ARCHEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS EST IVnSSOXJRI 183 



Platte County human bones from Pearl mound C include three meas- 

 urable female crania, which give cephalic indices of 74.0, 75.4, and 

 76.7. Three male skulls from Young mound 1 have indices of 72.7, 

 72.7, and 75.9. From Babcock mound B came two damaged skulls, 

 also apparently of dolichocephalic type. Long bones in these mounds 

 indicate a population of medium stature (est. 156-160 cm.), much 

 less robust in body build than the historic Siouan groups in the same 

 locality. Brenner mound 2, just east of the Renner village site, 

 yielded a dolichocephalic male skull, showing a slight frontal defor- 

 mation (Hrdlicka, 1910, p. 109) similar to that on some of the Bab- 

 cock mound B specimens. It would appear that the available crania 

 from the stone vaults of this district have in common a dolicho- 

 cephalic index and slight deformation. In these respects they differ 

 strikingly from the skulls found at the Steed-Kisker burial ground 

 near Farley and resemble certain specimens reported from western 

 Illinois. 



The skeletal material obtained by Fowke in central Missouri is 

 both fragmentary and poorly documented. Hrdlicka (1910, p. 103) 

 states that "most of the crania are of the dolichocephalic, Indian type. 

 Two or three of them are extreme forms in this respect, suggesting 

 similar specimens recovered in New Jersey from the burials of the 

 Delawares. A close general resemblance exists between the dolicho- 

 cephalic Missouri skulls and those from the mounds along the Illinois 

 River . . ." Measurable skulls, however, are rare. From Dawson 

 mound 14 (stone vault?) was taken a female skull with cephalic 

 index of 69.5; from Baumhoefer mound 1 an adult male cranium 

 gave an index of 72.2 ; and from Kurtz mound 1 came a female skull 

 with index of 90.1. Artificial deformation is not mentioned. 



Neumann, who examined the skeletal remains returned to the Na- 

 tional Museum by Fowke, as well as those obtained more recently by 

 myself and other persons from stone vaults near Kansas City, observes 

 that "in physical type the vault grave series resembles that from Ohio 

 Hopewell mounds and some Central Basin mounds in Fulton County, 

 Illinois, but not especially the highly developed Illinois Hopewell. . . . 

 The same type as from the vault graves (Hrdlicka's Algonkin) is found 

 in the mounds of the Tampico (Maples Mills Focus) manifestation 

 in Fulton County. . . ." 



Summarizing, we have seen that the stone vaults, considered from 

 the standpoint of structure and cultural contents, apparently divide 

 themselves into at least two, and possibly three, regional subgroups. 

 The westernmost of these, centering at Kansas City, is characterized 

 by well built structures with walled entrance passages, by disarticu- 

 lated skeletal remains frequently showing evidence of burning, and by 

 a marked scarcity of associated grave offerings. Where artifacts have 



