THOMAS.] PENNSYLVANIA. 501 



lilted the itroportions necessary for stability, as the outside diameter 

 was 15 feet, though the walls were very thick near the base (fully 4 

 feet), while the height could not have exceeded 7 feet ; hence, it is prob- 

 able that it fell in soon after the dirt was thrown over it. The stones 

 of which it was built were obtained in part from the bed of the neigh- 

 boring stream and partly from a bluff about half a mile distant, :ind 

 were of rather large size, many of tliem being singly a good load for 

 two men. The bottom of the vault was formed of two layers of flat 

 stones. se])arated by an intermediate layer of sand, charcoal, and remains 

 5 inches thick at the time it was excavated. It was apparent that these 

 layers had not been disturbed since the.v were placed there, save by 

 the pressure of the superincumbent mass. The intermediate layer was 

 composed in great part of decomposed or finely pulverized charcoal. 

 In this were found the teeth, decaying jaws, a single femur, and a few 

 minute, badly decayed fragments of other bones of an adult, and witli 

 them the joint of a large reed or cane, wrapped in thin evenly ham- 

 mered silver foil. The last had been wrapped in soft, spongy bark of 

 some kind, and this coated over thickly with mud or soft clay. The 

 weight of the stones was so great that the femur was found pressed 

 into a flat strip and the 

 reed split. It was not 

 possible to determine cer- 

 tainly whether the burn- 

 ing had taken place in 

 the mound or not. The 

 few bones found did not 

 appear to be charred, and 

 the same was true of the 

 cane joint; on the other hand, the bark, although wrapped in clay, 

 was very distinctly charred. 



A careful analysis of the metal foil has been made by Pi'of. F. W. 

 Clarke, the chemist of the U. S. Geological Survey, who pronounces it 

 comparatively pure native silver, containing no alloy. Although 

 wrapped around the cane, a iiortion of it appears to have been cut into 

 small pieces of various shapes, two of which are represented in Fig. 329, 

 a and b. Where the margins remain uninjured, they are smoothly and 

 evenly cut. Thejoint of cane, which has been taken between the nodes, 

 is 9 inches long and must have been about an inch in diameter. A 

 small stone gorget was obtained from the same layer. 



At No. 1', on the northeast side of the i)it, were a few large stones 

 which may have formed a rude vault, but were in such a confused con- 

 dition, this being the point disturbed by the first slight excavation 

 madesome twenty years ago, that it was impossible to ascertain their orig- 

 inal arrangement. Among them were found parts of an adult skeleton. 

 The person who dug into the pit at this point, finding human remains, 

 stopped work and refilled the opening he had made. 



Piprefl of silver i'roni Irviiieton iiioinid. 



