160 



MOUND EXPLORATIONS. 



No. 2 is only al)oiit iT) i'cc.t in diaiiK'ter and 3 feet liij;h, and, likti the 

 other, is composed entirely of sand, except the to]) layer. On the west 

 side, near tlie middle, were two empty stone graves (c c), each 7 feet 

 long, 18 inches wide, and about 1 foot in depth, covered with a thin 

 layer of soil. In the road where it ci'osses the connecting portions 



of the two mounds were 

 three stone graves (« a 

 a). These, like the two 

 in the mound, lay east 

 and west,but were much 

 smaller, being only 20 

 inches long, IG inches 

 wide, and 15 inches 

 deep, and were at the 

 surface of the ground. 

 Two were empty, but 

 in the other was a skel- 





-e: 



etou doubled up, the 



Fig. 84. — Rouiid pond mouiuls, Unitm county, Illinois. 



skull and trunk lying 

 on the left side, the 

 lower jaw totrching the 

 west end of the grave; the trunk was bent double, the backbone touch- 

 ing the south side. Although confined in this narrow space, this was 

 the skeleton of an adult. 



A few flint specimens were pi(;ked up from the surface of the ground 

 about the mounds. 



ANCIKNT GKAVES. 



These box-shaped stone cists are on a spur of the blufts which bound 

 the Mississippi bottoms in the NW. i Sec. 16, T. 13 S., E. 2 W. This 

 spiu' is about 400 feet high, has steep sides ami a narrow top. 



Grave No. 1, 2 feet ixnder the surface, lay northeast and southwest; 

 length, 6 feet; width, 2 feet; depth, 1 foot; bottom formed of two flat 

 stones; each side of live similar stones and each end of two; the cover 

 was in tbree layers, eacb formed of two rather thick flat stones. In 

 the grave were two skeletons, an adult and a child, stretched at full 

 length, faces wp, and heads southwest. Under the skull of the adult 

 were a bone needle and two stone implements. At the feet was a long- 

 necked bottle-shaped vase. These remains were covered with very dry, 

 yellow earth which well-nigh tilled the grave. 



No. 2, 10 feet north of No. 1, was of the same size and form, but the 

 top in tliis case had fallen in. It was 3 feet under the surface, lay east 

 and west, and contained one skeleton, at full length upcm its back, 

 head west, bones comparatively sound. Under and near the skull 

 were a small, circular, shell ornament, bone awl, bcme needle, and bone 

 punch. Two small ^lieces of thin copiier plate were discovei'cd, but 

 were so corroded and H'agUe that they fell into minute particles when 



