154 BULLETIX IS 3, UNITED STATES XATIOXAL AfCSEUM 



of large flat rocks, but the others seem to have been closed over with wood. The 

 chambers were filled with clay which had been burnt, and appeared as if it had 

 fallen in from above. The inside walls of the chambers also showed signs of 

 fire. Under the burnt clay, in each chamber, were found the remains of several 

 human skeletons, all of which had been burnt to such an extent as to leave but 

 small fragments of the bones, which were mixed with the ashes and charcoal. 

 Mr. Curtiss thought that in one chamber he found the remains of five skeletons 

 and in another thirteen. With the burnt bones and ashes there were a few flint 

 implements, a shark's tooth, and minute fragments of vessels of clay. A large 

 mound near the chambered barrows was also opened, but in this chambers were 

 not found, and the bodies had been buried in an extended position. This mound 

 proved remarkably rich in large flint implements, and also contained well made 

 pottery and a peculiar gorget of red stone. The connection of the people who 

 placed their dead in the stone chambers, with those who buried their dead in 

 the earth mounds is, of course, yet to be determined. 



Curtiss'S explorations are of particular interest because, unlike his 

 predecessors, he encountered artifacts in the chambered as well as 

 in the earth mounds. It will be noted that Putnam places these 

 mounds in eastern Clay County. I am informed by Mr. Shippee 

 (letter of February 29, 1940) that "Goose Gap in the ridge between 

 Cooley Lake and Fishing Kiver in eastern Clay Coimty is the center 

 of a string of old vaults. . . ." and that at least one old resident of 

 this locality "has a vague remembrance of such a name [i. e., Curtiss] 

 around her old neighborhood." But the list of accessions to Peabody 

 Museum collections for 1879 (Putnam, 1880, p. 738) has these entries: 

 "Fragments of burnt human bones, flint spearpoint, knife, drill, flakes, 

 and broken implements, rubbing stone, red ochre, and a shark's tooth, 

 from chambered mounds on Keller's farm in Clay County, Mo. ; . . . 

 fragments of human skull, and five large flint daggers and a hematite 

 bead buried with it, ornament of catlinite, red and yellow ochre, flint 

 knives, drill, scraper, and dagger, from a mound on Wolf Den Ridge 

 in Platte County, Mo. ..." 



Mr. Shippee (letter of February 10, 1940), after diligent inquiry, 

 stated that no one in the Line Creek neighborhood recalls ever having 

 heard of Mr. Curtiss or of Wolf Den Ridge. However, if the earth 

 mound is correctly located in Platte County, as Putnam, states in his 

 list of accessions, I doubt that the chambers were as far east as 

 Goose Gap. which is more than 20 miles distant as the crow flies. In 

 tliis event. Putnam would not be likely to speak of the former as "near 

 the chambered mounds." Also, the statement that the chambered 

 mounds were "on Keller's farm" recalls Judge West's previous al- 

 lusion (West, 1877b. p. 15) to barrows on "Mr. Keller's farm, over- 

 looking a branch of Line Creek, in Clay County. . . ." All this leads 

 me to suspect that Curtiss worked in western rather than in eastern 

 Clay County, and very probably on the ridges east of Line Creek. 



Through the courtesy of Philip Phillips and the Peabody Museum 

 of Harvard University I am able to reproduce here (pi. 43) some 



