ARCHEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS IN MISSOURI 89 



tion with reference to a common center at its summit that were they 

 to sit up nearly all would have been facing counterclockwise around 

 it (fig. 11). Whether this rather curious arrangement and the appar- 

 ent avoidance of the hilltop itself had any ritualistic or esoteric sig- 

 nificance is uncertain, though it is possible that the graves were 

 arranged with reference to some ceremonial structure or feature on 

 the point of the hill. I am inclined to believe that more practical 

 considerations may have been involved. There is no way of deter- 

 mining the amount of soil washed off the hill in the 50 years or more 

 of cultivation to which it has been subjected, but it seems reasonable 

 to assume that the graves were originally at least 2 feet deep. A grave 

 of this depth 6 feet long by 2 feet wide would have necessitated re- 

 moval of nearly 20 percent less earth if dug across the slope than if 

 dug parallel to it, provided the corpse had to be laid flat or nearly so. 

 On the other hand, such a saving of labor could as easily have been 

 effected by placing the graves on the ridge a short distance to the 

 north. None of the possible interpretations which suggests itself is 

 without its difficulties, and in the absence of direct evidence none can 

 be advanced as a conclusive explanation. Perhaps native beliefs and 

 practical considerations were both instrumental in determining posi- 

 tion and orientation of the dead. 



Flexed and semiflexed burials (respectively Nos. 67, 68, and 26, 71, 

 79) were scattered among the others, and there is no reason to regard 

 them as intrusive or as representing a time markedly different from 

 that during which the other interments were made. The term "flexed" 

 here denotes burials where the knees form an acute angle with the 

 axis of the trunk, with the feet drawn up against the buttocks. Semi- 

 flexed burials (pi. 31, c) usually have the knees at a right or obtuse 

 angle, with the feet sometimes, but not always, against the buttocks. 

 Burials 67 and 68 were quite fragmentary, but the former position of 

 the various bones was determined beyond reasonable doubt. This 

 flexed type is illustrated in plate 31, d. 



The bundle burials, strikingly different from the majority of those 

 with which they were surrounded, may have different connotations, 

 but if so these cannot now be evaluated. Best preserved of all the 

 remains were those of the bundle including Nos. 15 and 28, which 

 were evidently those of two individuals interred together (pi. 31, e). 

 The long bones of each individual were neatly stacked in two con- 

 tiguous piles with the respective skulls at opposing ends of the proper 

 pile. About 10 inches above the bones lay a limestone slab, which 

 may have been part of a grave covering. Burial 7, also classed as a 

 bundle, although less clearly defined than the preceding, was likewise 

 partially covered with slabs. Nos. 41 and 42 are somewhat doubtful, 

 possibly representing disturbed or reburials. It is barely possible 



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