ARCHKOLOG 

 FUWKE 



'^'] REMAINS IN ORANGE ('OUNTY 35 



the original .surface of tlic ground, although it was reported that G 

 strata had been found near the central portion. This would indicate 

 that the burials were carried nearly to the top of the mound. There 

 was no uniformity in either the vertical or horizontal space between 

 the deposits; it was i)laiu there had not been at any time a sufficient 

 number of interments to cover any considerable part of w^hat was then 

 the top of the mound, but that a quantity of bcmes, greater or lesser 

 according- to circumstances, had been laid on the surface and covered 

 with earth. Others were afterwards buried in the same way. Thus 

 while no single vertical section would reveal more than 6 layers of 

 bone, a careful removal of the earth horizontally would have uncovered 

 them at probably three times that number of levels. 



In the skeletons all ages were represented, for among the bones were 

 those of very young children, while of others many of the teeth were 

 worn to the neck. 



Numerous small deposits of human bones almost destroyed by fire 

 were scattered through the mound. When found in the bone-beds, 

 they seemed to have been placed at random, but when found with the 

 remains of not more than 2 or 3 skeletons they formed a thin layer 

 upon wiiich the latter rested. 



The pits or graves mentioned above were of two kinds. One class 

 was excavated to a depth of 2 feet in the soil, with a diameter varying 

 from 4 to 5 feet; the others did not exceed a foot in depth, and all were 

 somewhat less than 4 feet across. The deeper ones contained usually 3 

 layers of decomposed bones at intervals of about 10 inches; in the 

 shallower there was in most cases only a single layer, at the bottom, 

 though in a few a second deposit had been made a few inches above the 

 first. The bones in some of the graves appeared to have been placed in 

 their proper jjosition; but it was impossible to ascertain with certainty 

 whether such was the case. One of the deeper pits had its bottom and 

 sides lined with charcoal; none of the others had even this slight evi- 

 dence of care or respect. These holes were so numerous as to coalesce 

 and take up the entire s]>ace within a limit of 10 feet from the margin 

 of the mound; it was sometimes difficult to determine the line of sep- 

 aration between two bone deposits. When all the earth indicating 

 their position had been removed, a basin to the extent and depth above 

 indicated was left, with only a few small points of the yellow sandy 

 subsoil rising above its bottom. Owing to the erosion and caving-in of 

 the mound on its eastern side, the limit of the graves in that direction 

 couM not be ascertained; but it is probable they extended as near to 

 the margin on this side as elsewhere. 



No relics of any sort were deposited with the bones; a rough mor 

 tar, 2 arrowheads, and some fragments of pottery were found loose 

 in the debris. 



It is i)lain that this spot was for a long period the burial place of 

 a small tribe or clan, among whom prevailed the habit of stripping the 

 flesh from the corpse before interment, or of depositing the body else- 



