MOUNDS IN IOWA. 583 



This mound appears to have been used not only as a burial mound, 

 but as a cremation mound as well. It is known that the human remains 

 found in the majority of the mounds of this group had been elsewhere 

 cremated before being placed in the mounds. 



No. 22, a mound of the same dimensions as the last, and 30 feet dis- 

 tant from it. Surface occupied by a few hazel brush and young oaks. 

 Near the center, and 2 feet below the surface of the mound, a bundle of 

 bones was found, together with a portion of a skull; all of which were 

 in a much decayed condition. The bundle of bones lay due northeast 

 and southwest. Distributed through the mound were pieces of oak 

 charcoal and burned clay which had been brought in. There was no 

 evidence that fire was used at this burial here. The soil around and 

 for some inches above the bones had been beaten hard. 



No. 23, 25 feet from No. 22, was a circular flattened mound, 30 feet in 

 diameter and 1 foot high. The surface was occupied by hazel brush and 

 a few small and medium-sized oak trees. A partial exploration of this 

 mound was made, but no relics were found or evidence of fire observed. 



No. 24, a mound, 25 feet from No. 23, circular, 45 feet in diameter and 

 1^ feet in height. Surface occupied by the same class of vegetation as 

 the last. Three feet south of the center of the mound came upon a bun- 

 dle of bones lying due east and west. Lying one on the east end and one 

 on the west end of these bones, were two skulls. The skull occupying 

 a position on the east end, lay on its left side facing south by southwest. 

 Skull large, of moderate thickness, forehead low and sloping abruptly 

 backward ; teeth large and strong, and with crowns of molars and pre- 

 molars worn smooth, indicating an old individual. As this skull soon 

 crumbled in pieces on exposure to the atmosphere, definite measure- 

 ments were not taken. The second skull was in a crushed condition, 

 although a partial reconstruction of its parts was possible. Through 

 the back part of the skull (left parietal bone) were three circular holes 

 arranged in a line (the smaller one in the center), 5, 8, and 11 millime- 

 ters in diameter respectively. Whether these perforations were made 

 by human hands or by the agency of some insect or its boring larva, 

 after the burial of the bones and their softening by decay, we are unable 

 to state. The latter supposition, however, seems to us the most probable. 



No. 25, a circular mound, 45 feet wide, 3 feet high, and 20 feet distant 

 from No. 24. Surface occupied by the same, but more dense, arboreal 

 vegetation and undergrowth as occupies the surface of many of the other 

 mounds. An exploration of this mound revealed nothing save a few 

 scattered fragments of charcoal and burned clay, which had been brought 

 in from some other locality. The material of the mound had been tramped 

 hard. 



No. 26, a mound about 53 feet distant from the last, circular, 33 feet 

 in diameter, and 3 feet in height. Surface occupied by a few brush and 

 the stumps of three oaks, one showing forty-eight and another sixty-one 

 annual rings. Nothing w as found in this mound except a few small 

 pieces of charcoal of oak wood. 



