ARCHEOLOGXCAL INVESTIGATIONS IN AOSSOURI 137 



doubtedly show that some were so utilized. The few specimens that 

 came to our attention suggest that at least two different groups may 

 have been in the valley, but whether both had villages here cannot 

 be stated from the evidence at hand. Likewise, it is impossible at 

 present to say with certainty what particular group erected the burial 

 mounds at the Young site. 



Earth Mounds 



SHEPHERD MOUND 



Some weeks after the close of our 1938 excavations in Platte 

 County, I was informed by Mr. Shippee that a large mound near 

 Smithville had been recently opened by two young men. The meth- 

 ods employed, beginning with a tractor and slip and apparently 

 utilizing no tools smaller than pick and shovel, had entailed the loss 

 of much important information as well as of most human and cul- 

 tural materials not seen intact by the diggers. The remarks that 

 follow are based on brief observations by Mr. Shippee and myself 

 made on a hurried visit to the mound on September 9 and 10. More 

 than half the mound had been razed at the time, but lack of funds 

 and time prevented our taking advantage of the owner's stated will- 

 ingness to let us make a thorough study through excavation of the 

 remaining portions. A small collection of pottery, stone artifacts, 

 and badly broken human skeletal remains, said to have come out of 

 the mound, was acquired for the National Museum through purchase. 



The mound was situated on a high point, owned by J. C. Shep- 

 herd, about iy2 miles west by north of Smithville, and about a quarter 

 of a mile west of the Platte-Clay County line (fig. 1). To the east 

 is a deep canyon ; on the north and west, about a third of a mile dis- 

 tant, the Little Platte River curves past to empty into the Platte 

 4^ miles due west. The valley is well timbered, bordered by ir- 

 regular bluffs, and exceedingly pleasing to the eye. Northwest of 

 the mound the river now flows close to its right bank, but a winding 

 marshy strip indicates that at a time not long past the current swept 

 along the foot of the promontory capped by the mound. The nearest 

 terrace on which a village site might be searched for is three-fourths 

 of a mile northeast across the river. Lying at an elevation of 880 

 feet, the mound is about 100 feet above the valley bottom. The Steed- 

 Kisker site is 14 miles to the southwest, airline ; the Renner site lies 

 about 15 miles due south. 



In diameter and height the Shepherd mound (pi. 38, h) exceeds any 

 other artificial tumulus of aboriginal origin seen by or reported to the 

 writer in northwestern Missouri. The circular base, occupying most 

 of the available hilltop, was approximately 90 feet in diameter. The 



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