HEDLICK A] SKELETAL REMAINS 89 
through the formation have been regarded as evidence that they 
were deposited contemporaneously with that formation (loess) and, 
hence, that they are of great age, antedating the shaping of the hill 
itself. Right here, however, we are confronted with a perplexing 
dilemma. If these fragments found more than 6 feet below the 
surface are admitted to proceed from the remains deposited above 
the 6-foot level and just below the baked earth—the remains of 
people of the low foreheads, we must then abandon the assumption 
that they are as ancient as the deposits of loess immediately about 
them, and also the idea that these deposits have remained undisturbed 
since their formation. On the other hand, should the fragments be 
regarded as distinct in origin from the skeletons found between the 
24-foot and 6-foot levels, as they must be if the formations have re- 
mained undisturbed, the problem takes on a new phase, and we must 
account for several distinct deposits of human remains within or 
beneath the mound. In that case the inferior type of some of the 
skulls from the layer just below the baked earth can have no bearing 
on the antiquity of the fragments deeper down. Furthermore, the 
higher fragments found beneath the 6-foot level could scarcely then 
be regarded as of the same origin as the lower ones, for the reason 
that the distance between these two groups of pieces is far greater 
than that between the higher-lying fragments and the superimposed 
skeletons. 
The fact that the bones between the 24-foot and 6-foot levels were 
mixed and broken and parts were missing may be difficult to explain, 
but similar conditions are common in mound bueials as well as in other 
burials, and are especially to be expected where the excavation has 
not been conducted from the beginning with the utmost care. Inequal- 
ities in decay, natural movements of the earth, the burrowing and 
direct dragging by rodents, the penetration of roots, and occasional 
‘unrecorded disturbances of the soil produce remarkable results of 
this nature. Whole limbs, or the entire head, and sometimes a large 
part of the body, may thus disappear, or the remains may be 
broken, teeth lost, and the bones scattered. There must have been a 
similar occurrence even with the uppermost or intrusive burials, for of 
one of the bodies, that of a child, which is regarded as the most recent, 
there is only the incomplete skull, while but little more was found of 
the other two bodies inhumed above the fire-hardened earth. The 
fact that there is no break or horizon of separation in the deposits 
between the bones of the principal deposit and those below, and that 
larger fragments were discovered only in the proximity of these 
main burials, speaks much for the common origin of all the specimens 
under consideration. That some slivers could have been so displaced 
as to lie actually beyond the limits of the mound does not seem 
improbable. 
