THOMAS.) NOKTH CAROLINA. 335 



No. 1 is a stone grave or vault stauding exactly in the center of this 

 large i)it, but in a small circular pit evidently made for this special pur- 

 pose, exteDdiiig down .S feet below the bottom of the larger one. This 

 vault, built of cobblestones around a standing skeleton, was made 3 feet 

 in diameter at the base, carried up perpendicularly for i feet and then 

 narrowed so as to be covered by a single soapstone slab at the top. 

 On the top of the head of the skeleton, which was fouud still staudiug. 

 though much decayed, were several plates of cut mica, the only arti- 

 cles accompanying it. 



The skeletons iu Nos. U, 3, 4, 5, (J, 7, S, !(, and 10, though walled 

 around in a similar manner, were iu a squatting posture on the bot- 

 tom of the large pit. With skeleton No. '2 was one small celt; with 

 No. 3 a discoidal stone; with No. (t two celts, and over No. 9, but in- 

 side the vault, a pitted stone. 



Nos. 11, 12, and 13 are three skeletons found in a squatting position, 

 with no wall around them and uuaccomi)aiHed by relics of any kind. 

 Nos. 14 and 15 were lying horizontally at full length, also uuinclosed. 

 With the former were pieces of broken pipes and with the latter one 

 celt. No. 10 was an uninclosed "squatter" of unusually large size, not 

 less than 7 feet high when living. Near the mouth was an entire soap- 

 stone pipe; the legs were extended in a southwest direction upon a bed 

 of burnt earth. 



The faces of all the squatting "skeletons were turned away from the 

 standing, central one. 



At A was a considerable quantity of black paint in little lumps, 

 which appear to have been molded in the hull of some nut. 1! indicates 

 a cubical mass of waterworn bowlders built up solidly and symmetri- 

 cally, 24 inches long, 18 inches wide, and 18 inches high, showing no 

 indications of tire, without ashes or bones on or around it. 



On the contrary, the stones built around the bodies bore more or 

 less evidence of fire, having been blackened by smoke in places, and 

 the earth immediately around them was considerably hardened by 

 baking. The bones of the skeletons also showed indications of heat. 

 Scattered throughout the mound were small pieces of pottery and char- 

 coal. 



THE T. F. NELSON TRIANCLK. 



This is the name applied to an ancient triangular burying ground 

 on the farm of Eev. T. F. Nelson, and located about 75 yards north 

 of the mound just described. 



It is simply a burial pit in the form of a triangle, the east and west 

 sides each 48 feet long, and the southern base 32 feet, the depth vary- 

 ing from 2i to 3 feet. The top was not mounded up, but level with the 

 surrounding surface. The apex, which points directly north, extends 

 within 3 feet of the bank of the Yadkin river, the height above the 

 usual water level being about 12 feet. A i)lat of the triangle, show- 

 ing the position of the burials iu it, is given in Fig. 208. Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 



