700 PAPERS RELATING TO ANTHROPOLOGY 



tery were encountered now and then all the way down to the base of 

 the mound. None were found of sufQcicnt size to indicate the form of 

 the vessels, but, as they undoubtedly were made by the people who 

 built this mound, they were carefully preserved. The material and ap- 

 pearance of these specimens are precisely those of specimens found in 

 an old aboriginal cemetery on the bank of the river nearly opposite 

 the mouth of McGee's Creek. (See plat, Fig. 1.) The outer edge of 

 one pot was ornamented with slight notches made by pressing a stick 

 or some other object into the soft clay. Judging from the fragment 

 there was no other ornamentation on this vessel. Upon the inside, 

 about three-fourths of an inch from the top, at intervals of about 1 

 inch, holes were made nearly through the vessel, not far enough, how- 

 ever, to cause any elevation of the corresponding portion upon the outer 

 surface, as is the case in another fragment from this mound. The latter 

 is ornamented with an oblong imprint similar to those in Fig. 22, c. 

 Another piece from this mound shows a part of some figure traced upon 

 the surface, but the fragment is too small to determine what it was. 

 When near the base of this mound the men encountered a skeleton ex- 

 tended at full length with the head to the southeast. The bones were 

 so greatly decayed that not even the fragments could be removed. 



No moisture having ever penetrated to the base of this mound since 

 its erection, the condition of these bones, as compared with those from 

 mound No. 3, was looked upon as an indication of the greater age of the 

 former. Even the molars were so decayed that they could be crushed 

 between the finger and thumb. Yet the fallacy of such testimony, so 

 often quoted by explorers, was fully demonstrated by finding in the sand 

 below the base of this mound a perfect skull. A shaft about 10 feet 

 square was sunk to the original surface, but, except the scraps of pot- 

 tery and the skeleton referred to, nothing was found. The surface line 

 was sharply defined as the mound was made of dark-colored clay, built 

 on a plain of red sand. Upon encountering this red sand it was decided 

 to explore the whole base of the mound by tunneling, which was done 

 thoroughly by one of my men who was a coal-miner. With a little lamp 

 upon his cap, and with short shovel and pick, he went everywhere in the 

 sand under the base of the mound, at the same time chipping oft" from 

 a foot to 18 inches of the clay roof over his head. By so doing it was 

 found that at intervals of from 6 to 8 feet all over the base of the mound, 

 for a space of 30 feet in diameter, there were pockets of ashes in the 

 sand; that is, a hole about 2^ feet wide was scooped out to the depth 

 of about 8 inches and filled with ashes. In these ash heaps were 

 foufid numerous fragments of bone, many of them split in that pecu- 

 liar manner practiced by savage man everywhere, for the purpose of 

 obtaining the marrow. In these ash beds were also found a humerus of 

 the wild turkey and about half of the skull of a skunk. In the sand 

 near one of these ash beds was a human skull almost perfect but quite 

 fragile. By the exercise of great care in handling it was washed and 



