252 ANTIQUITIES OF MISSOURI. 



Kansas River, directly opposite. They are found for several miles np 

 and down the river, scattered in groups of three and five. They are of 

 two kinds, one made entirely of earth, the other has an interior con- 

 struction of stone, but outwardly they are all similar in appearance. 

 They are of an irregular oval shape, about GO or 75 feet in length at the 

 base, and from 4 to 6 feet high. All have had a heavy growth of tim- 

 ber on them. On the apex of one, a stone mound, I noticed a large 

 burr oak about 5 feet in diameter, and on another, the decayed stump 

 of a black walnut about the same size. 



We have not yet made any extended investigation of these mounds, 

 but examined partially one group of five, three of which were of earth 

 and two of stone and earth. In the center of No. 1, an earth mound, 

 at a depth of about five feet, we found a human skeleton, lying north 

 and south, with its face to the east. The bones were so fragile that 

 we could only get them out in fragments. The skull fell to pieces as 

 soon as exposed to the air ; we, however, saved the frontal bone in 

 tolerably good condition. We did not notice any very marked peculiar- 

 ity as to these bones except their great size and thickness, and the great 

 jirominence of the supraciliary ridges. The teeth were worn down to 

 a smooth and even surface. The next one we opened was a stone mound. 

 On clearing off the top of this we came upon a stone wall inclosing an 

 area about 8 feet square, with a narrow opening for a doorway or en- 

 trance on the south side. The wall of this inclosure was about 2 feet 

 thick ; the inside was as smooth and compactly built and the cor- 

 ners as correctly squared as if constructed by a practical workman. 

 No mortar had been used. At a depth of about 2 feet from the top 

 of the wall we found a layer of five skeletons lying with their feet 

 toward the south. The bones were in the same condition as those 

 of No. 1. We saved two or three of the skulls in a tolerable condition, 

 by coating them with thick varnish as soon as exposed. We did not go 

 any deeper in this mound ; but there are probably other layers of bones 

 beneath the ones we uncovered. Mound No. 3 was also a stone mound, 

 and contained a stone wall inclosing a room about the same size as that 

 in No. 2, but was built in a very rough manner as compared with the 

 other. AYe removed the earth of about half of this inclosure, but found 

 nothing inside but a mass of charcoal, ashes, and burnt human bones. 

 The walls and earth around them appeared to have been subjected to 

 long-continued heat, and the place had evidently been used for crema- 

 tion or sacrifice. No. 4 was a very large earth mound. In the center 

 of this, at a depth of four feet, we found a small pile of loose stones 

 covering a few handfuls of broken and calcined human bones, too frag- 

 mentary to make anything out of them. This was the extent of our ex- 

 plorations at this time. No flint implementvS, pottery, or any other 

 relics were found with the bones. A farmer living in the vicinity reports 

 having ploughed up a lot of pottery ; but it was, unfortunately, all de- 

 fitroyed by his boys, who threw it on a burning log heap to see if it 



