20 proceedings of the academy of [1884. 



January 22. 

 The President, Dr. Leidy, in the chair. 



Twenty-eight persons present. 



The death of James C. Hand, a member, was announced. 

 A paper entitled " On Semper's Method of Making Dried 

 Preparations," by Dr. Benj. Sharp, was presented for publication. 



Indian Mounds on the Miami River. — Mr. P. W. Putnam, Curator 

 of the Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology, 

 Cambridge, Mass., gave an account of the explorations now in 

 progress by himself and Dr. C. L. Metz, of an interesting group 

 of earthworks in the Little Miami valley. It consists of twelve 

 mounds enclosed by an embankment of earth which runs across 

 the lowland and connects by a graded way with a circular embank- 

 ment on a hill thirty feet high, within which are two other 

 mounds. The mounds have pi'oved to be very important, as 

 several are constructed in a peculiar manner. In two of the 

 mounds circular stone walls were found, and from these walls 

 stones have been laid, covering in the central portions of the 

 mounds. Several of the mounds were sti'atified, and contained 

 basins, or " altars," of burnt clay, upon which were thousands of 

 objects more or less injured b^^ fire. Burnt human remains were 

 found in several of the mounds, and in others were skeletons, 

 showing that both methods of disposing of the dead wei'e resorted 

 to. Many interesting objects were found with the skeletons. 

 The most important discoveries were made on the " altars," which 

 contained, among other things, many works of art, including small 

 terra-cotta figures representing men and women, carved stone 

 dishes in the form of animals, and various objects cut from mica, 

 among them a serpent and a grotesque human face. 



There were also found a large number of objects made of native 

 copper, and several of native or meteoric iron. This is the first 

 time that native iron has been found in the mounds. Several 

 copper ornaments were covered with silver, and a few fragments 

 of a thin sheet of hammered native gold were also obtained. 

 Over fifty thousand pearls were found on one of the altars, with 

 thousands of other ornaments made of bone, shell, and the teeth 

 of animals. Among the latter were large canine teeth of bears, 

 which may prove to be those of the grizzly bear, or some species 

 larger than the black bear. Several chipped points of obsidian 

 and a number of singular pendants made in a peculiar manner 

 from a micaceous schist, were on one of the altars. 



Another important discovery was mentioned as having just 

 been made, but not yet worked out. This consisted of a series 



