5"68 MOUND EXPLORATIONS. ' 



top we came upon largo (iiiantitics of charcoal, especially on the western side. 

 Underneath the' charcoal was found a skeleton with the head to the ea'st. The 

 body had evidently been inclosed in some wooden structure. First, there was a . 

 platform of wood placed lipou tlie ground ou the original level of the plain. On 

 this wooden floor timbers or logs were placed on each side of the body longitudi- 

 nally, and over these timbers there were laid other pieces of wood, forming an in- 

 closed box or coffin. A part of this wood was only charred; the rest was burnt to 

 ashes. The middle part of tlie body was iu the hottest lire, and many of the verte- 

 bra>, ribs, and other bones were burnt to a black cinder, and at this point the 

 inclosing timbers were burnt to ashes. The timbers inclosing the lower extremities 

 were only charred. 



I am led to think that before any lire was kindled a layer of dirt was tiirown over 

 the wooden structure, making a sort of burial. Ou this dirt a lire was built, but by 

 some misplacement of the dirt the lire reached the timbers below, and at such points 

 as the air could penetrate there Wiis an active combustion, but at others, where the 

 dirt still remained, there was only a smothered iiYe, likejhat iu a charcoal pit. It is 

 difficult to explain the existence of the charred timbers in any other way. There 

 must have been other lires than that immediately around and above the body, and 

 mapy of them, because on one side of the mound the clay is burned even to the top 

 of the mound. In one place, ."? feet above the body, the clay is vitrified. 



Jt is possible that fires were built at different levels and'that most of the ashes 

 .were blown away by winds which often .sweep over the plain. 1 have stated that 

 there was first laid down a sort of flourof wood, on which the body was placed. Ou 

 the same floor were j)laced about .500 copper beads, forming a line almost around the 

 body.' . ' . ■ 



{2) Mouiids contaiiiins .structure.s of stoues. These stritctui-es are 

 of two or three diftereut types, which are apparently of ethnic signifi- 

 cance. 



• The two jirinciixil varieties an-e the box-shaped cist and the dome- 

 shaped vault. The latter are seldom found of the usual form in this 

 district; some in the extreme southern portion of Ohio which seem to 

 be of ethnic significance and to belong to a small separate district, 

 mostly in Kentucky, are made of angular stones arranged in succes- 

 sive series from the ba.se to the top. In a few cases these cover other 

 little vaults of various form? made by setting stone slabs on edge or 

 leaning them 'together so as to form a roof-shaped structure. 



Stone vaults and cists are usually foutid in earthen, mounds, yet they 

 occasionally occur in those of stone. Atwater says;'^ 



I saw one of these stone tumuli which liad been piled on the surface of the earth, 

 on the spot where three skeletons had been buried iu stone coffins, beneath the sur- 

 face. ' * * The graves ai)pear to liave been dug to about the depth of ours in 

 the puesent time. After the bottoms and sides were lined with thin, flat stoues, the 

 corpses were placed iu these graves. " , 



In some cases a low stone wall, a foot or "so iu height, is built around 

 the outer margin of the mouyd, but so as to be vrithin the outer line 

 and covered*by the earth of the mound. But these do not appear to be 

 iu all cases burial mounds. 



In one or two instances the floor of the mound has been found cov- 

 ered witll stones placed in from one to three regular layers. A stone 

 layer in the body of the mound or ovfer the burials, in other words' a 



' Tciilh Eep. Peabody Mus., Vol. ii, pp. 59-60. ^Xr.ins. Amer. Autiq. Soc, Vol. i (1820). p. 184: 



