BUSHNELL] jSTATIM^ CEMETERIES AND FORMS OF BURIAL. 99 



burials of adults extended on the back, and the skeletons of several 

 children also were present in the mound, . . . Some of the bunched 

 burials were extensive, one having no fewer than thirty skulls (many 

 in fragments) and a great quantity of other bones. . . The skulls of 

 the bunched burials, as a rule, were heaped together at one side of 

 the burial. . . . Forty-six vessels of earthenware, mostly in small 

 fragments, were recovered from this mound." (Moore, (2), pp. 

 378-381.) 



The great masses or deposits of human remains encountered in 

 this mound is at once suggestive of the final disposition of the Choc- 

 taw dead, after the bodies had been removed from their earlier rest- 

 ing places, the flesh stripped from the bones, and the latter inclosed 

 in baskets, finally to be arranged in heaps and covered with earth, 

 thus forming a mound, to be added to from time to time. It is highly 

 probable that in the older mounds all traces of the remains have dis- 

 apiDcared, leaving no evidence of the original nature or form of the 

 structure. 



But other mounds within this region, revealing many human re- 

 mains in such positions as to prove the bodies to have been buried 

 without the removal of the flesh, may also be of Choctaw origin, but 

 erected under far different conditions. It is interesting to learn 

 causes which led to the erection of several of these great tombs. 

 Two, covering the dead of two tribes, stood about 2 miles south of 

 West Point, Clay County, Mississippi. " The Choctaws and Chicka- 

 saws had occasional conflicts, particularly after the whites appeared 

 in the country. The former were allies of the French. The latter 

 were under English control, and the rivalry of these kept the two 

 Idndred tribes on bad terms. They had a great battle about two 

 miles south of West Point. There may yet be seen two mounds, about 

 one hundred yards apart. After the fight they came to terms, and 

 erected these mounds over their dead, and to the neighboring stream 

 they gave the name Oka-tibbe-ha, or Fighting Water." (Claiborne, 

 (1), pp. 484-485.) 



In the southwestern part of Alabama, the heart of the old Choctaw 

 country, are numerous mounds, many of which when examined re- 

 vealed more clearly than did those already mentioned the peculiarities 

 of the Choctaw burial customs. Among these were two which stood 

 not far from the left bank of the Tombigbee, near Jackson, Clarke 

 County, Alabama. The more northerly of these was about 43 feet 

 in diameter and 2 feet in height. " Human remains were found in 

 eleven places, consisting of lone skulls, small bunches, and fragments 

 of bone, all in the last stage of decay." (Moore, (3), pp. 258-259.) 

 A number of small stone implements were associated with some of 

 the burials, and a single object of copper was found near where a 

 skeleton may have rested, all traces of which had disappeared. 



