418 SHELL HEAPS OF TAMPA BAY, FLORIDA. 



growing highest in the center, until in the course of long ages they at- 

 tain their present imposing altitudes and dimensions. Whenever a 

 fire-place was abandoned for any considerable time, a thin stratum of 

 soil accumulated, in which we find occasional bones, shell, &c. These 

 strata, which are quite thin, are represented by shaded lines as a, a, 

 Plate I. 



In confirmation of this view, I refer to the circles of shell E E, in the 

 ground plans of the mounds at Shaw's Point and Indian Hill, Plates III 

 and IY, which are the beginnings of new mounds. 



I do not wish to be understood as affirming that the plan I have de- 

 scribed was pursued in the regular order I have indicated. Far from it. 

 The irregularity of their shapes proves rather that their erection was due 

 to chance rather than design, and the long irregular walls running par- 

 allel with the beach show that in many cases the fires were scattered 

 along the shores, and that it was only when forced by the accumulating 

 mass that the fires were removed to the top of the heap. Indeed, where 

 room was afforded we generally find walls or banks, and in most cases 

 the largest shell-heaps occur where the savages were crowded together 

 on the higher grounds nearly or quite surrounded by water, as at the 

 mouth of Bullfrog, and notably at Indian Hill, but there are, of course, 

 exceptions to this rule. 



The materials of which the shell heaps are composed are indicated by 

 the name applied to them, shells constituting by far the larger portion 

 of the mass, differing only in the species composing them ; and here I 

 will state that, after diligent search, I have never discovered a shell in 

 these heaps belonging to a species that is not common in Tampa Bay 

 to-day. The kinds of shell that predominate are those which are most 

 abundant in the immediate vicinity. Thus, if the mound be located near 

 oyster-bars, as on bayous, or near the mouths of creeks or rivers, we 

 find that shell constituting the mass of the structure. If on or near 

 sand-flats, we find conchs, clams, scollops, &c, predominating. Inter- 

 mingled with the shell, but forming only a small part of the mass, are 

 crabs' claws, and the bones of the turtle, shark, drum-fish, deer, and sea- 

 birds, occurring as named, the bones of the turtle being most plentiful. 

 Broken pottery of a very thick, heavy pattern, without ornament, is 

 scattered about the sites of former fires. Stone ornaments and arrow- 

 heads are sometimes found on the surface, but never, to my knowledge, 

 in the interior of these mounds. 



in one instance only I discovered human bones in a shell-heap, viz, in 

 the small detached mound marked E, Plate IV, Fig. 2, where a ground- 

 plan of the shell-heaps at Indian Hill is given. The bones were those 

 of women and children buried in a doubled position face downward. 

 The bones were all crushed and broken by the weight of the superincum- 

 bent mass, and 1 obtained but one partially perfect skull. The short time 

 at my disposal here did not permit me to make the work at all thorough. 

 At every point opened on this mound I found human bones, even along 



