528 MISCELLANEOUS PAP^KS RELATING TO ANTHROPOLOGY. 



MOUNDS NEAR EDWAEDSVILLE, WYANDOTTE COUNTY,, 



KANSAS. 



By E. F. Serviss, of Wijandotte City, Kansas. 



On the farm of William Kouns, on the Kansas Pacific Eailroad, near 

 Edwardsville, Wyandotte County, Kansas, 14 miles west of this citVy 

 there are four mounds that have never been explored. They are situ- 

 ated on the third terrace of the valley of the Kansas Eiver, about one- 

 half mile from it, near a small creek. There is a very large spring about 

 200 yards northeast, and a smaller one about 300 yards northwest. On 

 approaching the mounds from the east we find them extending in a- 

 straight line in a due westerly direction. They are about C feet in 

 height, 25 feet in diameter, about 50 feet from each other at the base^ 

 and of uniform size. They have been somewhat injured by cultivation, 

 the ground having been plowed twice. The soil is a black loam-. Be- 

 fore the clearing of the land the mounds were covered with a heavy 

 growth of timber, principally oak, and the stumps now remaining would 

 indicate great age, averaging from 3 to 4 feet in diameter. A large 

 number of axes, celts, arrow-heads, and other implements have been 

 found in the immediate vicinity of the mounds. 



About two years ago I discovered on the farm of J. L. Stockton, 1 

 mile northwest of this city, remains of an aboriginal workshop or village. 

 It is located on a small stream, called Jersey Creek, and near a large 

 spring. It covers an area of about 2 acres. The soil is sandy, and to 

 the depth of 2 feet is a complete mixture of flakes of flint, ashes, bones 

 (both animal and human), fragments of ornamented pottery, broken aud 

 unfinished stone implements of nearly every description. The fragments 

 of pottery are the most numerous ; there are three kinds as to color; viz, 

 black, brown, and red, composed of a mixture of clay, sand, and pounded 

 shells. The variety of the combinations of lines and dots is inexhausti- 

 ble. I have never found two pieces alike. 



Judging from the degrees of curvature of the fragments, the original 

 vessels were mostly globular, and would hold from one-half pint to one 

 quart. I found a very small vessel, containing powdered bone or hme^ 

 it was globular in shape, would hold about one gill, and was profusely 

 ornamented. There are no deposits of flint and other stone valuable 

 for arrow-making, &c., in this vicinity. The axes, celts, skin-dressers, 

 and balls are all made of porphyry, and the arrow-heads of flint. 



ANTIQUITIES OF MILLS COUNTY, IOWA. 



By Seth Dean, of Glenwood, Iowa. 



Mills County is located on the extreme western boundary of Iowa, and 

 is the second county from the southern boundary. Immediately prior 

 to its settlement by the whites it was the home of the Pottawatomie 



