ARCHEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS IN MISSOURI 169 



several feet, the pile being about 20 feet wide. On examination, made recently, 

 it was found to have been originally a row of burial-places, nine in number, 

 circular in form, each from 8 to 9 feet in diameter (inner measure), contiguous 

 to each other. The remains of the walls still stand to the height of about 20 

 inches. Judging from appearances, each would seem to have been of a conical 

 or dome-like form. They were composed wholly of stone, and the remains found 

 in them were almost wholly decomposed. 



On the top of an opposite ridge to the west is another row, four in number, 

 similar to those just described, except that the cists are square instead of cir- 

 cular, the sides being equal to the diameter of the former. In these also only 

 small fragments of bones could be found. 



Nearby, a mound opened in 1853 (Hardy and Scheetz, p. 535), "was 

 made wholly of stone; near the middle lay a single skeleton . . . ex- 

 tended at full length, with head to the west. A dry wall was laid 

 lip around the remains 1^/^ feet high, and this covered with large flat 

 stone, on which the remainder were thrown indiscriminately." 



In another mound, one of four on Round Knob (Hardy and Scheetz, 

 p. 536) '-40 years ago portions of a dry wall still were standing,. 

 4 to 5 feet in height." 



From these accounts, it appears that single chambered mounds, 

 as well as others containing two or more vaults, are a definite feature 

 of the archeology of the Ralls-Pike County locality. It is not alto- 

 gether clear from the brief descriptions given whether the Wilsons 

 Knob mound and similar remains resulted from the accidental coales- 

 cence of a series of closely crowded but separately built single tombs 

 or were actuallj^ constructed as multiple aifairs, but the latter is cer- 

 tainly a possibility. In this event, I should be inclined to accept 

 Fowke's verdict that the stone structure near Louisiana, in Pike County 

 (Broadhead, 1880, p. 351; Fowke, 1910, pp. 75-81), was probably an- 

 other burial place of the same general type as the multiple mounds 

 indicated for Ralls County. 



Outside the geographical limits of present Missouri records of stone 

 vault mounds are few, scattered, and sometimes of uncertain worth. 

 Recent excavations by the University of Chicago have revealed their 

 presence on the left bank of the Mississippi about 7 miles below 

 Quincy, in southwestern Adams County, 111. (fig. 20, 21). This is 

 within 25 miles of the vault mound groups just described for Ralls 

 and Pike Counties, Mo. I am indebted to Dr. Georg Neumann (letter 

 of January 31, 19-10) for data on this work, not yet published. Unlike 

 any of those so far reported from Missouri, the Adams County mounds 

 were in the river bottoms at the foot of the bluffs. It appears that 

 there were seven chambers, of rectangular, quadrilateral, and irregular 

 outline. Three of these, B, D, G, were in individual structures ; A and 

 F comprised a single 2-chambered mound ; C and E, from the sketch 

 furnished, were either in a similar double mound or else in two dis- 

 tinct but adjoining mounds. A, a rectangular enclosure, had indi- 



4972G1— 43 12 



