138 BUREAU OF AMERICAlSr ETHNOLOGY [bull. 71 



years ago, proved of much interest, and the simiharity of material 

 recovered from it, and the manner in which the remains of the dead 

 had been deposited, showed clearly the connection between the people 

 of this ancient settlement and those of other towns which once stood 

 in the valleys of the Scioto and the Miami and elsewhere in the 

 adjacent region. 



The indications of 49 dwellings or other structures were en- 

 countered, and scattered over the area of about 2 acres, around and 

 between the houses, were discovered 127 burials and 234 caches — 

 pits of various sizes in which food supplies were stored, and which 

 may have served other purposes as well. The dwellings at this 

 ancient village, as shown by the postholes which outline the floor 

 spaces, were invariably of a circular form, but the largest structure 

 revealed during the exploration of the site was " of oblong construc- 

 tion and measuring upwards of twenty-one feet in length by twelve 

 feet in width inside of the posts. The posts were large, as shown by 

 the postmolds, and consisted of twenty-one set upright in the ground, 

 the smallest being five inches in diameter and the largest nine and 

 one- fourth inches. On the inside seven other posts similar in size to 

 the outer ones were promiscuously placed, presumably for the sup- 

 port of the roof." (Mills, (1).) 



A plan of this structure with its accompanying burials on the 

 south and a group of caches and fireplaces on the north is reproduced 

 in figure 16. In many of the caches were traces of the corn, beans, 

 nuts,' and other supplies which they once contained. But now the 

 majority when opened are filled with camp refuse, intermingled with 

 various objects of native origin wdiich had probably been accidentally 

 lost rather than having been intentionally deposited. The burials 

 encountered at this site were 30 in number, thus constituting the 

 most extensive group discovered, and of these only 10 were adults. 

 This may be regarded as a typical cluster of graves as " each family 

 group had their own private burial ground," and the graves were 

 seldom more than 10 feet from the habitation. "Another form of 

 burial occasionally met with in the family groups was where 

 interment was made in one of the abandoned storehouses (i. e., 

 caches). The head is bent backward and the legs are flexed so that 

 the feet are very near the pelvis, and the whole body made to con- 

 form to the size of the pit. During the entire exploration only four 

 skeletons were taken from the bottom of refuse pits." The caches 

 thus appear to have been used rather as a matter of convenience, 

 })robably at some time when it would have been difficult to have pre- 

 ]5ared the usual form of grave, therefore the extended burial was 

 the custom of the inhabitants of this ancient settlement. 



The near-by mound, undoubtedly reared by the people whose 

 dwellings lay scattered about it, contained various burials, extended, 



