches. We have specimens twelve to fourteen inches long and six inches broad. They range from one half to one inch in thickness. Some of these implements taper gradually from the broad cutting edge, while others have deep lateral notches opposite the working edge, and form perfect hoes. These were apparently fastened to handles, and formed effective implements, similar to our modern hoe. Others were plainly intended to be fastened to handles in a similar manner to our spades and shovels. Others still were probably fastened to some sort of frame or stock, as the peculiar way in which these stones are worn shows that they were held in the manner of a plough, and pulled through the ground. This, without doubt, was our prehistoric plough; and, as we have no evidence that any domestic animals were used in this connection, it is probable that the implement was pulled by two persons, and guided from behind by a third. This mode of cultivating crops on the rich, sandy, alluvial soils of this region would have been much more speedy and effectual than the hoe, and doubtless was practised by the ancient mound-builders and pottery-makers. While we seem to have made no discovery as yet that these ancient people domesticated the buffalo, yet we have nothing to actually prove the contrary. That they were acquainted with the buffalo we have no doubt. In one of the large mounds in the Great American Bottom, at the depth of nearly forty feet, we found the skull of a buffalo. The teeth were perfect, having been preserved by being in contact with a number of copper implements, belonging, apparently, to the age of the old mound-builders. In two other instances we have found in large mounds the hair and skin of the buffalo preserved by being in contact with copper. The majority of these ancient implements of husbandry are made after definite patterns, each variety or kind to be used for special purposes being similar. Of six of the deeply notched hoes, from different localities, one could discern little difference excepting in size. The broad-edged spades, the oval shovels, and the ploughs have apparently been made after certain patterns, the form of which was followed with great faithfulness. That such neat and efficient implements should have been made of such obdurate material as flint and jasper shows no inconsiderable skill. These stone implements are generally found in our cultivated fields, where they have been turned up by the plough. On several occasions, however, we have found them in the graves of the ancient pottery-makers. From one of these burial-places in St. Charles County, Mo., I recovered two quite perfect earthen vessels, one of which had evidently, from its shape, been used to hold a liquid. In the other was a mussel shell, Unio, and some black mould, in which were carbonized grains of corn. Near the vessels was a pipe characteristic of the pottery-makers, and a nicely finished spade, such as we have described. That the mound-builders made and used agricultural implements of stone is highly probable, but we have not found them in their mounds. The fact of the finding of several of these implements in the later pottery-makers' graves seems to point to them as the manufacturers. A STONE IMPLEMENT FROM A WELL IN ILLINOIS. BY WILLIAM MCADAMS of Otterville, Illinois. LAST year an old gentleman from Green County, Ill., came to my house and told a curious story of the finding of a stone axe in the base of the drift while digging a well. It seems that, during the dry weather in the fall, Mr. Abraham Young undertook to dig a well on his farm, and near his residence. At the depth of seventy-two feet the rock in place was reached, and in cleaning off this, preparatory to blasting, the axe in question was found. Thinking from the character of the parties, who are well-todo farmers, and known to me, that possibly there might be some truth in the matter, I visited the locality, obtained the relic, and the following information in relation to its discovery: Four wells have been dug at different times in fruitless search for water. The depth of these wells The one in which the axe is given as from thirty to seventy-two feet. is claimed to have been found is seventy-two feet in depth. I examined the earth thrown out from the well, and could easily see that it was almost entirely loess. Just before the bottom of the well, or rock, was reached, the loess assumed more of a clayey character, and contained angular fragments of chert, not apparently water-worn. Lying on the surface of the rock, covered with clay and fragments of chert, the axe is claimed to have been found. The finders of the relic seemed not to have much interest in the matter, and would receive no compensation for it, and when I wrote out a statement of the time and manner of the discovery they signed it without hesitation, and apparently in good faith. Afterwards they went of their own accord before a justice, and made the following affidavit: : GREEN COUNTY, ILL., Feb. 1, 1880. Be it known by these presents that J. R. Cade, A. B. Young, David Mateson, and Rowel Hunnicutt, all of Walkerville Township, County of Green, State of Illinois, appeared before me, John Painter, a Justice of the Peace in Green County, Ill., and, after being duly sworn, said parties state that on or about the 20th of May, 1879, while engaged in digging a well on the farm of A. B. Young, in Green County, Ill,, at the depth of seventy-two feet, J. R. Cade found, while digging, an ancient stone axe, which was raised from said well by A. B. Young and David Mateson, and preserved for curiosity. Rowel Hunnicutt states that he was present a short time after said discovery, and measured the depth of the well and found it to be about seventy-two feet to where the axe was found, and that he took said axe in his possession and placed the same in possession of one William McAdams, of Jersey County, Ill. Signed, Subscribed and sworn to before me this 1st day of February, 1880. J. R. CADE, JOHN PAINTER, J. P. I examined the well closely, to see if by any possible means the axe could have fallen in from the top while they were at work, but, from the very top down, the excavation was as smooth and almost as hard as a cemented cistern; and the discoverer of the relic says he found it covered with the hard, undisturbed clay on the rock. I am inclined to believe they found the axe as stated. I asked the men how they supposed the axe came to be in that position, and one of them replied that he could think of only one possible way by which its presence could be accounted for where they found it: "Some half-mile north of the well was a sink hole; possibly the axe might have been washed into this, and conveyed by some channel or watercourse to where it was found." A. A. A. S., VOL. XXIX. PREHISTORIC ALTARS OF WHITESIDES COUNTY, ILLINOIS. By FOUR structures known as altars have been found in Whitesides County; two on the north bank of Rock River, near Sterling, and two near Rock Creek, in Clyde. The former were each situated near groups of burial mounds, while the latter were at least three miles distant from any prehistoric works. These altars were built of flat limestones carefully fitted together. The edges of some of the pieces had been dressed or chipped off; but no cement was used. Their form was either that of a circle or an ellipse. One in Carroll County was, I am told, a crescent like the moon when about eight days old; but no rectangular structure has ever been found. Altar Number One was found on the top of a low, flat mound; one of the group of burial mounds on the bank of the river, near the Catholic cemetery of Sterling. It was covered with vegetable mould and sod. Form, an ellipse; diameters, four and one half and six feet. Height, including mound, about three feet. Height of stone work, eighteen inches. Four layers of stone so fitted together that each layer "broke joints." The upper layer was reddened and crumbled by the heat of many fires. In the charcoal on and around this altar were found charred fragments of bones. Every one that could be identified was found to be some portion of a human skeleton. of the long bones -the femur and the humerus had been broken and split into small pieces. In the burial mounds near this altar I found small fragments of burned rock, as if fire from this sacred place had been thrown on the dead during the rites of burial. There was no evidence of cremation found in the burial mounds: none of the bones were charred. The altar mound was the most easterly mound of the group. Some Altar Number Two was found by workmen while grading the western part of the race track of the Sterling fair grounds. The stone structure was composed of one layer of large flat stones, and was in the form of a circle, about twelve feet in diameter. It was buried about two feet below the present surface of the soil, and its position was not marked by a mound or embankment. The soil above it was a sedimentary deposit of river sand and mud. One, it is east of a group of burial mounds. Like Number This group and its |