ANCIENT MOUNDS IN UNION COUNTY, KENTUCKY. 



cut tlirougli the ancient surfoce. The graves dug were filled with 

 mixed and discolored earth. Such a mound as the Lindsay mound'l 

 term a common burial-place, or a burial-place of the common i^eople. 



Cough try 's la ncT ! 



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There are other mounds somcNvhat difieriug from the preceding and 

 evidently for a different use. Of these, No. 1, Diagram Ko. 3, is an ex- 

 ample. This mound is about 125 feet in diameter, and from 9 to 10 feet 

 high. It was examined by digging a ditch 45 feet long, 6 feet wide, and 

 8 feet deep ; beginning about 10 feet from the southeast side, curving a 

 little toward the north to avoid a large tree, and at the middle bearing 

 under in various directions to obtain any articles that might have 

 been buried near the center of the structure. Here I found nothing. I 

 learned after my work was done that many years ago this mound had 

 been examined and some articles obtained at a center opening. 

 Although I added nothing to the collection, I ascertained that this 

 mound was of a different construction, and evidently for a very different 

 purpose from that of the burial mounds. 



The excavation exhibits a central nucleus of sand, about two feet high 

 and twenty feet in diameter. This was built upon, preserviugthe rounded 

 form, the layers of earth thicker in the center, and gradually becoming 

 thinner toward the margin, until the work was completed. The earth 

 over the sandy center appears to have been deposited iu loads of about 

 half a bushel each of the soil and subsoil of the surrounding fields, dis- 

 tinctly marked in sections into mottled layers ; such a structure as 

 would be made if the soil and subsoil were excavated from 15 to 18 

 inches deep around the mound. iN^ear the margin of the mound was 

 found a pit about three feet in diameter, extending into the subsoil 

 about two feet, filled with alternate layers of earth and ashes. The ap- 



