BUSHNKLL] NATIVE CEMETERIES AND FORMS OF BURIAL 65 



and 2^ feet in height. It covered a stone vaidt " which, though only 

 about three and one-half feet wide and of the form shown in the 

 figure, extended from the top of the mound down a foot or more 

 below the natural surface of the ground. This contained a single 

 skeleton in a half -upright position. The head was southwest, the 

 feet northeast. Near the right hip was a discoidal stone. There 

 were no traces of coals or ashes in this mound." (Thomas, (1), p. 

 72.) The ground plan is indicated in figure 10. 



The hollowing out of a central space in the original surface, thus 

 forming a resting place for the body or bodies, later to be entirely 

 covered by a mass of earth, appears to have been a well-developed 

 custom of the people who reared the many mounds in southern Wis- 

 consin and the adjoining country, but seldom do such works com- 

 bine this feature with the stone in- 

 closure as discovered in the small 

 mound mentioned above. 



The inclosures described are good 

 examples of this peculiar form of 

 tomb, but they are not confined to 

 the country 'east of the Mississippi, 

 and many have been discovered ex- 

 tending across the State of Missouri, 

 up the valley of the Missouri. 

 (Fowke, (2).) It is one of the most 

 distinctive forms of burial encoun- 

 tered in eastern United States, and Fig. lO.— Mound in Crawford County, 



likewise one of the most interesting. 



The numerous small burial mounds of Wisconsin do not reveal 

 much of interest. They often occur in irregular groups, in some in- 

 stances being associated with the effigies. Entire skeletons are found 

 in some, but in others the burials are represented by a confused 

 mass of bones. The mounds are seldom more than 10 feet in height, 

 often quite steep, and consequently of a relatively small diameter. 

 Little can be added to the account prepared more than 60 years 

 ago. (Lapham, (1).) 



BUEIALS IN CAVES 



The early settlers of eastern Tennessee, eastern Kentucky, and the 

 adjoining region discovered many caves of varying sizes in the 

 broken, mountainous country. In many instances human remains 

 which had been deposited in the caverns, together with the garments 

 and wrappings of tanned skins or woven fibers, were found in a 

 130548°— 20 5 



