152 BULLETIN IS 3, TNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



bank of the river nearly all contain buried chambers or vaults, built of stone, 

 compactly and regularly laid, quadrangular on the inside and circular on the 

 outside. The stones, vphich are undressed, on the inside are laid horizontally, 

 and apparently have been selected with great care, the walls presenting, when 

 the earth is removed, a smooth inner face. 



The chambers, as far as opened, are nearly uniform in size and construction, 

 being 8^4 by 8^ feet, with the exception of one, which is 7^2 hy 8 feet, internal 

 linear surface, and are from 3i/^ to 4 feet in vertical height. In the center of the 

 south wall of each chamber is an opening, or doorway 2^/^ feet wide. They are 

 situated due north and south, with one exception, which varies but 10 degrees 

 from a north and south line. The walls are about 18 inches in thickness at the 

 summit, and slope outward and downward to about five feet at the base, at the 

 median line of the square. 



Five mounds on the property of Peter Brenner were opened by 

 West. These were in Platte County, beginning about 60 feet west of 

 the Clay County line, and extended for a distance of 200 feet. Three 

 contained rectangular chambers, each with a passage leading out 

 through the south wall. All the vaults contained fragmentary human 

 bones; and in two of the structures burnt hmnan and animal bones 

 were intermingled with baked clay, wood ashes, and charcoal. West 

 was inclined to believe that fire had been used in the third as well. 

 From the first vault opened came several crania ; two are described as 

 "of the Dolichocephalus, or long-headed type." Artifacts were absent. 



Concerning the remaining two mounds, which were of earth. West 

 stated that one contained only human bones with no evidences of fire. 

 The other "contained burnt human and animal bones, burnt clay, wood 

 ashes, and charcoal, so circumscribed in limit, and intermingled at the 

 plane of the base of the mound, as to render it probable that the deposit 

 accumulated on the floor of a chamber . . . ." Since there were 

 no stones he inferred that this chamber may have been "of sun-dried 

 clay, every vestige of the walls of which has been destroyed by the 

 great lapse of time since its erection." One of the earth mounds 

 yielded four flint flakes believed to have been included by chance when 

 the dirt was heaped up. 



West argued that the vaults were not covered with stone or wood, 

 since no traces of either occurred within. He therefore suggested a 

 roof of baked clay or of animal skins, and concluded that the chambers 

 represented dwelling places in which the remains of the deceased had 

 been interred even during occupancy by the living. 



In nearly all respects, possibly excepting the particular dimensions 

 given, West's description would probably apply to most of the mounds 

 since examined in the immediate vicinity. None of the vault mounds 

 seen by myself, or reported to me, are as much as 80 feet in diameter; 

 few would exceed in their external dimensions the minimal estimates 

 which West gives. His interpretation of mound 3, which contained 

 no stones but might once have enclosed a clay vault, seems labored. 



