FOWKE] MOUNDS AND GRAVES IN KENTUCKY 489 
of cases this was not done. The body, usually folded or doubled in 
order to fit the restricted length of the excavation, was placed on 
the bottom; occasionally a cavity was dug long enough to contain the 
body fully extended. The grave appears then to have been filled with 
earth, though it is possible that in some cases earth may have worked 
its way in between the stones. Sometimes, though not often, flat 
rocks were laid across the top as a covering. The upper edges of the 
vertical slabs were usually left projecting above the present surface, 
but now many of them are entirely concealed by earth carried from 
higher ground by superficial drainage, and are revealed only when 
struck by a plow. No bones were ever recovered entire; sometimes, 
though very seldom, they were intact when first uncovered but fell 
to pieces when an attempt was made to remove them. Often the 
whole skeleton had disintegrated into a thin layer of chalky or limy 
substance, as if pulverized. In no tomb opened were any artificial 
objects discovered except a few fragments of shell which, from the 
- descriptions given by the finders, may have been decayed beads. 
The stones “as large as 4 by 5 feet” and the “shin bones nearly 
21% feet long” showed no such dimensions when a rule was applied 
to them. The largest stone taken from any grave was 32 by 48 
inches. None of them were thick, and scarcely one was too heavy 
to be carried easily by one man. None of the fragmentary bones 
that were still to be seen belonged to persons of more than ordinary 
stature. 
There seemed to be no reason why any further investigation 
should be attempted. 
Reports of “Indian settlements” along Big Trammel and other 
creeks are not based upon actual discovery of such sites but upon 
the undeniable fact that “all the Indians who are buried here must 
have lived somewhere close around.” Only one village site has been 
located; it is at the foot of a hill, covered by earth washed down, and 
was revealed by a cut for a roadway. Excavation was not practi- 
cable. Other inhabited sites exist, of course, and there are probably 
a number of them; but they do not show. 
The mound “8 or 9 feet high” was not more than 3 feet. It 
stood on a hillside, and the reporter looking at it from below esti- 
mated it as “3 feet higher than a man’s head.” Had he gone farther 
down the slope it could easily have appeared as 30 feet higher. 
The owner gave full permission for any investigation desired; but 
as there were three large trees and the green stump of a fourth on 
the mound, while he stipulated that he was to have everything that 
might be found in it, advantage was not taken of his generosity. 
On the north or east side of Big Trammel, 3 miles north of Petro- 
leum, on land belonging to H. Russell Miller, are three small mounds. 
55231 °—28——32 
