CHAPTER XVII. 



CRANIA FROM THE MOUNDS. 



It has already been several times observed that the human remains found in 

 the mounds are of different eras. The superficial burials, it has been abundantly 

 shown, are of comparatively late date, and are to be ascribed to the Indian tribes 

 found in occupation of the country, at the period of its discovery in the fifteenth 

 century. These skeletons are seldom deposited more than two or three feet 

 below" the surface, and are generally perfect ; the crania rarely if ever crushed, 

 and the bones still retaining a portion of their animal matter. In the ancient 

 burials, on the other hand, the skeletons are almost invariably found at the base of 

 the mounds, and in such a state of decay as to render all attempts to restore the 

 skull, or indeed any part of the skeleton, entirely hopeless. The crania, when not 

 so much decomposed as to crumble to powder beneath the touch, are crushed and 

 flattened by the falling in of the sepulchral chambers, and by the weight of the 

 superincumbent earth. 



We are therefore unable to present much new light upon the cranial conforma- 

 tion of the race of the mounds. The only skull incontestibly belonging to an 

 individual of that race, which has been recovered entire, or sufficiently well 

 preserved to be of value for purposes of comparison, was taken from the hill- 

 mound, numbered 8 in the Map of a section of twelve miles of the Scioto valley, 

 Plate II. Plate XLVII is a full-sized side view, and Plate XLVIII presents 

 reduced vertical and front views of the skull in question. 



The circumstances under which this skull was found are altogether so extra- 

 oi'dinary, as to merit a detailed account. It will be observed from the map, that 

 the mound above indicated is situated upon the summit of a high hill, overlooking 

 the valley of the Scioto, about four miles below the city of Chillicothe. It is one 

 of the most prominent and commanding positions in that section of country. Upon 

 the summit of this hill rises a conical knoll of so great regularity as almost to induce 

 the belief that it is itself artificial. Upon the very apex of this knoll, and covered 

 by the trees of the primitive forest, is the mound. It is about eight feet high by 

 forty-five or fifty feet base. The superstructure is a tough yellow clay, which at 

 the depth of three feet is intermixed with large rough stones, as shown in the 

 accompanying section, Fig. 199. 



These stones rest upon a dry carbonaceous deposit of burned earth and small 

 stones, of a dark black color, and much compacted. This deposit is about two 

 feet in thickness in the centre, and rests upon the original soil. In excavating the 

 mound, a large plate of mica was discovered placed upon the stones, at the point 

 indicated by the letter u in the section. Immediately underneatli this plate of 



