4 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 37° 
Although vaults such as are described in the following pages are 
vaguely brought to notice by occasional mention in scattered reports, 
no photographs have previously appeared, nor has there been offered 
a satisfactory explanation as to their purpose. In some of the 
earlier works relating to Missouri the few vaults then known are 
called ‘‘houses,’”’ ‘‘ walled houses,” or ‘‘underground houses.’ One 
very elaborate illustration appeared of the work near Louisiana (see 
fig. 17). While the structures as they actually exist are roughly 
laid up, at the same time they are a new feature in American arche- 
ology so far as it relates to the region east of the Rocky Mountains. 
The mounds along the lower Missouri plainly owe their origin to 
a people whose grade of culture was much inferior to that of the 
mound builders east and south. The skulls are of low type. The 
pottery is described by Mr. W. H. Holmes, as follows: 
The pottery obtained by Mr. Fowke from the mounds of the Middle Missouri region 
is limited in quantity, rude in finish, and generally fragmentary. All the vessels are 
wide-mouthed pots of medium or small size; nearly all show traces of use over fire. 
With exception of two specimens the clay is tempered with coarse shells and the walls 
are moderately thick. The rims of most of the vessels are narrow, upright, or slightly 
recurved, and are crimped on the margin with the finger nail or with an implement. 
Rudely modeled loop handles connect the rims with the bodies of the vessels and in 
a few specimens a slight projection takes the place of the handle. The somewhat 
elobular bodies are decorated in a rude fashion with patterns consisting of incised 
lines and indentations. On some specimens these are arranged in zigzag series of 
three or more lines bordered by lines of indents, suggesting the treatment of conven- 
tional animal forms characteristic of the pottery of the middle and lower Mississippi 
valley. On a few vessels the designs are impressed rather than incised while others 
are excavated as with a gouge. The instrument employed was probably tubular in 
form, possibly the leg bone of a turkey or a deer. 
One small vessel (no. 24), neatly wrought, about five inches in diameter, is of a 
variety distinct from the preceding. The surface is fabric-marked, the meshes of the 
cloth used being quite small. 
Another specimen of northern type (no. 64) corresponds closely with pottery obtained 
from mounds in the vicinity of Davenport, Iowa. The tempering is siliceous and - 
the surface has been decorated by means of a square-toothed roulette, the lines of 
indentation extending round the shoulder and body of the vessel. 
‘The methods of interment, as a rule, show but little reverence or 
respect for the dead. 
At least two diverse stages of culture are suggested and certainly 
more than one period of occupancy, but boundaries and periods of 
time can not yet be determined. 
In not one of the graves opened was there found any object not 
of aboriginal manufacture. While this is negative evidence, it is 
true, it would indicate that the burials antedate the arrival of whites 
in the country where the vaults are found, if they did not precede 
the period at which the tribes constructing these vaults may have 
had dealings with the first traders who could have brought the white 
man’s wares into the country. 
