ANCIENT MOUNDS IN UNION COUNTY, KENTUCKY. 397 



pearaDce v>as sucli as would be presented if a pit were dug of tlie di- 

 lueiisions stated, a considerable amount of wood burned iu it, after a long 

 interval of time (leaves and earth having accumulated half a foot thick) 

 a large fire again made and long continued, producing an inch thick- 

 ness of ashes, the fire suiiered to burn out and no coals left, thus adding 

 successive layers of ashes and earth until the hole was full. The fires 

 must have been repeated seven or eight times, lining the entire hole 

 with ashes, and gradually filling the excavation. 



No. 8, Diagram 3, was next examined. This is a low mound, 45 feet 

 in diameter, formed of sandy loam, very uniform in quality and color. 

 Eounded pebbles of the same character and general appearance as those 

 on the shore of the Ohio, one and a quarter mile distant, were found 

 buried in groups of two, three, five, and seven. Attracted by this group- 

 ing of the i)ebbles a large amount of labor was bestowed on this mound. 

 It had evidently not been made for a burial-place. 



No. 3 appearing of the right form, and not being on cultivated land 

 liable to be injured by the excavated materials, was more than half dug 

 over by my party to a depth of three feet. It yielded broken iJottery, 

 rough fragments of flint, burnt surfaces from one to three feet deep, 

 but nothing worth preserving. 



By permission of the proprietor, and promised payment for the corn 

 destroyed, I opened mound No. 4. This, like the Lindsay mound, proved 

 to be a common burial-place. Pottery and broken pots strewed the 

 ground. The top of the mound had been reduced by cultivation. Some 

 of the bodies had been half cut away by the plow, and most of the bur- 

 ial vases broken. I dug this mound entirely over. The bones found 

 were very tender. With one skeleton was a parcel of paint, a large 

 double-pointed flint, and a small one; an arrow-head, a small piece of 

 specular (?) iron ore from Missouri or Arkansas, and some small flints. 

 The broken pot was a large one, placed near the shoulder on the left 

 arm. Only a few of the burial urns escaped the plow, roots, frost, and 

 the spades of my men. I sent in the box (marked McCoughtry mound 

 on some of the j)arcels) every thing supposed to be of interest. My 

 own experience teaches me that clay or tough, loamy soil is not as 

 good a material to preserve the bones and pottery as the fine siliceous 

 earth. (Loess of Dr. D. D. Owen. See Kentucky Eeports.) 



I next began operations on the first range of low hills immedi- 

 ately in the rear of Uniontown, nearly south of the mouth of Highland 

 Creek, Diagram No 4. This group consists of seven mounds, three large 

 and four small ones. Southeast lies a group of three, and south of these 

 another group of three ; Nos. 14 and 15 are about fifty yards apart, 

 40 feet diameter, 8 to 10 feet high, about the size of Nos. 3, 4, and 5. 

 Nos. 1, 2, C, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13 are low mounds, varying in size 

 from 25 feet to GO feet diameter, and from 3 to 4 feet in height. Near 

 the mouth of Highland Creek is a Kitchen mound. There are a few In- 

 dian burials along the line of the river bank. These are covered with 



