FOWKE] MOUNDS IN ALABAMA 439 
None of these objects were distinctive; that is, there was no pecu- 
liarity of shape or finish to any of them which would make it possi- 
ble to attribute them to any particular tribe. Scarcely any of them 
were well finished, and they could have been made by any primitive 
people. The pottery was shell tempered, with no decorative mark- 
ings; scarcely a piece had a handle. The flints were rough and 
poorly chipped; but this may be due in large part to the nature of 
the stone, which is coarse, of uneven texture, containing cavities, 
and refractory to either hammer or flaking tool. A few finely 
wrought drills and other specimens of a superior grade of stone 
(pl. 70, #) may have been imported. A number of the unstemmed 
flints have the base convexly curved, with expanding corners at the 
sides, making them somewhat bell-shaped. It is probable that the 
large proportion of fragmentary specimens were broken by prying 
or twisting in the effort to open mussel shells with them. Hammer- 
stones may have been used to break the edges of the shells so that 
the knife could be more easily inserted; however, no shells were 
observed which showed marks of such operation. This fact may 
not be conclusive, as the edges of nearly all mussel shells were blunt 
and ragged from decay. The bone “ perforators” (pl. 73) would 
seem to be of no other use in such quantities than to extract the 
flesh of periwinkles from their shells, whether they had been cooked 
by boiling or by roasting; and fin bones of large fishes were probably 
used for the same purpose. 
There was more earth at the northern end of the mound than 
toward the center; some of it was in level, rather uniform layers, 
apparently deposited in still water, and some of it in small masses 
as if due to swirling or eddying currents. This may be explained 
by the fact that this end was more exposed to freshets in both the 
river and the creek when these were high. 
Wherever these unburned, apparently water-laid, deposits were 
found they contained some shells scattered through them as if car- 
ried there by the current or by rain washing them in from the top 
of the mound as it stood at that time. 
Earth dark from admixture with decayed charcoal and fire beds 
burned red sometimes to a depth of 5 or 6 inches occurred at every 
level from bottom to top and in every part of the trench. 
Every worked object found, except those in graves, to be noted 
later, seemed to be of accidental origin; that is, not deposited inten- 
tionally but thrown away or lost in the refuse. 
Two explanations are available to account for the peculiar con- 
ditions existing here. First, there may have been people from the 
numerous village sites away from the river, coming here to fish and 
to gather the mollusks, who brought with them only what they 
needed in their camp, or who made their crude and simple imple- 
