TnoMAs] WEST VIRGINIA. 429 



the diameter of 12 feet, was carried down i feet fartlicr. This revealed 

 the fact that previous to building the mound, a pit, the extent of which 

 was not at first determined, had been dug to the depth of 4 feet in the 

 original soil, and ou the floor of this "pit at one side, arranged in a semi- 

 circle, had been formed six small clay vaults in the shape of beehives; 

 they were about 3 feet in diameter at the bottom and the same in 

 height and made of mixed clay and ashes, very hard and impervious 

 to water. Possibly they had been allowed to dry before being covered 

 with earth. They were partially filled with a dark, dry dust, evidently 

 the residuum of decayed animal or vegetable matter. A few fragments 

 of bones were found in them. 



In the center of the space around which these little vaults were ar- 

 ranged, but only 2 feet below the floor of the large wooden vault, were 

 two small, clay-lined cavities about the size and form of the ordinary 

 water jars ti-om the Arkansas mounds. Possibly they were decayed, uu- 

 burnt vessels which had been deposited here at the time of burial. The 

 bottom of this pit, which consisted of a natural deposit of yellow sand, 

 was covered with a layer of charcoal and ashes 2 or 3 inches thick. The 

 sand below appears to have been heated, from which it is inferred that 

 the burning took place in the pit previous to the formation of the vaults. 



Being compelled to stop work at this stage on account of extreme 

 cold weather, Col. Norris, who was making the exploration, did not 

 return to it until the following season, when he began by running 

 trenches from the sides into the shaft and afterwards carried a tunnel 

 in at the base. In one of these trenches, 9 feet from the top, was a 

 layer of soft earth in which were numerous fragments of decayed tim- 

 bers and bark; also casts of logs extending horizontally into the sides 

 of the trench. These, it is to be jiresumed from what was afterwards 

 discovered, pertained to a wooden burial vault. The tunnel carried in 

 at the base from the south side was 10 feet wide and 8 feet high. For 

 the distance of 20 feet it passed through the hard gray material of 

 which the body of the mound was composed. Here it entered suddenly 

 into a mass of soft earth of various colors that had been brought from 

 the hillsides and bottoms near by. A short distance from this point the 

 casts and remains of the timbers of the large central vault began to 

 appear, but before reaching the interior the tunnel passed over a small 

 refuse heap evidently belonging to an age preceding the date of the 

 building of the mound. Within the area of the vault were a number 

 of tolerably well preserved human bones, but no whole skeletons. As 

 there were here indications of the pit before mentioned, the excavation 

 was carried downward 4 feet, revealing five little clay vaults similar to 

 those seen on the other side, and, like them, placed in a semicircle. 

 About one-half of the mound was then removed and thoroughly exam- 

 ined. Many stone implements, some entire, but mostly broken, seem- 

 ingly by the action of fire, were scattered through the hard upper 

 layer; also a number of single valves of mussels which had been used 

 as digging tools until they were worn from the outside entirely through. 



