390 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 19 3 4 



being in the outskirts of the city of Macon, the second about 3 miles 

 below. 



The eastern mound of the Lamar group is interesting because 

 of a spiral counterclockwise ascent which extends around it from 

 base to summit. This mound was cleared but not explored, the ex- 

 cavations at Lamar being confined to the west mound, which is 

 roughly quadrilateral in shape, and to the village site. On the 

 east side of the west mound a section was made which demonstrated 

 a change in pottery types between the lower and upper levels. The 

 house plans in the village proved to be rectangular in form. 



Excavations were conducted on all of the principal mounds of 

 the Macon group. A deep shaft was sunk from the top of mound 

 A about half-way to the bottom. This mound, which is 45 feet in 

 height, is one of the highest in the United States, and its impres- 

 siveness is enhanced by the fact of its being erected on the end of 

 a high ridge which falls away steeply toward the river and which 

 places the summit of the mound 105 feet above the river level. A 

 section was made on one side of mound B, which is closely con- 

 nected with mound A by a section of the ridge on which mound 

 A is constructed. 



Much more extensive work was done on mound C and on a 

 later village site along its eastern margin. Numerous burials, the 

 bones usually in an advanced state of decay, were found, some 

 accompanied by beads and one with copper ornaments. A com- 

 plete section of the northern side of the mound was made (pi. 4. 

 fig. 1). This section had already been partly exposed by a railway 

 cut. At least five successive construction levels were disclosed, the 

 top of the mound in each case having been sealed with either slate- 

 colored or vivid red clay. At the very bottom of the mound, head to 

 the west, lay a skeleton on wooden crosspieces flanked on each side 

 by uprights of the same material. About the neck were many disk- 

 shaped shell beads. The original mound structure was evidently 

 directly related to this particular burial. 



Mound D, while not as imposing in appearance as any of the 

 foregoing, proved to be in many ways the most interesting and 

 important. This mound consisted of two sections separated by a 

 depression. The smaller section when excavated proved to be the 

 ruins of a circular council house, the red clay roof of which had 

 fortunately buried the floor sufficiently deep to protect it from the 

 white man's plow. Clay seats for 50 people encircle the wall of the 

 structure. In front of each seat is a depression, evidently con- 

 structed to serve as a receptacle. All but three of the seats are sepa- 

 rated from one another by clay ridges. The three exceptions, evi- 

 dently intended for the leading men, are upon a raised dais or alter, 



