Giant Skeletons Uncovered in a Celtic Druid Mound in New York
Archaeological History of New York, 1915
The burial mound, represented upon plate III, from the peculiar construction of the work and the character of its remains, appears to belong to a class of mounds different from any others embraced in this exploration. It is located upon the brow of a hill, still covered by the ancient forest, and overlooking the valley of the Conewango. This work has some appearance of being constructed with the ditch and volume outside of the mound, as in the Druid Barrows, but perhaps more accurately belongs to the class composed of several stages, as the Trocalli of the valley of Anahuac. The form of the tumulus is of intermediate character between an ellipse and the parallelogram; the interior mound, at its base, has a major axis of 65 feet, while the minor axis is 61 feet, with an altitude above the first platform or embankment of 10 feet, or an entire elevation of some 13 feet. This embankment, with an entrance or gateway upon the east side 30 feet in width, has an entire circumference of 170 feet. As previously remarked, the work itself, as well as the eminence which it commands, and the ravine upon either side, are overshadowed by the dense forest. The remains of a fallen tree, embedded in the surface of the mound and nearly decomposed, and which from appearance, had grown upon the apex, measured nearly 3 feet in diameter, and heavy timber was growing above the rich mold it had formed. Thus we had some indicia of the age of this work. The mound indeed, from the peculiar form of its construction, as well as from the character of its contents, has much resemblance to the Barrows of the earliest Celtic origin, in the Old World. In making an excavation, eight skeletons, buried in a sitting position and at regular intervals of space, so as to form a circle within the mound, were disinterred. Some slight appearance yet existed, to show that the framework had inclosed the dead at the time of interment. These skeletal remains were of a very large size but were so much decomposed that they mostly crumbled to dust. The relics of art here disclosed were also of a peculiar and interesting character
