ARCHEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS IN MISSOURI 247 



some instances had been burned. The only articuhated skeleton en- 

 countered (No. 379116, Nolan mound A) was extended face down, but 

 burned in the pelvic region. 



The collection from the stone vaults thus consists of findings by 

 four individuals : Fowke, Hansen, Shippee, and Wedel. Hansen alone 

 found Hopewellian pottery in the same vaults with skulls. However, 

 all the skeletal material comes from similar stone vaults not over 12 

 miles apart and near an identified Hopewellian village site. In 

 nearly all cases, too, the bones seem to have been disarticulated at 

 the time of burial and in some instances exposed to fire. These and 

 other recognizable elements of the Hopewellian burial complex form 

 the basis for attributing the skeletal remains to this culture. In 

 examining this material I have attempted primarily to weigh the 

 attribution by making comparisons with other known Hopewellian 

 groups. 



As already indicated, the Middle Mississippi skeletal remains were 

 recovered by Dr. Wedel from a cemetery (Steed-Kisker site) situated 

 only about 3 miles distant from the Pearl Branch mounds mentioned 

 above (Wedel, 1939). Unfortunately, the state of preservation of 

 this material was very poor and little could be saved. However, since 

 the cultural association here is quite definite and the physical type is 

 different from that of the Hopewellians, this small sample makes it 

 possible to rule out intrusive burials of the Middle IVIississippi people 

 into the Hopewellian mounds. 



METHODS 



Most of the skulls being fragmentary, I will not describe them 

 separately in full detail but will give whatever individual standard 

 measurements are possible. In taking the measurements I have fol- 

 lowed Hrdlicka's method (Hrdlieka, 1939). However, orbital breadth 

 is taken from lacrimale instead of from dacryon. 



In order to demonstrate the pronounced transverse curvature of 

 the frontal bone that is present in many of the mound skulls, I have 

 resorted to both graphic and mensural methods. With the aid of 

 the Schwartz stereograph each frontal bone was oriented so that 

 bregma was vertically above nasion; then the transverse profile was 

 drawn at a level midway betAveen these two landmarks. Comparable 

 orientation was obtained by keeping the minimum frontage diameters 

 parallel. The resulting curves are described in terms of their nearest 

 true-curve fits. In fitting these curves I have used Graves' "areom- 

 eter" (Graves, 1930), reading only to the half -centimeter. 



The mensural method is based on the seeming fact that increased 

 curvature of -the frontal is accompanied by a decreased mininiuin 

 frontal diameter. This fact then can be demonstrated indicially on 



the basis of the frontal chord C^F/onttfcborV"" )' This relationship is 

 knovt'n as the frontal index. 



