292 DAVENPORT ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES. 



stone), arranged in the form of a triangle. Two and a half feet deeper a 

 skeleton was found, resting upon the hai'd clay, and lying in an east and 

 west direction. The distance from the skull to the ankle was thirty-one 

 inches. The covering earth was black soil. Near this skeleton a roughly 

 chipped Hint stone and a small piece of Galena were discovered. The 

 face was turned to the side, with a finger bone between the teeth. 



Mound No. 27, circular, diameter twenty-eight feet, height two and a 

 half feet. In this, three feet below the surface, was found a skeleton, in 

 the same position as that in No. 4, and near it a number of bones. 



Mound No. 29, oval shaped, sixty-nine by thirteen feet, and one and a 

 half feet high, the earth black and hard. Two feet deep were a number 

 of skull bones and other bones, but nothing more. 



Mound No. 31, oval form, thirty-six by twenty-four feet, and three feet 

 high. A little below the surface was a layer of stones, eight and a 

 half by six and a half feet, oval, and somewhat curved upward in the mid- 

 dle. These stones were closely fitted together, and like those in the other 

 mounds, were limestone from the river bank. Two feet below this stone 

 layer, iu tlie center, was also a skeleton, situated as those in Mounds 4 

 and 27, i. e., lying in an east and west direction, and resting upon the 

 side. The skull was well preserved. The whole skeleton was also doubled 

 up so as to occupy a space of only three and a half feet, indicating that 

 the dead w^ere buried in a sitting posture, as is still the custom of many 

 tribes. A second skeleton was found at the west side of this mound, 

 beyond the stone layer, at the same depth as the other, and lying in a 

 simihir position, but the skull vvas all in fragments. No relics were to be 

 found except a piece of pottery, which was probably accidentally dropped 

 in the covering earth. 



Mound No. 32, circular, twenty four feet diameter, three feet high. 

 A few inches below the surface was also a quantity of stones, arranged 

 in lines as shown in diagram, and extending six feet in one direction and 

 two feet in the other. Beneath this, and resting on the hard clay, were 

 the remains of one or two very much decayed skeletons. 



In these mounds no implements, weapons, ornaments, or relics of any 

 kind were found buried with the dead ; nor any pieces of wood, shells, or 

 other articles showing any sign of having been used. 



Close by, on the bank of the Mississippi, is an extensive layer of 

 shells, which some (erroneously, as I believe) consider to be "kitchen 

 heaps," or refuse left there by the Indians who erected these mounds. 

 About one-quarter of a mile east of these mounds in the present Molina 

 Cemetery, Mr. Toellner, who also assisted in the above explorations, 

 has found a stone heap of different character ; perhaps a kind of monu- 

 ment in which the stones were piled up carelessly, without any evident 

 intention to represent any distinct form. Under this pile was discovered 

 a stone "maul," weighing twenty-five pounds. 



Near the Cemetery, in creeks and ravines, are frequently found pieces 

 of pottery, and flint and stone implements. On both sides of one of the 

 creeks are shell layers, containing also fragments of pottery, perhaps 



