HHDLICKA] SKELETAL REMAINS 89 



through the formation have been regarded as evidence that they 

 were deposited contemporaneously with that formation (loess) and, 

 hence, that they are of great age, antedating the shaping of the hill 

 itself. Right here, however, we are confronted with a perplexing 

 dilemma. If these fragments found more than 6 feet below the 

 surface are admitted to proceed from the remains deposited above 

 the 6-foot level and just below the baked earth the remains of 

 people of the low foreheads, we must then abandon the assumption 

 that they are as ancient as the deposits of loess immediately about 

 them, and also the idea that these deposits have remained undisturbed 

 since their formation. On the other hand, should the fragments be 

 regarded as distinct in origin from the skeletons found between the 

 2J--foot and 6-foot levels, as they must be if the formations have re 

 mained undisturbed, the problem takes on a new phase, and we must 

 account for several distinct deposits of human remains within or 

 beneath the mound. In that case the inferior type of some of the 

 skulls from the layer just below r the baked earth can have no bearing 

 on the antiquity of the fragments deeper down. Furthermore, the 

 higher fragments found beneath the 6-foot level could scarcely then 

 be regarded as of the same origin as the lower ones, for the reason 

 that the distance between these two groups of pieces is far greater 

 than that between the higher-lying fragments and the superimposed 

 skeletons. 



The fact that the bones between the 2^-foot and 6-foot levels were 

 mixed and broken and parts were missing may be difficult to explain, 

 but similar conditions are common in mound burials as well as in other 

 burials, and are especiaHy to be expected where the excavation has 

 not been conducted from the beginning with the utmost care. Inequal 

 ities in decay, natural movements of the earth, the burrowing and 

 direct dragging by rodents, the penetration of roots, and occasional 

 unrecorded disturbances of the soil produce remarkable results of 

 this nature. Whole limbs, or the entire head, and sometimes a large 

 part of the body, may thus disappear, or the remains may be 

 broken, teeth lost, and the bones scattered. There must have been a 

 similar occurrence even with the uppermost or intrusive burials, for of 

 one of the bodies, that of a child, which is regarded as the most recent, 

 there is only the incomplete skull, while but little more was found of 

 the other two bodies inhumed above the fire-hardened earth. The 

 fact that there is no break or horizon of separation in the deposits 

 between the bones of the principal deposit and those below, and that 

 larger fragments were discovered only in the proximity of these 

 main burials, speaks much for the common origin of all the specimens 

 under consideration. That some slivers could have been so displaced 

 as to lie actually beyond the limits of the mound does not seem 

 improbable. 



