port this idea. (Figs. 20, 21). It is an interesting question. New 

 light has been shed on the subject within the past few months by 

 the excavations of Prof. Warren K. Moorhead who last summer, 

 with admirable persistence, secured funds for the work from a 

 number of friends and institutions, when others less enthusiastic 

 thought it impossible. The specimens which he secured were sent 

 to the State Museum and the University museum and the Uni- 

 versity has just issued the bulletin referred to above. This spring 

 the work was continued under the auspices of the University. 



As a result of his excavations more is known of the mounds 

 than ever before. Several of the smaller mounds were cut clear 

 through, exposing complete sections. Upon first sight they ap- 

 pear to be stratified. There are well marked layers as may be seen 

 in the photographs (Figs. 20, 21) but closer examination reveals 

 the fact that the different layers are usually composite in character. 

 In places there are fine laminae of water deposited materials but 

 these are probably minor local deposits upon the sides of the mound 

 as it was being built. The largest mound excavated is just north 

 of Schmidt's. It is mound No. 33 and has been named by Moore- 

 head the "James Ramey Mound". A wide trench about 100 feet 

 long from north to south was excavated clear to the bottom, a depth 

 of 22 feet. 



The west face was chimneyed and carefully hand troweled in 

 places and minutely studied by Dr. M. M. Leighton, professor of 

 pleistocene geology, at the University of Illinois, and the writer. 

 Unusual care was used since Leighton inclines to the idea that the 

 mounds are artificial, while the writer has regarded them as natural. 

 The deposits had the unpleasant tendency of sustaining Leighton's 

 view. The face showed a fine, sandy, light colored loam 3 feet 

 thick, underlain in succession by darker colored loam, 1 foot ; 

 greyish yellow loam, 5 feet; mottled sandy silt loam and darker 

 clay masses, calcareous in some places, in others not, 9 feet; fine 

 laminated silt, 1 foot; mottled layer, 3 feet; original soil non-calcar- 

 eous and containing rootlets, 1 foot; undisturbed alluvial clay un- 

 known depth. If these materials were laid down in water, leached 

 soils would not be mixed with unleached ; clay masses would not 

 be scattered through sandy loam ; pieces of flint, pottery, shells, 

 bone and charcoal would not be found in all parts of the mass 

 without regard to their specific gravity. The charcoal would come 

 in the top layers ; the flint, rock fragments and pottery in the bot- 

 tom ; and the bones and shells between. 



This is the crucial point. All others are subsidiary. Hereto- 

 fore there has not been opportunity to study the structure. Six 

 years ago the writer was permitted to collect samples of soil from 

 Monks' mound with a two inch auger which was sunk twenty-five 

 feet down from the top (Fig. 22). At another time he collected 

 soils from holes made with spade and pesthole digger in the north 

 face. These tests showed the presence of different layers and a 

 kind of stratification just as is evident in the mounds now exca- 



