THOMAS.] 



MOUNDS OF CALHOUN COUNTY. 



123 



Mduud No. 1, between 3 auil -t feet high, diameters .31 and 22 feet, 

 is oval in outline and somewhat flattened. It proved to be a simple 

 heap of earth covering a single grave or slight excavation, in which 

 lay a single skeleton at full length on the back. 



Moirnd No. 2 of this group presented the same method of construc- 

 tion as No. 1. 



In Fig. 61 is presented the plat of a group on the NE. ^ Sec. 31, T. 

 10 S., E. 2 W., the laud of Mr. William I. Wilkinson. It consists of 

 twelve mounds, situated on the top of a ridge some 200 feet above the 

 river bottoms. They are all of the ordinary conical tji^jc, varying in 

 diameter from 20 to 50 feet, and in height from 2 to 5 feet, as will be 

 seen by reference to the following table (measurements from base to 

 base). 



No. 1 is on west edge of ridge. 

 No. 2 is 40 feet from edge of ridge. 



No. 2, 3 feet high, was nothing but a simple heap of earth covering 

 five skeletons, two of which were bundled, the others stretched at full 

 length. These lay at different depths, from 1 to 3 feet, those at the 

 latter dei^th being on the original siu'face of the ground. There was 

 no excavation or grave beneath this mound. A Unio shell and two 

 chipped implements were found with two of the skeletons. 



Mounds Nos. 3, 4, 5, 9, and 11 were of the same type, the only differ- 

 ence being that some of them contained but one skeleton, while others 

 contained two or four. 



No. 7, standing near the edge of the ridge, presented some slight 

 variations from the six mentioned. In this, which was 4 feet high, was 

 found, at the dei>th of a few inches, a dark sticky mass about 2 feet in 

 diameter and 1 foot thick, seemingly of burned animal matter, which con- 

 tained fragments of burned human bones, charcoal, and ashes. Under 

 this was a layer of burned earth some 10 or 11 feet in diameter. Lower 

 down and nearer the margin of the mound was another similar, but 

 smaller, dark mass also mixed with burned human bones and charcoal. 

 A single skeleton rested on the original surface, near the southwest 



