274 



MOUND EXPLORATIONS. 



The leuticular masses show tliiit the dirt had been carried in 

 baskets or skins and thrown in without any attempt at stratification in 

 the ohler part of the mound. These masses were from 13 to 18 inches 

 across and from 4 to (i inclies tliick. The lower side, as they lay in the 

 mound, was always darker in color than the upper side. Occasionally 

 a little charcoal or a fiagment of bone or jjottery occurred lu the 

 mound. 



Nothing was found in mound li except a small piece of pottery of 

 very neat design tliat had probably beeu dumped in with the dirt. 

 This mound was made up of soil lying close at hand and the dirt was 

 in layers of regular thickness, as though it had been spread when 

 deposited. On the southeast edge was a layer of mingled dirt and 

 charcoal, GJ feet across, from 2 to 4 inches iu thickness; a large amount 

 of broken pottery was found scattered through it, but no ashes. This 

 lay partly a foot below the top of the giouud and partly on the surface. 



Fia. 172. — Section along tin- north trench, niounil No. 1, Union county. 



At a distance of 75 feet west of the center of mound 3 was a fire- 

 place, on the original surface, covered with a foot of dirt that had 

 washed down from the mound. The mingled ashes, charcoal, and dirt 

 measured 5 feet across and 15 inches thick at the middle, running out 

 to a thin edge and packed very hard. Along with pieces of pottery and 

 animal bones was a piece of iron that had apparently been a brace for a 

 saddle bow. This was 8 inches under the top of the ashes and below 

 most of the pottery found. 



Sixty feet from the center appeared a layer of gray clay, from 1 to 3 

 inches thick. It was continuous under as much of the mound as was 

 removed. In the trench on the west side was found one blade of a iiair 

 of scissors. Three feet above the surface at the center was an ash bed 

 6 inches thick in the middle, 6 feet in diameter, curving upward or dish- 

 shaped aud running to an edge on every side. It rested directly upon 



