540 MOUND EXPLORATIONS. 



lu the southei 11 or effigy belt the excavated jiit is of very comuiou 

 occurrence, but as a rule the mounds, especially the small ones, are 

 unstratifled. The skeletons, however, are rleposited in all the methods 

 known to the district — horizontally, bundled, folded, sitting, and in con- 

 fused heaps. Here, as in the western area, indications of a wooden 

 covering over the skeletons are occasionally found; and in the larger 

 mounds, usually stratified, slight stone walls appear to have been built 

 in some cases around the skeletons. Charcoal, ashes, and other indica- 

 tions of fire have been frequently observed in the mounds of Crawford 

 and Grant counties, but to a less extent elsewhere. 



Vestiges of art are comparatively rare in the burial mounds of this 

 district, yet here and there are found an aiiowi)oint, a chipped flint 

 scraper, or celt (in some instances remarkably fine specimens), a few 

 copper gorgets, copper beads, copper si)indles, etc. ; but pottery is rare, 

 though some specimens have been discovered. 



Intrusive burials are common, some of which can very readily be 

 distinguished fi-om the origii.al burial, but this is by no means trne of 

 all, as in some of the unstratified mounds skeletons are found at all 

 depths, the upper ones in some instances showing unmistakable evi- 

 dence of having been inclosed in plank coffins. 



THE Hl'RON-IROQUOIS DISTRICT." 



Throughout the district here termed Huron-Iroquois (see Fig. 337) 

 are works of a simple kind, many of which are apparently defensive. 

 These may be banks of earth, sometimes of a rectangular outline, but 

 oftener of an irregidarly circular form, which has an outer ditch, in most 

 cases, and forms a walled inclosure. Others are simply defensive walls 

 across points of land, as bluffs, or ridges between ravines. Often the 

 stockade takes the place of the bank of earth, the interior signs of hab- 

 itation remaining unchanged. Besides these are camp and village sites 

 which show no traces of defensive w<n'ks, though their other remains 

 may not always ditt'er from those found in inclosures. Burial mounds 

 and ossuaries occur, as well as simpler cemeteries. 



DISTRIBlTn)X. 



These monuments are often in groups, in which one or more forms may 

 be prominent, while a general family likeness may be seen through all. 



In Canada walled inclosures prevail in a section of country lying 

 north of the west half of Lake Erie, but they do not extend far inland. 

 Near the west end of Lake Ontario, and also about Lake Simcoe and 

 the southeast part of the Georgian Bay, the stockade and ossuary are 

 as marked features, yet with distinctions which allow of local classifi- 

 cation. Along the bay of Quiutic, in Prince Edward county, is a series 

 of burial mounds of a somewhat peculiar type, some of which have been 



' Tliis ohaiiter was i»rf]iar«Mi >)y Ht-v. W. M. I{»^aiichanii>. 



