MOUND EXPLORATIONS NEAR MOLINE, ILLS. 289 



tered at the depth of one foot beneath the surface. Fragments of these 

 bones were found, at the time of our visit, intermingled with the earth 

 and thrown out. They showed no indications of the action of fire. 



Fig. 21. Scale 1-120 natural size, (a), Surface layer of vegetable soil, (a;), Spot where Indian 

 liODes were found, twelve inches under the surface. (6), A stratum of lighter and looser 

 earth, two feet thick, (c), A layer of friable, slightly burned clay, one foot thick, id), Red clay, 

 hard burned, six inches in thickness, {e), layer of dark friable earth, containing fragments 

 of bone and wood, partially burned. ((/), Base of oven, undisturbed soil on which rested the 

 bones, etc. lo, o), A layer of hard-tramped, unburned clay, extending arjund the periphery of 

 the base of the oven. 



The side of the pit next the center of the mound (the south-west side) 

 showed in section the structure of the mound, and exhibited the follow- 

 ing appearances : The soil, from just below the vegetable layer, showed a 

 gradual change of color, becoming lighter, more ash-like and friable, 

 finally merging in and ending with a layer of very fine red clay, evidently 

 hard burned. Here, also, were found a good deal of charcoal, some in 

 separate pieces, but mostly in a finely divided state, and so intermingled 

 with the soil as to make it quite dark in spots. 



Below this layer of red clay, which was arched in form and six inches 

 thick, a dark friable earth was found, containing one small pebble stone, 

 some shards of pottery, and some fragments of burned bone, rounded 

 masses of lime, intensely black in color, and consisting of bodies of the 

 vertebrae, the head of a humerus, and a portion of an os calcis. Here, 

 also, were found fragments of bonfe, a portion of a tibia exceedingly fria- 

 ble, and a portion of a fibula, dense, firm and apparently recent. Inter- 

 mingled with this dark soil were fragments of partially burned or charred 

 wood, showing evidently the action of a smothered fire. 



The removal of the dark earth exposed the whole interior of what might 

 be termed the " cremation oven." This structure was found to be semi- 

 ovoid, having for its base the natural surface of the ground, a height of 

 eight inches at its greatest elevation, with a major and minor axis of 

 twelve and six feet respectively, the former being in an east and west 

 direction. Just outside of the edge of the oven, the clay seemed 

 more densely packed than elsewhere, indicating that it had been tramped. 

 The small elevation of eight inches would indicate that the arch of red 

 clay had been put in place while it was in a soft condition, and had set- 

 tled down upon the contents. 



The bones found were in such small pieces, and so friable, that but 

 little information could be derived from them, except the fact that they 

 had been exposed to a fire, and that a smothered one. This was plainly 

 indicated by the interior structure of the spongy bones, which were so 

 uniformly blackened as to denote in the oven the presence of a consid- 

 erable quantity of organic matter, either animal or vegetable, whose 



