ARCHEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS IN MISSOURI 113 



The central chamber was subrectangular in form, oriented with the 

 long axis northwest to southeast. The northwest wall was 76 inches 

 long, the southwest wall 92 inches, the northeast wall 86 inches, and 

 the southeast wall 87 inches. At the rear of the chamber the wall was 

 3 feet high ; elsewhere it varied from 24 to 30 inches. The walls were 

 built up, without mortar, of unshaped limestone slabs and blocks, four 

 or five courses being all that were necessary. Scattering rocks were 

 fire-reddened, but in all cases the adjoining stones showed no such dis- 

 coloration. Broken joints at the corners were not noted. The north- 

 east wall had sagged inward a few inches at the top; the others leaned 

 outward slightly. All rested on a flat loess floor, and presented a 

 reasonably even interior face. Backing the walls were other stones, 

 some flat lying, others leaning, all placed evidently with less care and 

 exactness than those used in the walls. 



Interrupting the southeast wall was a short passageway 26 inches 

 wide; its inner end was 37 inches from the south corner of the en- 

 closure but only 24 inches from the east comer. Short laid-up walls 

 flanked the passage where it cut through the outer buttressing stones ; 

 that on the west side leaned in slightly at the top. The passage was 

 about 5 feet long, which figure also holds for the thickness of the wall 

 and backing stones on the southeast side of the structure. 



The earlier digging, as already noted, had been pretty well confined 

 to the center of the enclosure; it had also been done with less than the 

 customary thoroughness. The floor of the chamber had been reached, 

 but a strip 1 to 2 feet Avide lying just within the base of the walls and 

 all around the enclosure had not been disturbed. Here, lying on and 

 a few inches above the loess floor, were the skulls and at least some of 

 the other bones of seven burials. The earth above them contained 

 scattered stones, but it is not certain whether these formerly lay across 

 the top of the enclosure or are due to other factors. Bits of charcoal 

 and burnt clay were also scattered through the earth fill. 



For the most part the skeletal remains lay near or against the rear 

 and northeast walls (pi. 34, c, d), and were evidently the results of 

 secondary burial. Skull 1, broken, lay in the east corner; No. 2 was 

 a few inches from the northeast wall, and Nos. 3-7 lay in a scattered 

 group at the rear. There is a bare possibility that No. 2, along with 

 paired tibiae, fibulae, and femora extending to the corner of the 

 passage, represented a primary supine interment, most of whose torso 

 and arms had been somehow displaced or removed. Otherwise, the 

 long bones found had been piled promiscuously over and among the 

 various skulls in such disorder that related skeletal parts could not be 

 segregated. Skulls 6 and 7, both broken and incomplete, were burned 

 to a shiny black color, and a few of the other bones also showed 

 evidence of exposure to fire, but the majority were unburned. The 



