ARCHEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS IN MISSOURI 171 



covered human crania, &c. These were very badly decayed. A sand- 

 stone mortar and arrow-points were also found. The burial seems to 

 have been in a sitting posture." 



One of the most remarkable stone burial enclosures yet reported 

 was that in mound 16, overlooking East Dubuque in Jo Daviess 

 County, northwestern Illinois (fig. 20, 19). The mound was 65 feet 

 in diameter, with a height of 10 feet. Excavation (Thomas, 1894, 

 pp. 115-116) revealed that — 



The first 6 feet from the top consisted of hard gray earth . . . This covered 

 a vault built in part of stone and in part of round logs. When fully uncovered 

 this was found to be a rectangular crypt, inside measurement showing it to be 

 13 feet long and 7 feet wide. The four straight, surrounding walls were built 

 of small unhewn stones to the height of 3 feet and a foot or more in thickness. 

 Three feet from each end was a cross wall or partition of like character, thus 

 leaving a central chamber 7 feet square, and a narrow cell at each end about 2 

 feet wide and 7 feet long. This had been entirely covered with a single layer 

 of round logs, varying in diameter from 6 to 12 inches, laid close together side 

 by side across the width of the vault, the ends resting upon and extending to 

 uneven lengths beyond the side walls. 



In the central chamber were 11 skeletons, 6 adults, 4 children of different sizes, 

 and 1 infant, the last evidently buried in the arms of one of the adults, pre- 

 sumably its mother. They had all apparently been interred at one time as they 

 were found arranged in a circle in a sitting posture, with backs against the walls. 

 In the center of the space around which they were grouped was a fine large shell, 

 Busycon perversum, which had been converted into a drinking cup by removing 

 the columella. Scattered around this were quite a number of pieces of broken 

 pottery. 



The end cells, walled off as heretofore stated, were nearly filled with a 

 chocolate-colored dust . . . [which] may be the ashes resulting from burning the 

 fleshy portions of the individuals buried in the central chamber. . . . 



The covering consisted of oak logs, nearly all of which had been peeled and 

 some of the larger ones somewhat squared by slabbing off the sides before being 

 put in place. The slabs and bark thus removed, together with reeds and twigs, 

 had been laid over the logs to fill the crevices. 



Thomas states further (p. 117) that a similar enclosure had been 

 discovered by previous excavators in a nearby mound. No. 12, 



There is probably no good reason for questioning the general correct- 

 ness of Thomas's record, and the apparently unique character of the 

 burial structure is, in itself, certainly no proof that something of the 

 sort did not exist. At the same time, there are no photographs show- 

 ing exactly what was found, and it is impossible to determine at this 

 date whether all the features mentioned were actually seen as described 

 or, alternatively, are but one man's interpretation of evidence perhaps 

 not so clear cut originally as the published record would imply. As 

 a minor point, I find it difficult to accept Thomas's suggestion concern- 

 ing the possible origin of the "chocolate-colored dust" in the end cells. 

 The sample that reached the National Museum is now silvery or whitish 



