496 ARCHEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS—II [prH. ANN. 44 
ness over the entire mound and had worn down at the top. The line 
of demarcation between the two earths was very feebly marked, 
there being a space from 1 to 2 feet thick in which they were min- 
gled, sometimes one being in excess, sometimes the other. 
From 2 to 3 feet under the surface, at the top of the mound, were 
traces of five skeletons. Four were adults, one a child of 12 or 13 
years. The last had been buried in a folded position; the others 
were so decayed that the method of interment was uncertain. These 
were, of course, intrusive. 
An arrow point made of antler and the end of a bone perforator 
were found in the black earth. 
At 15 feet from the center, between the clay and the black earth, 
were traces of a skeleton, extended, head west. Four feet under this, 
or 3 feet above the bottom, was the solid and heavy shaft of a human 
femur; both ends were gone, apparently from decay, although the 
fragment had a remarkably fresh appearance. Near it were two 
small pieces of skull and a bone from a hand or foot. Five feet west, 
on the same level, was a large fragment of skull. A layer of wood, 
with some ashes, lay below these scattered bones, and another layer 
of wood above them; it could be traced for several feet each way, 
gradually running out. The earth around it had not been disturbed 
in any way; there were woodchuck burrows in the upper part of the 
mound, but none of them reached down this far. Above the last piece 
of skull three small logs had been laid. They reached to the east 
limit of the bones and extended into the west side of the trench, one 
of them 4 or 5 feet, the others only about a foot. The indications 
were that a layer of ashes had been sprinkled, wood or bark placed on 
this, then the bones, and above them another layer of wood or bark, 
which was upheld by the poles. 
At the bottom of the mound, in the middle of the trench, was a 
layer of ashes 4 feet across, and above it a layer of charcoal, both 
not more than an inch thick. They had not been burned where found, 
but were carefully spread here. Resting on them was decayed wood, 
including oak, mulberry, walnut, and perhaps other kinds. Toward 
the north and west this deposit extended beyond the limits of the 
trench; on the east it merged with the remains of a large fire. The 
ground was burned 4 inches deep, under an ash bed of the same thick- 
ness, which was from 6 to 7 feet across. There was no charcoal 
among the ashes; but they contained a great many small fragments 
of bone and mussel shell, much burned. On the northeast edge of 
the ashes was charcoal, reaching north; it led to the remains of an 
oak log 10 inches in diameter and 6 feet long, both ends of which 
were charred, the intermediate portion being decayed. It reached 
to a fire bed similar to the first, as if it had been used to feed both 
