CROSWELL — MOUND EXPLORATIONS IN S.E. MISSOURI. 535 



the apparent want of necessity for the labor bestowed upon that 

 portion, the west side was symmetrically rounded off and per- 

 fected in the same manner as the other three sides. 



There appeared to have been no observance of order in depos- 

 iting the dead in this mound, but this seeming carelessness may 

 have been methodical and attributable to some peculiarity in their 

 customs ; of course, I make an exception of the systematic care 

 practised in gradually drawing in the circle and increasing the 

 height to the centre. The skeletons were as often with the feet 

 as the head towards the centre, and were lying on the back, on 

 the face, on the right side, and on the left, and in two instances 

 appeared drawn up, as if placed in a sitting posture. As the first 

 skeletons were uncovered on the outer margin, they were found 

 lying side by side with a covering of about fourteen inches of earth. 

 The next layer immediately above was advanced a little nearer 

 the centre. Then followed others in the same order, until finally 

 they were found lying six deep, the bones much decayed, sepa- 

 rated and broken, and mingled together in a mass interspersed 

 with the sand which had covered them. I could determine the 

 number only by the skulls, many of which (and, as usual, they 

 were the best preserved portions of the remains) would not bear 

 removal. From tlie whole number exposed, I could obtain but 

 eighteen- 



In the second mound opened, a skeleton was found extended 

 at full length on the back, with the skull resting upon a stone 

 weighing sixteen pounds. The stone is a smooth drift boulder of 

 quartzite, having on one side, which lay uppermost, nearly a flat 

 surface with an artificial depression in the centre. It resembled 

 the old-fashioned lap-stone used by shoemakers. Another singu- 

 lar form of burial discovered in this mound was that of a skele- 

 ton extended on the back with the skull resting in a shallow dish, 

 the side next the shoulders having been removed to accommodate 

 the head and neck, and keep the whole on a level. 



The skulls obtained from these mounds form very interesting 

 objects of study, as they present all the characteristics of the faces 

 represented on the pottery, proving that these were no ideal fig- 

 ures, but an actual study from the living features of their own 

 race. The shape of the nasal bone between the eyes and the 

 spinal bone of the upper maxillary at the point dividing the nos- 



