SEPULCHRAL MOUNDS. 165 



long, one and a half broad, and three fourths of an inch in thickness, and weighs 

 five ounces. Both articles are composed of a compact limestone, the surface of 

 which was originally highly polished. Near the head of the skeleton were 

 found a couple of bear's teeth which, from their position, were probably used 

 as ear ornaments. Just at the head and also at the foot of the skeleton had been 

 placed a small stick of timber, probably to retain the covering of bark in its place. 

 That the envelope of the skeleton, in this case, was bark and not matting, was shown 

 from the texture of the material, which was distinctly to be traced in the decom- 

 posed mass, as well as from other circumstances. From certain indications, it 

 was, at first, thought the bark in the vicinity of the skeleton had been painted 

 of a red color, as portions adhered to the bones, giving them a reddish tinge. This 

 probably resulted from other and natural causes. 



The charcoal layer was not observed in this mound, though it may have existed 

 to one side or the other of the excavation. Several other large mounds occur on 

 the plain in the vicinity of the one here described, a number of which were 

 examined with similar results. It may be observed that in most instances, in 

 mounds of this description, the skeleton is found enveloped in bark or matting, 

 (it is difficult in some cases to decide which,) instead of being enclosed in a 

 chamber of timber. 





«ii|raitn,,,,. 



Fig. 54. 



Fig. 54 exhibits a section of a mound in which burial by fire had been practised.* 

 It is situated within the corporate limits of the city of Chillicothe, and was origi- 

 nally above twenty-five feet in height, though now reduced to about twenty. The 

 customary shaft was sunk from its apex. At six feet below the surface a layer of 

 charcoal, corresponding in all respects with that described in connection with the 

 first example of mounds of this class, was found. It was placed a little to the east- 

 ern side of the mound, a circumstance not shown in the figure, which exhibits a section 

 from north to south. Upon the original level of the earth was found a deposit or 

 layer of charcoal and ashes six or eight feet square and from six inches to a foot 

 in thickness. In this layer were discovered fragments of human bones ; a stone 

 hand-axe ; several thin pieces of copper which had been worked into shape ; and 

 also a number of stones of the harder and less common kinds, fragments of sienite, 

 gneiss, etc. The stone hand-axe here obtained, it is a remarkable fact, is the only 

 one which has been recovered from the mounds, which incontestibly belonged to 



* Numbered 3, in the M.ap, Plate IL 



