ELISHA MITCHELL SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY. 75 



some of which were dark colored, and may have been burned; but 

 they were so nearly decomposed that I was unable to satisfy myself 

 as to this point. I could detect no evidence of burning in case of 

 the bones in other portions of the mound. Fragments of potrery 

 were few in number, small in size, and scattered about in different 

 parts of the mound. They were generally scratched and cross- 

 scrated on one side, but no definite figures could be made out. The 

 shell "beads" were small in size — 10 to 12 mm. in length. They 

 are the Marginella roscida of Redfield, a sniall gasteropod which is 

 said to be now living along the coasts of this State. The specimens, 

 about 75 in number, were all found together, lying in a bunch near 

 the skull and breast bones of a skeleton. The apex of each one had 

 been ground off obliquely so as to leave an opening passing through 

 the shell from the apex to the anterior canal — probably for the pur- 

 pose of stringing them. 



The skeletons of this mound were generally much .softened from 

 decay — many of the harder bones falling to pieces on being handled, 

 while many of> the smaller and softer bones were beyond recogni- 

 tion. They were distributed through nearly every portion of the 

 monnd, from side to side, and from the base to the top surface, 

 without, so far as was discovered, any definite order as to their ar- 

 rangement. None were found below the level of the surface of the 

 soil outside the mound. In a few cases the skeletons occurred singly, 

 with none others within several feet; while in other cases several 

 were found in actual contact with one another; and in one portion 

 of the mound, near the outer edge, as many as twenty-one skeletons 

 were found placed within the space of six feet square. Here, in the 

 case last mentioned, several of the skeletons lay side by side, others 

 on top of these, parallel to them, while still others lay on top of 

 and across the first. When one skeleton was located above another, 

 in some cases the two were in actual contact, in other cases they 

 were separated by a foot more of soil. 



As to the position of the parts of the individual skeletons, this 

 could not be fully settled in the present case, on account of the de- 

 cayed condition of many of the bones. The following arrangement 

 of the parts, however, was found to be true of nearly every skele- 

 ton exhumed: The bones lay in a horizontal position or nearly so. 

 Those of the lower limbs were bent upon themselves at the knee, so 

 that the thigh bone (femur) and the bones of the leg (tibia and 

 fibula) lay parallel to one another; the bones of the foot and ankles 

 being found with or near the hip bones. The knee cap or patella, 

 g:^nerally lying at its proper place, indicated that there must have been 



