3G6 ANTHROPOLOGY. 



STONE CISTS NEAR HIGHLAND, MADISON COUNTY, ILLINOIS. 



By Arthur Oehler, of Highland, III. 



I beg leave briefly to call attention to some lately-discovered In- 

 dian graves in the southeastern part of Madison County, Illinois. 

 They are situated in the southeast corner of the southwest quarter 

 of section 10, township 3 north, range 5 west of the third principal me- 

 ridian, on the present property of Mr. John F. Eodt, about 4 miles 

 southeast of the town of Highland. 



There are two of them, of the same shape and size, lying in exactly 

 the same direction. The first discovered lies about 400 feet south of the 

 northern and about 500 feet east of the western boundary of the above- 

 described parcel of land. Sugar Creek, which at that point makes a 

 bend westward toward the graves, is due east about 400 feet distant, 

 while to the south it is farther away. About two and a half years ago the 

 proprietor plowed up several limestone rocks and fragments of slabs of 

 different sizes, mostly small ones. This excited his curiosity, and as 

 the same thing happened every time he plowed, last spring he got a hoe 

 and shovel and went to investigating; but, having no idea of what was 

 coming, did it in such a manner as to entirely unfit the contents for any 

 further careful examination. He then called the attention of my friend, 

 Mr. A. F. Bandolier, to it, who, as near as could be learned from the 

 circumstances, reports : " That the grave contained the complete skele- 

 tons of two persons, one superposed upon the other." 



Mr. B. then exacted from the proprietor the promise that if any more 

 graves were found he should immediately be notified, they, meanwhile, 

 not being disturbed. About May 20, Mr. Bandelier received word that 

 another had been discovered and awaited his further pleasure. We 

 then went there and carefully investigated the place, an account of 

 which is given below. It is situated about 350 feet due west of No. 1, 

 on the top of a hill that slopes southward toward Sugar Creek, which 

 is about one-fourth of a mile due south. It has the shape of a rectangle, 

 2 feet 3 inches by 3 feet, the longer side lying north-northeast by south- 

 southwest. It is made of limestone slabs, of which two are at the bot- 

 tom, two on each longer side, two on top as a lid, and one on each 

 shorter side. These slabs show no signs of incisions or workmanship 

 whatever, but are simply limestone slabs. The grave is about a foot 

 1 >elow t he surface. There were five skulls and the skeletons of five adult 

 persons. There was no trace of charring or fire about the remains, 

 which had evidently been placed in the grave after the flesh had by 

 some process or other become decomposed. The skeletons show that 

 the people were of nil her small stature. The skulls lay in a semicircle 

 along the southeastern longer side. All the other bones lay transversely 

 to the skulls, and were very closely packed. Some of them were so far 

 decayed as to crumble while being handled. There were no arms or 



