ETHNOLOGY. 427 



to Bridgeport three straight mounds were found, from 100 to 150 feet 

 long. The mounds lie at the foot of the bluff, and parallel to it, about 

 15 feet above high-water mark, with a bayou of the Wisconsin in front 

 of them and but a few yards distant. Nothing particular was noticed in 

 their mode of distribution. 



9. S. E. ^ sec. 14, T. 0, R. C W.— Quite an extensive group, consisting 

 of an animal form, three oblong mounds, and a number of small round 

 mounds is to be seen at this locality. They are situated about half a 

 mile above the Wisconsin River bridge, at Banfill, on a raised, level 

 piece of land, near the foot of the bluff. The land was formerly under 

 cultivation, but not for a sufficiently long time to injure the appearance 

 of the mounds. The efiSgy-mound is quite large, and appears to be the 

 central figure, around which the others were grouped, and was probably 

 the first earthwork constructed. It is quite large and well proportioned, 

 with the head thrown up and forward and the legs bent forward and 

 backward. It seems designed to represent some animal in a springing 

 or jumping posture. At the intersection of the body, neck, and fore- 

 limbs, a hole was sunk 6 feet long by 3 wide, by Messrs. Rice, Mitchell, 

 Thompson, Haven, and myself. Nothing was found, except that the 

 mound was constructed of a very hard, and compact clay, quite homo- 

 geneous throughout, and apparently the same as the underlying soil, 

 into which we penetrated about IS inches. 



Abandoning operations on the effigy-mound, we next excavated one 

 of the circular mounds by means of a trench about 2 feet wide, carried 

 in from the circumference to the center on the same level as the adjacent 

 ground. On reaching the center a human skeleton was found, the bones 

 of which were so brittle and crumbling that no perfect ones could be 

 obtained. During the exhumation the following facts were observed. 

 The process of burial had been as follows : The body was seated ou the 

 level ground with the face to the west, and the legs stretched out in the 

 same direction, but not separated, the knees not being at all drawn up. 

 The body and head were erect and the arms placed by the sides. The 

 mound was built up around the corpse in this i^osition. Since then the 

 process of decay, by removing the soft internal parts of the body, had 

 permitted all the bones of the skull and body to fall down into and on 

 the pelvis, where most of them were found confused and mingled together, 

 compacted in a hard dark clay, from which the bones were separated with 

 much difficulty. Parts of the tibia, femur, pelvis, ribs, and skull were 

 recovered, together with parts of the jaw-bones, and numerous teeth. 

 The jaw-bones and teeth were in the best state of preservation of any 

 obtained, the teeth being especially so. Several loose teeth were found 

 belonging to the upper jaw, and the lower jaw still retaining most of its 

 teeth. They indicated an adult individual, and were, without exception, 

 flattened and worn smooth on their grinding surfaces. 



The clay of which the circular mound was constructed was somewhat 

 difierent from that excavated in the effigy mound. The upper part of 



