PRATT ANTIQUITIES OF ILLINOIS. 357 



more probable, as it is observed that the children's skulls found here 

 exhibit tbe same peculiarity in a more marked degree 5 the adults having 

 probably partially outgrown its effect. The heavy, superciliary ridge, 

 retreating forehead, and protruding and very wide jaws, and great bi- 

 mastoidal diameter, as compared with the bi-parietal, are indicative of 

 physical rather than of mental or moral capacity. 



The accompanying description, with table of measurements by Dr. 

 Farquharcon, will abundantly show such prevailing peculiarities as 

 fully identify them as skulls of genuine " mound-builders.-' 



As portions of all parts of the skeleton are found, it would appear 

 that the whole of each has been deposited there, though thrown in 

 rather " promiscuously." The heads were nearly all lying in the same 

 direction, southward, in some cases in contact with each other, and the 

 other parts so intermingled and decomposed as to make it impossible to 

 trace any one skeleton, or to determine to which one an individual bone 

 belonged. Many of the small bones and the softer portions of the 

 larger ones are entirely gone. The best-preserved skeleton, No. 3, was 

 lying stretched out in a horizontal position, with the face upward, and 

 was a few inches above the rest, and, of those which were piled in 

 together, one was lying on its right side. 



The sand below, above, and around the bones presents the same uni- 

 form appearance, from a yellowish-gray to a reddish-brown color, except 

 that that immediately about them is usually a little darker ; and occa- 

 sional irregular and uneven streaks of rather darker sand are found, 

 as if some loads or parcels of the earth of which the, heap is formed had 

 been partly of a dirtier surface-soil, and had been thrown scattering 

 over the surface and then covered with cleaner sand. A few of the most 

 southern mouuds,where the earth is gravelly, are composed of sand and 

 gravel, showing that, as in the other cases, thej^ are built of the mate- 

 rial nearest at hand. 



It would appear that the process of interment had been a very sim- 

 ple one, viz, selecting a spot where the earth was loose, sandy, and 

 easily removed ; scraping away the earth to the depth of a foot or two, 

 then carelessly depositing a few bodies, or rather perhaps a few skele- 

 tons, collected possibly from elevated scaffolds, trees, or other })ositions 

 where the bodies had been previously placed; then replacing the sand 

 which had been removed, and adding enough from the surrounding sur- 

 face to raise a heap of such dimensions as the inclination to manual 

 labor and the respect for the deceased would prompt. The position of 

 the skeletons is a i^retty certain indication that the bodies were not in- 

 terred one at a time, as that could not have been done without in each 

 instance entirely uncovering those previously buried, the skulls being 

 in some cases in contact with each other. 



In this mound no relics, such as weapons or implements, were found, 

 except a very small fragment of pottery in the earth, about a foot from 



