FOWKE] - ANTIQUITIES OF MISSOURI Ot 
the other two were 3 and 4 feet high, with diameters of 35 and 30 feet, 
respectively. The distance from the easternmost to the largest two of 
the group was 300 feet. Two hundred feet still farther east was the 
last mound, lying below the beginning of the eastern slope. 
All the mounds were composed mostly of clay, which is exceedingly 
hard to remove even with a pick; in places there was sand or softer 
earth. As in all mounds opened in this vicinity, the center was not 
the focal point. The pottery was in small pieces; bones were soft 
and more or less decayed, not one being entire. Various stone arti- 
cles, some only partially wrought into form, others much worn by 
use, were found scattered in the earth; among these were arrow- 
heads, pieces of hematite, rubbing stones, polishing stones, knives, 
and spearheads. 
MOUND NO. 1 
The most western mound of the group was nearly effaced. The 
central portion was cleared out to the extent of an area 8 feet across, 
to undisturbed subsoil; no trace of a burial was found. On what 
seemed to be the natural surface were a flint knife or spearhead and 
a broken pitted stone. 
MOUND NO. 2 
In the next mound, a circular area 16 feet in diameter was cleared 
out. At the center, 18 inches above the bottom, were fragmentary 
bones of an adult skeleton, lying extended with the head toward the 
west. The skull was fully one-fourth of an inch thick; no teeth ac- 
companied it. Parts of two smaller femora were with these bones, 
above which a number of small flat stones was placed, but not in 
such manner as to cover them all. 
Nothing else was found in the body of the structure. Beneath it 
were two graves. One, 5 feet west of the center, measured 5 by 3 
feet; it was not regular in outline, being longest approximately from 
north to south, and somewhat more than a foot deep. The filled 
earth was extremely hard and tough, almost of the consistency of 
wax. A pot of about half a gallon capacity had stood upright at the 
south end, but was crushed by pressure. It was of a pattern not 
found elsewhere during these explorations, having a cylindrical neck, 
round body, and flat base. The neck and bottom were punctate, 
and the sides were decorated with indented curved lines. Clearly, 
this vessel was not made by the artisans to whom may be attributed 
other mound specimens figured in this report.* The decoration some- 
@J¢ is the opinion of Mr. W. H. Holmes that this vessel is intrusive in this region or with the tribes repre- 
sented in the sites examined, and that it came by exchange from the tribes of eastern or southeastern Mis- 
souri, or was the work of some member of those tribes dwelling among the more primitive peoples farther 
north and west. It is especially noteworthy that the pottery represented in the collection, with the excep- 
tion of the vessel here referred to, is exclusively culinary, consisting of rude globular-bodied pots generally 
showing marks of use over fire, and decorated with symbolic incised or indented designs. The principal 
motive consists of a series of broken zigzag lines or meanders, bordered by dotted indentations, doubtless 
symbolizing some animal form having a superstitious relation to the use of the vessel. 
