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MRDLICK A] SKELETAL REMAINS | 93 
uated on the west side of Cedar river. In the largest of these mounds 
(circular in form and about 30 feet in diameter, but only 2 feet high) 
were found, at a depth of a little more than 5 feet from the surface, 
the well-preserved remains of five bodies. This mound showed 
several peculiarities, among which were a layer of sarth mixed with 
ashes, some distance above the bodies, and a baking of the remaining 
earth above these ashes. One of the skeletons was that of an 
“average-sized woman in middle life,’ one of an infant, one of a 
large aged man, and two of young adults, sex undetermined. The 
bones of the woman (7?) “indicated a person of low grade, the 
evidences of unusual muscular development being strongly marked.‘ 
The skull of this personage was a wonder to behold, equaling, if 
not rivaling in some respects, in inferiority of grade, the famous 
‘Neanderthal skull.’ The forehead (if forehead it could be called) 
is very low, lower and more animal-like than in the ‘ Neanderthal’ 
specimen. This skull is quite small for an adult individual.” 
Later in the same year and in the same journal (pages 650-655) Mr. 
Webster reports on excavations in the mounds near Old Chickasaw, 
Towa, on the west side of Little Cedar river. All these mounds were 
“circular, with oval tops, and with a diameter varying from 22 to 
51 feet, and a height of from 13 to 5 feet.” In the center of the 
first mound examined three human skeletons were found. Above 
them were 14 feet of mixture of earth and ashes, made very hard, 
with a few small pieces of charcoal scattered through it. The 
remaining 34 feet of material composing the mound was a yellow, 
clayey soil, unlike anything found on the surface in the vicinity. 
“The crania of all three individuals showed an extremely low grade 
of mental development; the foreheads being, in one case, even lower 
than in the specimen found in the Floyd mound.” ‘“ The upper 
anterior portion (back of the eyes) of one of the crania under con- 
sideration was quite narrow, but expanded rather rapidly postero- 
laterally.” The frontal bone “sloped abruptly backward, forming 
a slightly concave area back of and above the eyes.” The largest of 
the three skulls measured 64 by 5 inches (15.8 by 12.7 em.).? “ No 
relics of any description were found with the bodies exhumed,” 
imeluding those from neighboring mounds.° 
Another group of low-browed, inferior-type crania was dealt with 
in a previous chapter of this paper. They are the specimens from 
along Illinois river, including the Rock Bluff skull (plate 11, a), the 
“It is quite evident that an error has been made in the sex identification, and that the 
skeleton was that of a man. 
> Nothing is stated as to how these measurements were taken. 
¢The illustrations accompanying the two accounts of Mr. Webster can scarcely be 
regarded otherwise than as overdrawn, but the description points clearly to low-type 
crania. The specimens are still in the possession of Mr. Webster, at Charles City, Iowa, 
but a personal request that they be sent to the writer for examination, or that they be 
Photographed for his use, brought no answer. 
