SECRETARY'S REPORT 51 



much more progress than would have been the case had the usual 

 hand methods been used throughout. 



The mound sites were particularly important because they contained 

 considerable new information pertaining to several cultural periods 

 in the region. One of them, known as the Cool Branch Mound site, 

 proved to be an unusually fine example of a large burial mound with 

 accompanying village, surrounded by a palisade. The large mound 

 was in the approximate center and the walls were constructed to 

 conform to its orientation. The enclosure was rectilinear, measuring 

 about 700 feet on the side, with 10-foot-square bastions or towers 

 spaced about 115 feet apart. The data obtained indicate that this 

 village conformed quite closely to those which occupied the Gordon 

 sites in Tennessee, the New Madrid sites, Aztalan in Wisconsin, and 

 even the Huff and Black Partizan sites in the middle Missouri Valley. 

 Furthermore, the findings agree closely with the description of the 

 town of Mauvila in Alabama which the Spaniards destroyed in 1540. 

 The village may well have been occupied at the time of the first pene- 

 tration of the Spaniards, but it apparently was abandoned and fell 

 into ruin before the Indians had contact with the Europeans, because 

 no materials of European manufacture were recovered during the 

 course of the excavations. The other locations consisted in the main 

 of former villages, and they yielded specimens representative of all 

 the cultural periods from Early Archaic to Early Historic Creek. 

 The data obtained from them will assist materially in developing 

 the aboriginal history of that area. 



In the last week in April Mr. Huscher resumed his activities in 

 the Walter F. George area. During most of May he continued fur- 

 ther excavations at the Cool Branch site, gathering data on the burial 

 pit which lay beneath the main mound and further information about 

 the palisade walls and general village features. Attention was then 

 turned to an examination of nine sites, one of which had not previ- 

 ously been recorded. Actual excavations were conducted at six of 

 the sites. In view of the limited time available, only three excava- 

 tion squares were dug at most of them, although in one or two cases 

 an additional square was opened. Two of the sites have particular 

 significance. One of them on the Alabama side of the river in the 

 Fort Benning area is presumed to be the location of the last town 

 occupied by the Yuchi in that area. It has not definitely been identi- 

 fied as to name, but the information from it should help to throw 

 considerable light on the length of time that tribe was living that 

 far north along the Chattahoochee River after having been driven 

 from their Tennessee and Savannah River locations. The second site 

 is on the opposite side of the river in Georgia and may well repre- 

 sent an extension or continuation of the Yuchi village in Alabama. 



