ANTIQUITIES IN LENOIR COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA. 405 



three iuclies iu thickness, the coruers rounded. It rested ou solid earth 

 and had been smoothed ou top. 



I theu made an excavation in the south of the mouud, and soon struck 

 another stone, which upon examination proved to be in front of the 

 remains of a human skeleton in a sitting posture; the bones of the fin- 

 gers of the right hand had been resting on the stone. Near the hand 

 was a small stone about five inches long, resembling a tomahawk or 

 Indian hatchet. Upon a further examination, many of the bones were 

 found, though in a very decomposed condition, and upon exposure to 

 the air they soon crumbled to pieces. The heads of the bones, a consid- 

 erable portion of the skull, jaw-bones, teeth, neck -bones, and the ver- 

 tebra were in their i)roper places. Though the weight of the earth 

 above them had driven them down, yet the frame was perfect, and the 

 bones ©f the head were slightly inclined toward the east. Around the 

 neck were found coarse beads that seemed to be of some substance 

 resembling chalk. A small lumj) of red paint, about the size of an egg, 

 was found near the right side of this skeleton. From my knowledge of 

 anatomy, the sutures of the skull would indicate the subject to have 

 been twenty-five or twenty -eight years of age. The toi) of the skull 

 was about twelve inches below the mark of the plow. 



I made a further excavation in the west part of this mound and found 

 another skeleton similar to the first, in a sitting posture, facing the last. 

 A stone was on the right, on which the right hand had been resting, 

 and on this was a tomahawk which had been about seven inches in 

 length, broken into two pieces, and much better finished than the first. 

 Beads were also on the neck of this one, but were much smaller and of 

 finer quality than those on the neck of the first; the material, however, 

 seemed to be the same. A much larger amount of paint was found by 

 the side of this than the first. The bones indicated a person of larger 

 frame, and I think of about fifty years of age. Everything about this 

 one had the appearance of superiority over the first. The top of the 

 skull was about six inches below the mark of the plow. 



I continued the examination, and after diligent search found nothing 

 at the north part of the mound but ou reaching the east side found 

 another skeleton in the same posture as the others, facing the west. Ou 

 the right side of this was a stone on which the right hand had been rest- 

 ing, and on the stone was also a tomahawk about eiglit inches in length, 

 broken into three i)ieces, much smoother and of finer material than the 

 others. Beads were also found on the neck of this, but much smaller and 

 finer than on those of the others, as well as a large amount of paint. 

 The bones w^ould indicate a person of forty years of age ; the top of the 

 skull had been moved by the plow. 



There was no appearance of hair discovered ; besides, the i)rincipal 

 bones were almost entirely decomposed, and erumbled when handled ; 

 these two circumstances, coupled- with the fact that the farm on which. 

 this mound was found was the first settled in that county, the date of the 



