432 ARCHEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS—II [PTH, ANN. 44 
where the surface was at the time the burial was made. Besides, 
floods never reached the height in early days that they attain since 
levees were built. When a levee breaks, as it generally does at a 
dangerous juncture, water rises over ground which it never reached 
when it had a chance to spread. But, aside from this, the situation 
of many mounds in the Red River Valley, in swamps or overflow 
land, as in the case of those in the sunken lands of Arkansas and 
Missouri, points to a change in the relative level of land and 
streams, either a lowering of the former by earthquake action or 
by local alterations in topography, or an elevation of the latter by 
changes in drainage systems, whether from the silting up of outlets 
or from the creation of new channels. Whatever the cause, mounds 
stand where they would not be built under present conditions. 
Old River passes near this subgroup on the south, and on the 
north there is a depression which has filled several feet in the past 
50 years; so the area upon which these mounds stand may have been 
an island when they were erected. 
1 Surface earth, piled on, 314 to 4 feet. 
«| 2 Muck and black earth with kitchen refuse, 7 to 12 inches. 
3 Gray sand or silt, 3 to 419 inches. 
4 Red clay and burned earth, mixed, 9 to 12 inches. 
5 Muck, earth, burned earth, much mixed, 3 to 3} feet. 
= 
Vic. 5.—Section of Mound 
15, Plate 1 
6 Natural soil. 
7 Subsoil. 
Mowunp 16.—This is a small rounded elevation; although it has not 
been cultivated, it is only a foot high and 25 feet across. It is over- 
grown and was not examined. 
Movunp 17.—This is plowed level, but was probably no larger than 
Mound 16. It appears to have been the site of a dwelling. 
Mounp 18.—This is an irregular pentagon in form. The longest 
side, that on the west, measures 130 feet; the north and south ends 
are nearly parallel, each 100 feet; the two sides on the east are 70 
feet each. The level top has an elevation of 1114 feet. 
