THOMAS] EARTHWORKS AT NEW ALBIN. 103 



which was found a crypt or rude stone coffin about 6 feet long and 18 

 inches wide, formed by first placing flat sandstones on the natural clay 

 surface of the ground, then other slabs edgewise at the sides and ends, 

 and a covering of similar stones. Within this, extended at full length, 

 with the head nearly west, was the skeleton of an atlult, but too much 

 decayed f(jr preservation. With it were some stone chips, rude stone 

 scrapers or skinners, a Unio shell, and some fragments of pottery sim- 

 ilar to those found in the pottery circle. 



THE SAND BUTTi:. 



This prominent feature of the area (marked C in PI. v), which, by 

 the eroding influence of wind and rain, has covered the plateau to the 

 depth of a foot or more with sand since the works were constructed, is 

 about 100 feet high at its northern end and laO at the southern extrem- 

 ity. On the narrow crest are three small cirimlar mounds, in which 

 were found human bones, fragments of i)ottery, etc. The same com- 

 pact earth as found elsewhere was also encountered in these, showing 

 them to be the work of the same people. 



WALLED VAULT. 



In the side of the eastern bluff, about half way down from the top, 

 is a somewhat singular work (marked F). This is a room or vault 

 about 11 feet square, excavated in the face of the bluff and roughly 

 walled up with flat sandstones. Although many of these stones are 

 too large to be handled by an ordinary man, they were evidently 

 brought by some means from the sand butte, and several are still on 

 the top of the bluff above the vault. The back and most of the end 

 walls are sustained by the bank, standing from 4 to 6 feet high, but the 

 front, although built of the larger pieces, especially about the door- 

 way, is only about half as high. A careful examination of the interior 

 revealed nothing but charcoal, ashes, and decaying firebrands, which 

 might possibly have resulted from the burning of a timber roof. 

 The regularity with which the walls were built, and the square corners, 

 aside from all other indications, suggest that this is of comparatively 

 recent date, and the work of a diflerent people from those who con- 

 structed the circle and mounds of the plateau. It was probably made 

 by some white or half-breed trapper within the past two centuries. 



Among the results of the exploration of this interesting group may 

 be noted the following: That, although human skeletons and bones 

 were found in great numbers in the mounds and under the surface 

 of the plateau, none were found within the pottery circle or nearer than 

 200 yards of it. Those found were sometimes mingled promiscuously 

 with charcoal and ashes, but were usually whole skeletons, frequently, 

 but not always, lying horizontally near the natural surface of the 

 ground, without any apparent system, except that they were uniformly 

 covered with from 1 to 3 feet of very hard earth, seemingly mixed with 



