SMITHSONIAN EXPLORATIONS, I928 



155 



mound and from the quantities of broken Ijones scattered about many 

 skulls and skeletons must have been uncovered and destroyed. Fortu- 

 nately, however, a large part of the mound had been left undisturbed 

 and I was able to obtain over 70 skulls in condition to be measured. 



The mound had been built onl}- a few yards from the water's edge 

 in a thick mangrove swamp. A pile of crushed shells and sand — beach 

 material brought over from the opposite side of the island — had been 

 first deposited and this, becoming saturated with the moisture of the 

 underlying muck, had consolidated into a hard cement-like substance. 

 The bones enclosed in this material were in very good condition but 



Fig. 141. — Mr. W. E. Colton of Fort Myers examining burials in the solidified 

 layer in the lower part of the Captiva mound. 



were difficult to remove as they had to be chipped out with hammer 

 and chisel. Above this lower layer of solidified shells and sand had 

 l:)een piled several feet of pure sand and in this there were other 

 burials which were not so well preserved as those beneath. Burials 

 were of two types : Original, with the bones in anatomical order and 

 the limbs flexed; and secondary, with the bones disjointed, represent- 

 ing a deposit of loose bones that had been previously buried or kept 

 for a time elsewhere. The secondary burials were found only in the 

 upper sand layer. An interesting feature of the burials in this mound 

 was that fragments of earthenware cooking pots had been carefully 

 placed about many of the skulls. 



