MOUNDS IN PIKE COUNTY, ILLINOIS. 367 



ornaments found in the mound except a little burnt, partially glazed, 

 clay object, having- the shape of a cylinder, about 2 inches long and 

 h inch in diameter, one small flint chip, and several fragments of 

 limestone slabs. Three feet to the east of the grave is an oak stump, 

 measuring 2 feet in diameter, from which several roots, as thick as a 

 fiuger, penetrated the Assures of the slabs and worked their way be- 

 tween the bones. One of the skulls was examined by Dr. George J. 

 Engelmann, of Saint Louis, Mo. From this he judges that they are of 

 great age, and that they appear as normal Indian skulls, with the ex- 

 ception that the superciliary ridges show great development. A rather 

 striking circumstance is that on all the jaw bones seen, the two front 

 lower teeth are missing, as if artificially knocked out. On the skull ex- 

 amined as above, the left parietal appears to show a rather prominent 

 protuberance, while on the right is a corresponding flattening. Whether 

 this is artificial or natural, cannot for the present be decided. As far as 

 we know, this mode of burial is more or less different from those of other 

 Indian tribes at present known. A great many flint chips and arrow- 

 heads of different shapes and sizes are found in the neighborhood of 

 these graves, also a short distance southward along the creek, which 

 fact, most probably, indicates a battle ground, possibly a settlement. 



MOUNDS IX PIKE COUNTY, ILLINOIS. 



By Braixerd Mitchell, of Pearl Depot, III. 



The mounds are generally on bluffs along the west side of the Illinois 

 River, with here and there one in the valleys. There are hundreds of 

 them between the mouth of the river and Pearl Depot, the bluffs being 

 lined with them, separated in some instances only a few feet apart. 

 Those back from the bluffs are isolated, while those along the edges fol- 

 low the breaks and stand on the highest ground. They are round or 

 oval, and vary from C feet in diameter to 20 or 30, and are from 2 to S 

 feet high. The isolated mounds back from the river are composed of a 

 light-colored clay, almost white, directly over the remains ; on the top 

 of this is a stratum of yellow clay and soil. Those along the bluff have 

 first a layer of lime rock, then a layer of clay and soil ; the rocks are 

 arranged in a row set on edge around the body, and a covering of rocks 

 placed over this. Those explored furnish stone implements, shell beads, 

 pottery, bone needles, and copper implements. 



The dead found in graves were evidently stretched out, while those 

 interred in mounds were buried doubled up or in a sitting posture. In 

 one cemetery the dead were found inclosed in rocks very carefully set 

 on edge and covered over. In one spot thirteen graves were arranged 

 in the form of a crescent on a slope facing south. The site has been 

 plowed over for fifteen or twenty years, and washed down so that the 



