BUSHNELL] NATIVE CEMETERIES AND FORMS OF BURIAL, 61 



mains of a square wooden vault. The logs of which it was built were 

 completely decayed, but the molds and impressions were still very 

 distinct, so that they could be easily traced. This was about 10 feet 

 square, and the logs were of considerable size, most of them nearly 

 or quite a foot in diameter. At each corner had been placed a stout 

 upright post, and the bottom, judging by the slight remains found 

 there, had been wholly or partially covered with poles. . . . Near 

 the center was the extended skeleton of an adult, head south, with 

 which were enough shell beads to make a string 9 yards in length." 

 (Thomas, (1), pp. 416-449.) 



Quite similar to the preceding was a burial discoAered in Ross 

 County, Ohio. This mound, having a height of 22 feet and a diame- 

 ter of 90 feet, stood on the third terrace of the Scioto, about 5 miles 

 below Chillicothe. During the course of the exploration of the work 

 a stratum of ashes and charcoal was encountered at a depth of 10 

 feet below the summit. This mass was from 2 to inches in thick- 

 ness and about 10 feet square, and " at the depth of 22 feet, and on a 

 level with the original surface, immediately underneath the charcoal 

 layer . . . was a rude timber framework now reduced to an al- 

 most impalpable powder, but the cast of which was still retained in 

 the hard earth. This inclosure of timber, measured from outside to 

 outside, was 9 feet long by 7 wide, and 20 inches high. It had been 

 constructed of logs laid one on the other, and had evidently been 

 covered with other timbers, which had sunk under the superincum- 

 bent earth as they decayed. The bottom had also been covered with 

 bark, matting, or thin slabs — at any rate, a whitish stratum of de- 

 composed material remained, covering the bottom of the parallelo- 

 gram. Within this rude coffin, with its head to the Avest, was found 

 a human skeleton." And associated with the human remains were 

 many beads, again resembling the similar burial in Hocking County. 

 (Squier, (2), pp. 104^167.) 



Burials of a like nature have been discovered westward to the Mis- 

 sissippi, some very interesting examples having been found in the 

 valley of the Illinois and the circumjacent country. 



A stone inclosure discovered in a mound in Rush County, Indiana, 

 about 3^ miles southwest of the village of Milroy, may be considered 

 a typical example of this form of burial. The mound was 5 feet in 

 height and 30 feet in diameter. It stood " on a bluff 20 feet high, at 

 the foot of which flows the stream Little Flat Rock. . . . Inside 

 of it was what might be termed a stone wall inclosing 10 feet 

 square of the mound. Though the wall was not of perfect masonry, 

 yet very evidently it was built for some purpose. . . . On top 

 was common soil 18 inches deep, then clay, next clay and ashes, with 

 coal mixed in it 2 feet thick; then a hardpan of clay, on top of 



