418 ETHNOLOGY. 



MOUNDS NEAR ANXA, UNION COUNTY, ILLINOIS, 



By T. M. Perrin. 



The most extensive works of the mouud-builders iu this comity are 

 situated iu the Mississippi bottom, fifteen miles from Anna. At that 

 point the creek maizes a bend resembling very much in shape a horse- 

 shoe, which renders the place very favorable "for a defensive work. The 

 earth- work follows the bend in the creek, and is, at this time, about 4 

 feet high. The entrance to the inclosure is on the south side, with a 

 large oblong mound in front of the opening. This mound is about 30 

 feet by 50, and about 30 feet high at the highest point, with a depres- 

 sion in the center, which makes it appear in profile like a double mound. 



West of this mound, a short distance, is a round mound about 30 feet 

 in diameter and 15 feet high. The earth-work incloses about twenty 

 acres. Within the area of the inclosure there is another mound cover- 

 ing about two acres, which is evidently a sepulchral remain, as a large 

 number of skeletons have been found in it, none of them i^erfect, how- 

 ever, though the earth is compact and dry. The skulls are very large, 

 but fall to pieces on being exposed to the air. One skull has been found 

 that would have measured 36 inches in circumference. The skeletons 

 in this mound were all carefully inclosed with flat stones, each skeleton 

 being separate. 



The other mounds appear to have been used for another purpose, 

 probably for defense, as nothing has been found in them. Half of the 

 inclosure, as well as all the mounds, are in a cultivated field. The round 

 mound to the west of the opening and part of the earth work are in the 

 woods, and covered with large timber. In the sepulchral mound are 

 found pottery- ware, and stone and flint articles, but no metal or bone 

 implements. One mile northeast of this, on a high beach-flat, and over- 

 looking a lake, is another sepulchral mound, but no earth-work. In this 

 mound nothing was found with the skeletons. This, like the former, 

 has stone around each skeleton, but the grave is not more than 3 feet 

 long and 18 inches deep. The body must have been buried with the 

 feet drawn up to the trunk. 



Five miles north of this there is another mound, on the top of the 

 highest hill in the vicinity, and bordering on Bluff Lake. Nothing has 

 been found in connection with this except two or three copper rings — 

 no skeletons, although indications are that it has been used for burial 

 l^urposes. 



About one and a half miles northwest of the last-mentioned mound 

 there is another sepulchral mound, but as it is in a cultivated field it is 

 now very nearly level with the surface of the ground ; but only recently 

 have any skeletons been found in it, which tends to show that they were 

 buried in the bottom of the mound and are brought to light every 

 year as the plow removes some of the stones placed around the graves. 



