BUSHNELL] NATIVE CEMETERIES AND FORMS OF BURIAL 69 



The vaults so made were often covered and floored with sheets of 

 bark, logs, stones, or a combination of the different materials. In 

 some the logs were placed upright, in others horizontally, but these 

 details in construction may have been from individual tastes of the 

 makers rather than proving any tribal custom. One of the most re- 

 markable of these structures, one among the first of the ancient 

 works to attract the attention of early travelers and to be described 

 by them, is the high, conical mound near the left bank of the Ohio, 

 in Marshall County, West Virginia, usually known as the Grave 

 Creek Mound. And to quote from a work of 70 year.s ago, " The 

 Grave creek mound, although it has often been described, deserves, 

 from its size and singularity of construction, more than a passing 

 notice. It is situated on the plain, at the junction of Grave creek 

 and the Ohio river, twelve miles below Wheeling. * * * It is 

 one of the largest in the Ohio valley; measuring about seventy feet 



Fig. G. — Grave Creek Mound. 



in height, by one thousand in circumference at the base. It was 

 excavated by the proprietor in 1838. He sank a shaft from the apex 

 of the mound to the base [fig. 6, «, h,] intersecting it at that point 

 by a horizontal drift [a, e, e,]. It was found to contain two sepul- 

 chral chambers, one at the base [a], and another thirty feet above 

 [c]. These chambers had been constructed of logs, and covered 

 with stones, which had sunk under the superincumbent mass as the 

 wood decayed, giving the summit of the mound a flat or rather dish- 

 shaped form. The lower chamber contained two human skeletons 

 (one of which was thought to be that of a female) ; the upper 

 chamber contained but one skeleton in an advanced stage of decay. 

 With these were found between three and four thousand shell beads, 

 a number of ornaments of mica, several bracelets of copper, and 

 various articles carved in stone. After the excavation of the mound, 

 a light three-story wooden structure was erected upon its summit." 

 (Squier and Davis, (1), pp. 168-169.) A view of the mound, figure 

 56 in the work quoted, is reproduced in plate 15. 



A mound of rather unusual form, covering a log inclosure, stood in 

 Hocking County, Ohio. A plan of this work is produced in figure 7. 



