MOUNDS IN SPOON RIVER VALLEY, ILLINOIS 835 



camping places, and white flint was used for arrows, as the flakes show. 

 On these spots will also be found blackened stones, arrows, pestles, mor- 

 tars, axes, &c, showing that here once stood an aboriginal eucampinent. 

 Each plowing of the ground reveals relics, most of which are carried to 

 the house and " given to the children to play with." 



Of relics found in this county may be enumerated: Axes, stone and 

 copper, arrows, spears, pestles, mortars, pottery, pipes, hoes, spades, 

 knives, whetstones, "picks," stone pendants, and flat oval stones with 

 holes at each end. While the mounds of this county are very poor in 

 relics, the ancient camping places are rich. In the writer's collection is 

 an ax found on the field .mentioned that weighs 9£ pounds, and is of 

 perfect form. A few miles farther up the river one was found that 

 weighs lOi pounds ; it is now in the Illinois State Museum. Near a 

 spring on the South Fork of the Sangamon a gentleman dug up a hand- 

 some little copper ax, which is in the writer's collection. It is the only 

 piece of copper that has so far been found in the county. Axes occur 

 of all sizes known to collectors. Arrow and spear heads range from 

 three-quarters of an inch to 6 inches in length. The writer has one 

 pestle, one mortar, two hoes, and a fine spade. The latter was found 

 by a Mr. Dawson, about 100 yards south of the "Dawson Mounds," and 

 is 13£ inches in length by 5 J in breadth. It is quite smooth at each end, 

 showing that it was used a great deal. . A stone pick was found about 

 a mile north of Springfield. It is about inches in length, shaped like 

 the common pick without a hole, however, and was probably fastened 

 in the usual way by a withe. Only one end of it was ever used. In the 

 writer's collection is also a plummet of Missouri iron ore, but it was found 

 on Lily Lake, in Fayette County, Illinois. 



MOUNDS IN SPOON RIVER VALLEY, ILLINOIS. 



By W. H. Adams, of Elmore, HI. 



On the north side of Spoon River, 75 yards distant, 80 rods west of 

 the east line, and 20 rods south of the north line of Sec. 12, T. 11 N., R. 

 43 E., of the fourth principal meridian, is a round mound about 30 feet 

 in diameter, called by those in the neighborhood a " hog-back." On the 

 highest point of the hog-back, at the surface, is some evidence of fire. 

 The evidence of a former fire increases very rapidly. At a depth of 12 

 to 16 inches I found five skeletons, nearly all the bones of which were 

 calcined by fire, and many of them entirely consumed. One of the 

 skulls lay to the north, one to the northwest, one to the southwest, 

 one to the south, and one to the northeast. With the bones were frag- 

 ments of sandstone burnt red. At or near each skull, and nearly on a 

 line between the point of the shoulder and ear, was a water-worn peb- 



