288 



POTTERY OF THE ANCIENT PUEBLOS. 



mately circular. It was less than ten feet in height, and covered about 

 half an acre. One side had been undermined and carried away by the 

 stream. The work of exhumation was most successfully accomplished 

 by means of water. A small stream was made to play upon the soft 

 alluvium, of which the mound was chiefly composed. The sensations 

 of the collector, as skeleton after skeleton and vase after vase appeared, 

 must have been highly pleasurable. 



It is thought that the inhabitants of this place, like many other primi- 

 tive peoples, buried their dead beneath their dwellings, which were 

 then burned down or otherwise destroyed. As time passed on and the 

 dead were forgotten, other dwellings were built upon the old sites, until 

 quite a mound was formed in which all the less perishable remains were 

 preserved in successive layers. 



Following the customs of most primitive peoples, tbe belongings of 

 the deceased were buried with them. Earthen vessels were found in 

 profusion. With a single body, there were sometimes as many as eight 

 vases, the children having been in this respect more highly favored 

 than the adults. There seems to have been no system in the arrange- 

 ment either of the bodies or of the accompanying relics. 



The majority of the vases were either plain or decorated in color, but 

 many of the larger specimens were of the coiled variety. About sixty 

 vessels were recovered. Those of the former classes will be described 

 under their proper headings. 



Fig. 341.— Vessel from I he tumulus, at Saint George. — £. 



The shapes of the corrugated vases are of the simplest kind. The 

 prevailing form corresponds very closely with the Cliff House specimen 

 illustrated in Fig. 239. One unusually large example was brought back 

 in fragmeuts, but has since been successfully restored. It stands 



