MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS RELATING TO ANTHROPOLOGY. 603 



municating with tlje smaller works to the S. E. Probably communica- 

 tions might have existed throughout from one work to the other, though 

 they cannot now be distinctly traced. 



"The embankments of these works are of a bright yellow clay, differ 

 erent from that which appears on the surface of the surrounding ground, 

 hence the form of the works can be distinctly seen and traced as far as 

 the eve can see them." 



MOUNDS IN BOYLE AND MEECER COUNTIES, KENTUCKY. 



By W. M. Linnet, of Rarrodshurg, Ky. 



In the counties of Boyle and Mercer, State of Kentucky, there are a 

 number of mounds, graves, &c., which were constructed by former in- 

 habitants of the country, and many aboriginal implements have been 

 found. On the map of Boyle and Mercer Counties I have located all 

 points of interest that I have been able to learn. They will be alluded 

 to more particularly in the following notes by the letters that are con- 

 nected with them. The point of greatest interest (A on the map) is 

 situated on the west bank of Salt Eiver, in Mercer County, a little north 

 of its union with Boyle County, on a farm owned by Dr. Thomas Hyle, 

 Tlie first notice given of this point is found in "Collins' History of Ken- 

 tucky," under the head of Mercer County. Speaking of ancient towns 

 and fortifications, it says : "There are two of these, both on Salt River, 

 about 4 miles above Harrodsburg, containing ditches and a mound 10 

 or 12 feet high, filled with human bones and broken pieces of crockery- 

 ware. On one side of the mound a hickory tree, about 2 feet in diam- 

 eter, grew and was blown up by the roots, making a hole 3 or 4 feet 

 deep. Its lower root drew up a large piece of crockery- ware which had 

 been on some fire coals. The handle was attached to it, and human hair 

 lay on the coals. This was probably a place of human sacrifice. The 

 other ruins were about a mile and a half above this, both being on the 

 west bank of Salt Eiver. There is no mound near this, but only the 

 remains dug out of ditches." 



The ground has been cleared, and the continual cultivation of the 

 land has tilled up the ditches and removed all traces of any lines that 

 once existed. The mound has also been removed by the plow. From 

 it have been taken, as cultivation yearly went on, the bones of a num- 

 ber of human skeletons, none of which were retained, few of them be- 

 ing in a good state of preservation ; the skulls crushed to fragments and 

 the soft ends of the bones, with few exceptions, gone entirely.' I do not 

 know that any relics have been taken from the mound proper, except 

 some shell bead?;. The river bank here is only about 15 feet high, and 

 the slope back from the river is not more than 2°. The mound stood 

 200 yards from the stream. Between those points there must have been 

 a village of huts or some form of hal)itation; for even now, when the 



