FOWKE] ANTIQUITIES OF MISSOURI ital 
Not a scrap of bone or other evidence suggestive of the presence of 
a erave beneath the original surface was found in the excavation, 
though the peculiar color characteristic of “‘grave earth” showed 
that bodies had been deposited in several different places. 
THE SmitH Mowunps (5) 
On the east side of the Gasconade, a mile above its mouth, on the 
farm of Mr. Christian Smith, were four earth mounds on the crest of 
a narrow ridge lying between the river and First creek. Two of 
these mounds were examined. 
MOUND NO. 1 
The first mound, a hundred yards from the river bluff, was not 
more than a foot high. A space in the center 12 feet in diameter was 
cleared out. On the surface, at the west edge of the excavation, were 
a few fragments of a partially 
cremated skull, teeth, and long 
bones. Three feet south of these 
were fragments of two skulls 
showing no marks of heat, and a 
few small pieces of burned bone. 
In the center was a grave pit 34 
feet in diameter andslightly more 
than a foot deep, which contained 
no trace of bone or relic. Scat- 
tered over and around this grave 
were several limestone slabs 
ranging from 5 to 25 pounds 
each in weight; these seem to 
have been thrown in at random, having had apparently no connection 
with funeral ceremonies. The earth in the grave was very hard, as if 
packed in while damp and then tramped or pounded down hard. 
Fic. 3. Pipe from Smith mound no. 2. 
MOUND NO. 2 
The second mound, 40 yards east of the first, was 3 feet high and 
40 feet in diameter. A circle having a radius of 10 feet from the center 
of the mound was marked off, and the earth within this removed down 
to the subsoil. At the southwest margin of the excavation were found 
the decayed bones of a skeleton, which lay extended, with the head 
toward the east, 6 feet from the center. On the northwest side leg 
bones extended beyond the excavated portion; other bones, including 
parts of two skulls, lay in confusion from 8 to 10 feet from the center. 
Extending eastward from this mass for about 3 feet were still other 
bones, whose original position could not be determined; these included 
many small pieces of at least two partially cremated skulls (one thick, 
