MOUNDS IN WISCONSIN. 249 



of a young mound-builder were found, probably not more tban six years 

 of age, and in a sitting posture. Only a few pieces of the cranium, sev- 

 eral vertebrae, portions of tbe long bones of the extremities, and the su- 

 perior and interior maxillary were found. Several teeth were still in the 

 alveolar process of the superior maxillary. Many pieces of flint, a few- 

 shell beads, and two fossil teeth of some animal, about one inch and a 

 half long, were taken from the same vicinity. About one foot from these 

 remains three pieces of ancient pottery were discovered. The largest 

 piece measured 4J by 5J inches, and bore indications of having been 

 part of the bottom of an earthen bowl. It was smooth on the inner sur- 

 face, and marked externally by oblique lines, such as are frequently 

 found upon tbe ancient pottery of the mound-builders. 



The drift was continued toward the center of the tumulus as far as the 

 shaft and then downward to the natural bed of yellow clay. Just before 

 reaching the shaft, and after removing a course of magnesian limestone 

 and yellow and red sandstone, a few bones of the cranium and portions 

 of the long bones of another adult mound builder were found. These 

 were all that remained of this skeleton. . 



Many flat stones were found below the skeleton, upon which lay char- 

 coal, ashes, and decayed wood. Large pieces of flint were quite numer- 

 ous in this vicinity. Some of the stones had been exposed to such 

 intense beat, that they crumbled to pieces on handling them. At the 

 junction of the drift and the perpendicular shaft a pillar of earth was 

 encountered. On removing this, a few bones of the foot of the first skele- 

 ton were found, together with large quantities of ashes, charcoal, decayed 

 wood, and flints. A flat disk of stone, one-fourth of an inch in thickness 

 and 4 inches in diameter, was removed from the earth forming the pillar. 

 Similar stone disks have been met with in other ancient mounds, and 

 are supposed to have been used by them in playing games. 



Mound iS"o. 2, circular in form, and located a few yards from mound 

 Ko. 1, was then explored. It was about 5 feet high and 130 feet in 

 circumference. 



A drift G feet wide was made in the side of it, on a level with the sur- 

 rounding ground. After removing the surface, a layer of gravel and 

 pebbles to the depth of 1 foot was encountered, and at the summit there 

 was a course of sand, dipping downward ; this was followed by a course 

 of black earth about 3 feet deep. Below this there was a third stratum 

 of gravel and sand ; then a course of earth to the depth of 1 foot. A 

 thin stratum of sand was then removed, which revealed ashes, charcoal, 

 and pieces of flint lying upon an altar of stone resting upon a bed of 

 yellow clay. This altar was about 1^ feet below the natural surface. 

 The excavation was continued 1^ feet deeper, but nothing was found. 



A few feet from the summit of this mound there was a tree, measur- 

 ing 5^ feet in circumference. In the side of this tree, and fastened in 

 the bark, was a stone pestle. This had evidently been carried upward 

 though the mound by the growth of the tree. The bark of the tree was 



