vOWKE] MOUNDS IN ALABAMA F 453 
than 50 feet in diameter. Although it had been plowed across 
several times its symmetry was not thereby impaired, and it remained 
a typical example of the so-called “conical” form of burial mound. 
Standing on the highest part of the field. near the bank of a swamp, 
its conspicuous position produced an impression that it was much 
larger than its actual dimensions. 
The surface of the ground around it was strewn, over an area 
of more than an acre, with the usual débris of an ordinary village 
site. Small flint implements were especially abundant. There were 
also many mortars, pestles, and cooking-stones, denoting that the 
site was occupied by a people who derived their subsistence partly 
from hunting and partly from farming. 
The general situation was such as to lead to the belief that the 
mound was worth investigating. 
The lower portion of the structure had been subjected to cultiva- 
tion for many years, with the result that the superficial earth for a 
few feet above its base had been dragged out upon the general level 
of the field. As it was not necessary to remove any of this, a line, 
which it was thought would fall slightly within the original margin, 
was marked out on the plowed ground. This approximately circular 
perimeter measured 135 feet, thus inclosing an area almost exactly 
43 feet in average diameter. 
A trench 2 feet wide, with this line as the outer limit, was carried 
entirely around the mound as a preliminary to beginning a complete 
investigation. The object of digging this was twofold: First, to 
ascertain whether the line was at a sufficient distance from the center 
of the mound; secondly, to afford a convenient way of disposing of 
the earth to be removed, by throwing it continually toward the foot 
of the slope on the outside. The trench was carried down into the 
undisturbed earth upon which the mound was built. Almost at 
once it became apparent that the limit should have been placed 
farther out. At the end of the first day’s work, before the encircling 
ditch was carried entirely around, the fragmentary remains of 
fifteen skeletons had been exhumed. None of the bones could be 
preserved except a few from the hands and feet; they would not 
hold together when the earth was removed from around them. 
On the west side, close to the outer margin of the trench, were 
the remnants of at least two skeletons; they seemed to have been 
extended, with the heads north, but not enough of them was left to 
make certain that such was the fact. There may have been more 
than two. They were encased in earth which had been burned hard, 
although the bones showed no marks of burning, not even being 
discolored by the heat. 
