76 



MOUND EXPLORATIONS. 



much decayed, probably of a comparatively young persou, was found 

 lying on the natural surface of the ground near the center of the mound. 

 Some scattering pieces of charcoal were observed, but no stones. 



Mound 12, 48 feet in diameter and 8 feet high, was 

 / composed throughout of the yellow earth heretofore 

 mentioned, but the portion extending from the deptli 

 of 3 to 5 feet was packed very hard and tight, Jimch 

 more so than that above or below it. No articles or 

 indications of burial were observed. 



No. 16 is the middle one of the row (see Eig. 33) of 

 five mounds running parallel to and on the side next 

 the Mississippi. It measured 45 feet in diameter and 

 4 feet in height. In the central portion, at the bot- 

 tom, were eleven skeletons close together, with the 

 heads in every direction; no implements or orna- 

 ments accompanied them, but at some distance from 

 them, and about a foot above the level at which the 

 skeletons lay, was a large broken pot. At the bottom 

 a pit had been dug to the dejith of 3 feet in the natu- 

 ral soil, in which were four skeletons, two lying with 

 M heads southeast and the other two, one a child, with 



i heads northwest. Near the head of the former lay a 



copper plate. This is lOJ inches in length and 2f 

 inches in width at the widest part, a thin sheet less 

 than one-twentieth of an inch thick, but slightly un- 

 even. Near each end, on one side, are four rows of 

 small, circular indentations (some of them entirely 

 through), which must have been made with a metallic 

 instrument, as is evident from the raised points on 

 the opposite side of the plate. This lay just below 

 the skull and near the under jaw. Near the hand of 

 the same skeleton were two long, slender, square 

 copper drills or spindles, one about 9 inches long and 

 one fourth of an inch thick, pointed at one end and 

 chisel-shaped at the other; the other 7 inches long 

 and pointed at both ends, shown in Fig. 34. Near 



Fig. 34 

 (lies 



—Copper spin- 

 from the Sue 

 Coulee group, Craw- 

 ford fount.y, Wis. 



the head of one of these slvcletons was a thin, cup- 



shaped ornament of copper, probably part of an ear- 

 pendant. 



Mound 7, which stands on the highest ground of anj' of the group, is 

 quite symmetrical, 00 feet in diameter and 8 feet high, and, with the 

 exception of a column running down in the center, it consisted of 

 yellow, sandy soil. The column, circular in outline, 5 to feet in diam- 

 eter, and composed of loose dark earth, extended from the highest 

 central point to the original surface of the ground. The yellow earth 

 immediately surrounding it was very hard. 



