ANCIENT MOUNDS IN UNION COUNTY, KENTUCKY. 405 



a dug burial-place indicates a later burial and a race of ditlerent habits. 

 I have no hypothesis as to the time these mounds were made. They 

 do not appear to have been constructed by a warlike race. Only two 

 bodies, of about 1,000, tliat I have encountered seem to have been 

 buried with anything like arms. 



To one who has made a study of the mound-builders, the groups of 

 mounds (Diagram o) would otter great inducements for investigation. 



I have observed some remarkable facts in reference to the mounds, 

 but they are too few in number and too disconnected to form a good 

 foundation for a true theory of the life and condition of the mound- 

 builders of this district. A careful examination of the cranica by a 

 competent person will perhaps throw some light on the intellectual con- 

 dition of this people. 



This report is hastily written from my notes made in the field. It may 

 serve, liowever, as part of the basis of a regular work, to be prepared 

 by some properly qualified person who jnay have the results of this inves- 

 tigation before him. In my examination of the mounds I was compelled 

 to pack away the articles collected as fast as they came to hand, the sun 

 affecting the bones injuriously. 



To any one who may continue this work I would recommend the 

 months of September and October, with tents, and all such con- 

 veniences as will enable the party to make full notes. Let the laborers 

 be hired for the trip, and informed as to what they are to do and 

 how they are to do it. Many crania and burial-vases in good con- 

 dition when reached, were broken by the haste, awkwardness, ov 

 carelessness of the men. "With proper preparation and careful, indu;;- 

 trious laborers, important results may be expected. 



Probably many of the articles, especially the bones sent, vill be throvrn 

 out as useless. Some of the bones were packed ui> and forwarded to 

 show how much they were decayed. Many long bones were sent to de- 

 termine the stature of these people. It was a common remark du:.ing 

 the work that the bones were of very large size. I thiidv the men were 

 generally under size — not so large as the men of this age. 



A considerable number of ribs were taken from the L"idsay mound 

 under the impression that they indicated bodies less round than the 

 present races. This question I am not able to answer ,• but I have, on 

 much reflection, concluded that the j)eculiar form of these ribs is in a 

 great measure due to the pressure of the earth on the bodies. 



In unpacking the bones sent I would recommend that each parcel as it 

 is opened be washed and dipped in v^-eak glue, when dry, that each bone, 

 intended for preservation, receive a thin coat of the best copal varnish. 

 This was the treatment I gave to the bones sent to the Institution in 

 1850, taken from the Eobinson mound. 



