ETHNOLOGY. 403 



ANCIEXT BURIAL MOUND IN INDIANA. 



Bv William Pidgeon. 



At Viucennes, Indiana, in 1859, in the removal of a l>attle burial mound, I 

 noticed features altogether unlike any I had previously seen. It seems not only 

 to have been used as a deposit for the fallen warriors, but also as a place in 

 later times where bodies w^ere consumed by fire. That this was a custom of the 

 mound builders for many ag'es I have no doubt. This mound was removed 

 from a plat of ground owned by Ilasselback & Co., in the suburbs of the city, 

 and occupied as a distillery stock-yard. It was larger than mounds usually are 

 of that description, and at the time of its removal it had a diameter at the base of 66 

 feet and a perpendicular altitude of 16. I think it was originally more pyramidal 

 in form, its expansion at the base having been increased hy the tread of animals. 

 It has frequently been observed in the forest, where civilization has not yet 

 reached, that the battle burial mounds have an altitude of about one-third of the 

 diameter of the base. This mound, however, was the place of resort, for two 

 years, of several hundred hogs and cattle, enclosed within less than three acres, 

 although the surface, destitute of vegetation, seemed to resist all impressions 

 from the horns, hoofs, or snouts of the animals. It was removed in a manner 

 that favored the most critical investigation. The excavation, beginning at the 

 south side of the base, was continued on a level to the opposite side, presenting, 

 in well-defined outline, four separate stratifications above the first, which con- 

 sisted of a bed of human bones, arranged in a circle of 18 feet in diameter, 

 closely packed and pressed together, so much so that it was with difiiculty that 

 we raised from the entire mass two leg-bones retaining their primitive length, 

 which was twenty-seven inches. Others longer and shorter were seen, but could 

 not be disinterred. Around the outer edge of this circle the stratum was thinner 

 than in the centre ; skulls, legs, rib and ])ack bones lying, promiscuously 

 mingled, indicating a pile of bodies thrown together in pyramidal form. This 

 dejjosit Avas covered with a stratum of tough, grayish clay, that resisted satura- 

 tion almost as well as tallow ; the stratum of l>ones and clay each being thirty- 

 three inches in depth at the centre, the clay retaining its thickness throughout. 

 The third stratum was composed of earth that seemed to be formed of ashes, 

 with an occasional speck of calcined bone throughout the entire mass, but abund- 

 ant near the centre. Above this was a twelve-inch stratum, resembling the 

 subsoil around the mound, the whole being covered with clay that resists satu- 

 ration to an extent that, if protected by grass, would resist the elements for 

 centuries. 



ANCIExNT REMAINS IN COLORADO. 



By E. L. Bertiioud. 



Mat 21, 1867. 

 About half a mile west of Golden city, Jefferson county, Colorado Territory, 

 and near the entrance of the canon of Clear creek, are ruins, formed of an old 

 broken down circumvallating circle of rough stone derived from the neighboring 

 mountains and a sandstone ridge south of them. These ruins are at the j miction 

 of a ravine ten feet in depth and the bed of the creek, which is about twenty feet 

 vertically lielow the wall. A large amount of stone has been taken for founda- 

 tion walls, &c., but enough remains to give an outline of its position and shape. 

 The stones are in many ])laccs imbedded in the soil and mossy A\'itli nge. On 

 the soutli side is a pit twelve feet wide and about fifteen to eighteen inches deep, 

 shaped like a saucer. The central mound, very plainly discernable, is nowhere 



