BUSHNELL] NATIVE CEMETERIES AND FORMS OF BURIAL 121 



each one polished stone celt near by. Stone arrowheads were also 

 found in the mound, the whole of which had been erected after con- 

 tact with Europeans, The mound probably belongs to the transition 

 period, before native implements and weapons had been entirely 

 superseded by others of European make, but while they were still 

 retained and used. And although this mound was not far from the 

 site of a late village of the Seminole, it would seem that it belonged 

 to a somewhat earlier period, as it is doubtfvil if these late comers 

 would have had, and evidently used, implements of stone. (The 

 preceding references to mounds in Lake County, are quoted from 

 Moore, (6).) 



It is difficult, if not impossible, to distinguish between the differ- 

 ent burials now found in central Florida. Many are unquestion- 

 ably quite ancient, dating from some generations before the coming 

 of the Spaniards ; others are comparatively recent. The older forms 

 may be Timucuan or even of the people who may have traversed 

 this section when going farther southward; possibly some very old 

 Muskhogean tribe. But no human remains yet found in Florida, or 

 elsewhere east of the Mississippi, can justly be attributed to a people 

 more ancient than the native American tribes, as now known and 

 recognized. 



Another interesting detail was noted by Moore in a mound on 

 the bank of the St. Johns, in St. Johns County, about 3 miles north 

 of Picolata. The mound was about 6 feet 6 inches in height and 

 64 feet in diameter. On the original surface, covering the center 

 of the base of the mound, " was a flooring of split plank in the last 

 stages of decay, about 13 feet square. Its thickness was 2 inches." 

 This was red cedar. Within the work were discovered 34 separate 

 bundles of bones, but no entire skeletons. This discovery was made 

 in 1894. For the sake of comparison, to show the similarity of cus- 

 toms in widely separated parts of the country, but by people in no 

 way connected with one another, a reference may be made to a dis- 

 covery made in a mound far north in Ohio. The mound referred 

 to stood "upon the broad and beautiful terrace on which Chilli- 

 cothe stands, about 1 mile to the north of that town," in Ross 

 County. It was about 15 feet in height and 70 feet in diameter. 

 The work was excavated, but nothing was encountered until the 

 human skeleton, at the base of the mound, was reached. " Th6 

 course of preparation for the burial seemed to have been as follows : 

 The surface of the ground was first carefully leveled and packed, 

 over an area perhaps ten or fifteen feet square. This area was then 

 covered with sheets of bark, on which, in the center, the body of 

 the dead was deposited, with a few articles of stone at its side, and 

 a few small ornaments near the head. It was then covered over 



