ARCHEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIOISrS IN MISSOURI 153 



Wholly untenable, of course, are his views as to the domiciliary func- 

 tion of the chambers, and his assignment of an antiquity to be meas- 

 ured in terms of millennia. That he erred in these particulars is not 

 at all surprising if one bears in mind his evident lack of training and 

 experience in the natural sciences as well as the general status of con- 

 temporary American archeology. 



In the summer of 1878, a year after West's explorations, Prof. 

 Broadhead opened several mounds in the same group east of Line Creek 

 (Broadhead, 1880, pp. 352-354). From his sketch map it appears 

 that this work covered the ridge west of the earlier diggings, directly 

 overlooking the creek valley and the Missouri bottoms. Four of the 

 mounds were found to contain stone chambers 7 feet 9 inches square, 

 all built above ground. Three of these had walled doorways ; the di- 

 rection is given in only one instance, where the passage was "opposite 

 the eastern side." Mound 2, which yielded quantities of charcoal, 

 charred bone fragments, and fire-reddened clay, "was evidently a cre- 

 mation vault." From mound 3 came several skulls, a skeleton, and 

 miscellaneous pieces of bones, which, except the skeleton, Broadhead 

 thought were from individuals "buried in a sitting posture, or with 

 knees bent, the hands close to or resting on the knees." In mound 6, 

 also chambered but v/ithout an entrance, were eight skulls and other 

 fragmentary bones. Flagstones overlay some of the skeletal remains, 

 but since these were not in orderly arrangement or closely set it is not 

 certain that they evidenced a roof. Broadhead notes that "a few of the 

 bones had been gnawed, probably by rodents, and do not furnish as 

 some might say, evidences of cannibalism." The only artifacts men- 

 tioned are a black flint spearpoint and a piece of ochre, both from 

 mound 4. This, the largest of the group, was composed wholly of 

 earth; it was 40 feet across by 5 feet high. Broadhead hazarded no 

 guess as to the age of the mounds, but he speaks of a 3-foot oak stump 

 on mound 4, and of another showing 200 growth rings on mound 5. 



Whether the allusion to seated burials is to be taken literally is 

 questionable ; possibly flexed interments are indicated. 



The last recorded investigations of this early period in the mounds 

 opposite Kansas City were those by Curtiss for the Peabody Museum 

 in 1879. In the curator's report for that year (Putnam, 1880, p. 717), 

 we find the following summary account : 



While in Missouri [Mr. Curtiss] opened three mounds which are of the same 

 character as the well-l^nown chambered mounds. These chambered mounds are 

 situated in the eastern part of Chiy County, Missouri, and form a large group on 

 l>oth sides of the Missouri River. The chambers are, in the three opened by Mr. 

 Curtiss, about 8 feet square and from 414 to 5 feet high. Each chamber has a 

 passage-way several feet in length by 2 in width, which leads from the chamber 

 to the opening on the southern edge of the mound. The walls of the chambered 

 passages were about 2 feet thick, vertical, and well made of stones evenly laid 

 without mortar of any kind. The top of one of the chambers had a covering 

 497261 — 43 11 



