554 MOUND EXPLORATIONS. 



cubical piles of stoue which were wantiug in others; in some the skele- 

 tons were covered with a hard layer or mortar-like coating which was 

 wanting in most of them ; and lastly there were evidences iu one or two 

 of the use of fire in the burial ceremonies, though not found iu the 

 others. Most of the mounds, though not all, covered a burial pit or 

 slight excavation in the original soil. 



Sev'eral iustauces have been noticed where the mounds examined 

 were found to contain stone vaults of various forms. In some two or 

 three cases these A'aults were s(]uare, or oblong inclosures consisting 

 of a surrounding wall built up of unhewn stone to the height of li or 3 

 feet. "Within these were found a number of skeletons supposed, from 

 the position in which the bones were found, to have been buried in a 

 sitting posture. In one case the vault, which was divided by cross 

 Ijartitions, was covered with timliers from which the bark had been 

 removed. Another was without a covering, the dirt having been 

 thrown in on the bodies to iill the vault and i)iled up over it to form 

 the mound. These vaults vary in size from 7 to 12 feet on a side, and 

 have been observed in Jo Daviess and Cass counties, Illinois, and Clay 

 county, Missouri. Similar shaped vaults, sunk in the natural soil and 

 not covered by mounds, have been discovered in Pike and Montgomery 

 counties, Missouri. 



In some instances dome-shaped stone vaults have been observed. 

 In these cases it would seem that the bodies or skeletons had been 

 placed on the natural surface in a sitting i)osture, then inclosed by a 

 circular wall of rough stones contracted toward the top and covered 

 with a single flat stone. It miist be borne in mind, however, that 

 mounds of these particular types arc usually accompanied by others 

 presenting quite difl'erent modes of burial. For example, we are 

 informed by Dr. J. F. Snyder,' who has made a somewhat careful 

 study ot the antiquities of Cass county, Illinois, where mounds of the 

 last mentioned type occur, that there are three kinds of burial mounds. 

 First, those with dome-shaped vaults, as described; second, those with 

 oblong or square cists formed by setting up stone slabs on edge and 

 covering with similar slabs — a^jparently the box-shai^ed stone graves; 

 and third, small mounds, usually in rows along the crests of ridges, 

 each containing the bones of several individuals uninclosed. In some 

 of these the skeletons are folded or sitting up with the feet drawn 

 under the hips; in some the bones are in confused masses. A few 

 have basin-shaped excavations beneath them. 



The mounds of northeastern Missouri present some peculiarities 

 worthy of notice. As to composition they are made wholly of earth, of 

 •earth and stones, or wholly of stones. In the latter two the bodies 

 buried in them are covered by stones thrown over them, or are inclosed 

 in stone receptacles of various forms. In a few cases these receptacles 

 are box-shaped stone cists similar to those so common in southern Illi- 



■ Smithson. Eep., 1881, pp. 568-573. 

 N. 



