180 BULLETIN 183, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSCEUM 



passages flanked by coursed wing walls and opening usually in a gen- 

 eral southerly direction. Most of the vaults contain quantities of hard 

 burned earth and charcoal, and often some of the stones in the walls 

 appear to have taken on a red color due to great heat. Human re- 

 mains are almost invariably disarticulated, usually fragmentary, and in 

 many instances are partially or wholly charred. Cremation was evi- 

 dently the rule; this must often have been done outside the vault, 

 though fires were sometimes maintained within also. Burials in the 

 flesh, either flexed or extended, are exceptional. Grave furniture of 

 any sort is extremely rare. The last two points are noteworthy in view 

 of Curtiss's findings, and the more recent observations of Fowke, Ship- 

 pee, and myself (Putnam, 1880, p. 718; Fowke, 1910, p. 72; supra, 

 p. 137), which indicate a relative abundance of artifacts and a definite 

 tendency toward interment in the flesh in the earth mounds of this 

 district. 



In central Missouri vaults evidently occur in some numbers along 

 with earth mounds. From Fowke's observations I get the impression 

 that the vaults in any given group are usually in the minority. Thus, 

 at the Ewing group 2 mounds in 7 contained chambers ; at Smith's 1 

 in 4; at Dawson's 3 (or 4?) in 15 (Fowke, 1910, p. 11, 12-18, 26-42). 

 These groups are comparable in number of mounds and in area cov- 

 ered to the Brenner-Keller and Pearl Branch groups above Kansas 

 City. I have found no record of any mound groups in the central 

 region where the vaults outnumber the earth mounds as they do in 

 the western groups. 



The vaults in the central area show less care and skill in construction 

 than those about Kansas City. Fowke (1910, p. 35) noted that the 

 walls usually leaned outward so that the chambers were wider at the 

 top than at the bottom. This is perhaps due to the frequent use of 

 earth and rock instead of the massive all stone backing characteristic 

 farther up the Missouri. Entrances are uncommon; where present, 

 they are little more than gaps at one side, and wing walls have not been 

 reported. Slab floors or pavements are suggested in some instances. 

 Burials include flexed and extended, as well as fragmentary bones and 

 cremations. Artifacts, while not abundant, have been taken from sev- 

 eral mounds in Boone County. They include pottery, pipes, and ob- 

 jects of stone, bone, and shell. 



The mounds at Warrensburg, if we may trust the descriptions, would 

 seem to affiliate with this central area — doorways are not mentioned, 

 but a number of artifacts are. Geographically, they lie a little closer 

 to Kansas City than to the mouth of Osage River, but as has already 

 been pointed out they are on the Blackwater River, which mouths only 

 a few miles above the Osage. 



It is difficult to characterize the third, or eastern, subarea, if indeed 

 it is actually distinct from the second. Early reports suggest the pres- 



