444 



MOUND EXPLORATIONS. 



the ground under the northeast side had been heated for 6 or S inches 

 down and was covered by an inch-thick deposit of coals and ashes. 

 Toward the ui)per part of the mound was a thin horizontal layer of dark 

 soil about 4 inches thick. In the north side, G feet from the center, at 

 a depth of 2^ feet, lay some fragments of human bones, the skull not 

 among them. Six inches above them were a few burnt bones mixed 

 with ashes and coals, but these appear to have been brought in with 

 the earth when the mound was built. Scattered through the earth of 

 the central mass were two gorgets, a few flint knives, some arrow 

 points, a pendant, spearhead, chipped celt (quartzite), and a single 

 fragment of pottery. The top layer consisted of surface soil about 

 1 foot thick. 



THE CEMETERY MOUND. 



This mound was situated in the cemetery at Mount Vernon. A view 

 of it is given in PI. xxix, from a ])hotograph made shortly before its 



Street 



Fio. :JOG.— Plau of Cemetery moiiml, Mouut Vernon, Knox eonnty, Ohio. 



removal.' It was conical in form, unusually symmetrical, the base being 

 almost a circle. Diameter, 80 feet, and height, 11. The top was slightly 

 depressed, in consequence of a pit sunk into it by a former owner, ])ut 

 afterward filled up. The mode of construction is shown in the plau 

 (Fig. 30G) and in the vertical section from east to west (Fig. 307). 



Ffrst, a 2-inch layer {a) of surface sod, then 4 feet of fine yellow clay 

 (6) free of stones; below this, the central core (c) reaching to the origi- 

 nal surface, of soil, apparently fi-om the valley to the north. The 

 small masses or loads in which it was de]iosited were very distinct, as 

 is shown in Fig. 307 (c,/, </, and i). This central mass was interrupted 

 by a few thin seams of gray earth ; first, at the depth of 6 feet from the 



1 This removal was made in .iccordance witli tlif wisln 

 tora oi" the cemetery. 



(if ils owner after a lawsuit with the <Urec- 



