58 BUREAU OF AMKRICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 71 



alonfi^ the Tonnossee from its mouth to the mountiiins, and a fow 

 scattered examples have been discovered in northern (Jeorj^ia. Nat- 

 urally the kind of stone with which they were lined differed in widely 

 separated localities, but jjraves so formed appear to have been con- 

 structed wherever suitable material was available, irrespective of 

 the tribe who may have claimed or occupied the reji:ion. 



An interesting; fact was revealed as a residt of the exploration 

 of the snuiU groups of g:raves on the rio;ht bank of the Missssippi, 

 already mentioned. In one of the four graves discovered on the 

 ridge just below the mouth of the S'aline were two small })Owls, each 

 about 4 inches in diameter and somewhat less in dei)th. They were 

 made of clay without the admixture of crushed shell or sand. Both 

 were very thin and fragile and would have been of no practical 

 use to the living, and differed materially from all vessels apparently 

 made for actual use in the wigwam. Many similar pieces, of the 

 same size and material, were recovered from the graves farther 

 north near Kimmswick, and the near-by burial places. The dis- 

 covery of so many such bowls associated with burials leads to the 

 belief that they were made solely for use in connection with burial 

 ceremonies, and the finding of these small mortuary vessels in dif- 

 ferent localities proved the connection of the people by whom the 

 sites were occupied. The bowl found in Grave III is shown in 

 figure 5. 



INCLOSURES IN MOUNDS 



No attempt will })e made at the ])resent time to refer in detail to 

 the many forms and variations of burials discovered in mounds 

 north of the Ohio. [Many reveal the bodies in an extended position, 

 others in different degrees of folding, and in numerous instances the 

 remains had been cremated and only the ashes placed in the tombs. 

 In some mounds, evidently in some way associated with tlie human 

 remains, are quantities of scattered animal bones often intermingled 

 with wood ashes and charcoal, suggesting a feast or sacrifice at the 

 time of burial of the dead. Again, many small masses of ashes dis- 

 covered in mounds containing other forms of burials may be the 

 cremated remains of some who had died away from their home vil- 

 lage, and whose bodies had been burned by their companions, the 

 ashes gathered up, and so carried to their homes. This, as told 

 elsewhere in this sketch, was a recognized custom of the tribes of this 

 region. But among the innumerable burials thus revealed are sev- 

 eral distinct types, and the most interesting, excepting only the great 

 structures encountered in southern Ohio, are the works in which 

 the human remains had first been inclosed, or surrounded by walls 

 of stones or logs, and in some instances of both stones and logs. 



