70 



MOUND EXPLORATIONS. 



Mound No. 3, sitixated on the western slope of tlie beucli, is conical 

 in form, about 45 feet in diameter and 7 feet high. Commencing at 

 the top, there was first a thin layer of vegetable mold 2 inehes in 

 thickness {a, Fig. 30) ; next a layer, mostly of clay, slightly mixed with 

 sand, which had probably washed from the bluffs, 3i feet thick (c); 

 below this a layer of clay, very hard, 18 inches {d); then a layer (b) 

 of loose, fine, dry dust, wliich gave out a peculiar odor; and lastly, 



corresponding to 

 the original sur- 

 face of the ground, 

 a thin layer, appar- 

 ently composed of 

 decayed vegetable 

 matter (e). Be- 

 neath this was an 

 excavation about 

 1 foot in depth, 8 

 feet wide, and 12 

 feet long. Owing 

 to the slope on 

 which the mound 

 was placed, this 

 had been cut into 

 so as to make a 

 level bed, on which 

 the bodies were 

 deposited. Here 

 were twelve skel- 

 etons — ten of ad- 

 ults and two of 

 children. The two 

 children were in 

 the northeast cor- 

 ner of the pit; the 

 bones were in con- 

 fusion. Three of 

 the adult skeletons 

 were in the middle 

 of the platform ; the bones were disarticulated, but those of each skeleton 

 formed into a bundle. Two skulls and a few of the bones of the body 

 were found between the children and the other three, one of the skulls 

 lying on top of the other. In the south end of the pit were three skulls 

 in fragments and the remains of five skeletons in a confused heap. A 

 single skull, but no other bones with it, was found in connection with 

 a few flat stones in the hard clay layer at the depth of 2 feet. 

 Mound 9, 26 feet in diameter and between 2 and 3 feet high, stood on 



