74 JOURNAL OF THE 



for the publication of the following notes concerning a few of these 

 mounds which have been examined in Duplin and a few other coun- 

 ties in the region under consideration. 



It is expected that the examination of other mounds will be 

 carried on during the present year, and it is considered advisable 

 to postpone generalized statements concerning them until these 

 additional examinations have been completed. It may be stated, 

 however, of the mounds that have been examined already, that 

 they are quite different from and of much less interest, so far as con- 

 tents are concerned, than those of Caldwell and other counties of the 

 western section of the State. As will be seen from the following 

 notes, they are generally low and rarely rising to more than three 

 feet above the surrounding surface, with generally circular bases 

 varying in diameter from 15 to 40 feet; and hey contain little more 

 than the bones of human (presumably Indian) skeletons, arranged 

 in no special order. They h ive been generally built on somewhat 

 elevated, dry, sandy places, out of a soil similar to that by which 

 they are surrounded. No evidence of an excavation below the gen- 

 eral surface has as yet been observed. In the process of burial, 

 the bones or bodies seem to have been laid on the surface or above, 

 and covered up with soil taken from the vicinity of the mound. 

 In every case that has come under my own observation charcoal 

 has been found at the bottom of the mound. 



Mound No. 1 — Duplin county, located at Kenansville, about one- 

 half mile southwest from the courthouse, on a somewhat elevated, 

 dry, sandy ridge. In form, its base is nearly circular, 35 feet in 

 diameter; height 3 feet. The soil of the mound is like that which 

 surrounds it, with no evidence of stratification. The excavation 

 was made by beginning on one side of the mound and cutting a 

 trench 35 feet long, and to a depth nearly 2 feet below the general 

 surface of the soil, (5 feet below top of mound) and removing- all 

 the soil of the mound by cutting new trenches and filling up the old 

 ones. In this way all the soil of the mound and for two feet below 

 its base was carefully examined. The soil below the base of the 

 mound did not appear to have been disturbed at the time the mound 

 was built. The contents of the mound included fragments of char- 

 coal, a few small fragments of pottery, a hand-full of small shells, 

 and parts of sixty human skeletons. No implements of any kind 

 were found. Small pieces of charcoal were scattered about in dif- 

 ferent portions of the mound, but the larger portion of the charcoal 

 was found at one place 3 or 4 feet square near one side of the mound. 

 At this place the soil was colored dark, and seemed to be mixed with 

 ashes. There were here with the charcoal, fragments of bones, 



