Indian 3IoH)ids and Skulls in Michigan. 37 



feet from the surface. In an area of about ten feet square the four 

 crania, with a portion of the accompanying bones, were taken out, but 

 were in so decayed and tender a condition that, with the exception of 

 a skull and a few of the long bones and vertebra, they mostly fell to 

 pieces. The bodies evidently were buried in a sitting posture. This 

 was very apparent in one case, where the femora were found bent upon 

 and above the tibise, the vertebrie, etc., resting upon these, while the 

 skull lay on top, face downward, as though it liad leaned forward 

 originally, and had finally fallen over into that position. This cranium 

 is that marked skull No. 1, Mound No. 1 ; and the vertebrae and 

 other bones thereto belonging may be found correspondingly marked. 

 With these remains were associated fragments of pottery, the bones 

 of fishes and birds, flint chips, and some stone implements of the 

 rudest character. These last were mostly water-worn bowlders, 

 apparently used as hammers, and almost invariably shattered ; and net 

 sinkers, flattish, irregularly elliptical stones, notched on the edges or 

 partially grooved toward the center. It is interesting to notice that 

 the tibiae present the peculiar compression which I have found so 

 marked a characteristic, and in such extreme degree in the tibite from 

 the mounds on the Detroit river and the River Rouge, Michigan, 

 establishing the fact that these, too, were platycnemic men. 



After excavating to the depth of six feet, the coarse gravel of the 

 Drift was encountered ; but no further objects of interest being met 

 with, the opening was extended in other directions to the westward, 

 so as to open a lateral trench through the mound. This revealed 

 several fireplaces, solid beds of black ashes, from one foot to eighteen 

 inches thick, with fragments of pottery and bone, flint chips, sinkers 

 and broken hammers interspersed. The fireplaces were invariably at 

 or near the surface of the mound, showing it to have been occupied 

 for habitation subsequently to being used for burial purposes. Open- 

 ings made at two points, about fift}^ feet from the north end of tlie 

 mound, and also at a third point, half-way between these and the first 

 excavation, added no fa^ts of special interest. Two excavations were 

 then made at twenty -five feet from the south end of the mound, show- 

 ing fireplaces with the beds of black ashes, two feet thick, and inter- 

 mingled relics, similar to those of the fireplaces already mentioned. 

 Some of the fragments of pottery taken out here were uncommonly 

 thick and coarse. Beneath were small pieces of the bones of man, but 

 nothing further worthy of mention. The encroachment of the town 

 on this mound, and on those to the west of it, prevented a more 

 satisfactory examination. 



The oldest residents (some born and brought up here) knew nothing 



