146 BULLETIN 1S3, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



shelter and water for a limited number of families dwelling on its 

 banks. Owing to long occupancy by white men, however, traces of 

 earlier settlement are not easily found. The presence of burial mounds 

 on the ridge is evidence of a former community or communities nearby, 

 and since the Missouri bottoms seem not particularly well suited, the 

 habitation sites are probably to be sought on one of the smaller creeks 

 east or west of the ridge. The little town of Avondale, on Rock Creek 

 about half a mile above the mouth of the valley, appears to occupy part 

 of a likely village location. 



At the end of the ridge, overlooking a broad expanse of river bot- 

 toms, and just south of Avondale are two earth mounds (fig. 1, 8). 

 These I did not examine, but in 1934-35 Shippee dug one and witnessed 

 the partial opening of the other. Descriptions that follow are based 

 on a summary report, which he generously prepared at my request. 



The smaller of the two, that on the south opened by Shippee, was 

 about 4 feet high and 30 feet across. Made up of loess from the sub- 

 soil of the hill, it had a 6- to 8-inch top layer of humus ; no old sod line 

 underlying the mound could be detected. Flint chips, broken arti- 

 facts, potsherds, bits of charcoal, and burnt earth were scattered 

 through the fill. It is possible that some of this material represents 

 surface debris gathered up incidentally with the earth used in con- 

 structing the mound. No definite soil stratification, if any existed, 

 is mentioned, but there were areas "of an exceedingly hard mixture 

 of earth which contained ashes, charcoal, flint chips and some broken 

 and discarded or lost artifacts." 



Within the mound, according to Shippee (letter of March 30, 1940), 

 "about 50 burials were found at depths of 18 to 30 inches, 20 inches 

 being the usual depth. Some of these were without skulls and in 

 others a skull alone was found. At the time of excavation all burials 

 were listed as bundle burials. None were extended, but the possibility 

 of a few being flexed has since been recognized. However, very little 

 skeletal material, other than incomplete skulls and long bones, was 

 found, and these were usually placed in the small grave space in a 

 bundle and with the skull in any position. . . Some of these bundles 

 were associated in parallel groups, one of which was marked by a stack 

 of four flat stones. Quite often a single stone seemed to mark a burial. 

 Some groups had been placed so haphazardly that they often over- 

 lapped. The majority of the burials were in the south half of the 

 mound and near the edge. One was found entirely outside the mound 

 area. Two thick beds of coals containing burned human bones were 

 found. One, 5 feet in diameter, a foot deep, and buried under 20 

 inches of earth, was near the south edge of the mound; another, 30 

 inches in diameter and 10 inches deep, was under 18 inches of earth 

 in the western part. A bundle burial covered by a blanketlike layer 



