572 MQUND EXPLORATIONS. 



CEMETEIUKS AND ASH I'lTS. 



A somewhatr remarkable cemetery, in coniiectiou with vrliich are 

 numerous ash pits, has been discovered b.y tlie agents of the Peahody 

 museum iuihe vicinity of Madisbuville, Ohio. This cemetery extends 

 over an area of 15 acres. It seems to consist of bodies simply bui ied 

 . in the earth to the depth of 2 or 3 feet below the surfoce. Under the 

 leaf mold, scattered among the graves and almo.st as abundant, are 

 small, well-like pits from 3 to 4 feet in diameter and from 4 to 7 feet 

 deep. Froni the fact that most of tliem contain ;islies they have been 

 desig,nated " ash pits." The ashes found iu them are generally mixed 

 with kitchen refuse or the remains of cached material, such as maize. 

 In some of them corn, sometimes yet ou the cob, has been fouu'd, and, 

 in a few, human bones. • • 



It is said that the hilltops bordering the Mad river valley "arelit- 

 erally_ sown*'ith the dead." In these cases "a pit has l)een dug and 

 the remains interred below the surface," but the surface indications 

 are obliterated. "The bodies occur singly, or in graves grouped 

 together, or crowded promiscuously into large ti-euches, and are in 

 ^almost every position, prostrate and' sitting." Sometimes the parts of 

 the skeletons are separated, haying been thrown in without order or 

 arrangement. 



An insttince was observed in Butler county, Ohio, in which a num- 

 bcsr of bodies buried in a natural mound had been ijlaced in a circle 

 with the heads toward the center, a mode of burial noticed in middle 

 Tennessee. 



Shell and refuse heaps are rare. One, however, of considerable size, 

 has been discovered on Blcnnerliasset island, containing shells and 

 refu.se materials. A small refuse-heap was found beneath a mound in 

 West Virginia. 



Some remarkable inscriptions or sculptured ligiires occur on rocks 

 in the vicinity of Barnesville, Belmont county, Ohio. These consist of 

 footprints, serpent lignres, face outlines, and various other forms. 

 Other inscrii)tions have been found iu Cuyahoga county, near Newark, 

 in Licking county, and el.sewliere. 



Burial caves are of rare occurrence.in this district, two or three only 

 having been discovered. 



•The most extensive. series ojf ancient flint quarries in the United 

 . States is found in the central part of Ohio, along what is known as 

 "Flint ridge," extending across the southern part of Licking and west- 

 ern part of Muskingum counties. "Its most western point is on the 

 road leading from Newark to Zanesville, about 8 miles from the former 

 place and half a mile from the eastern line of Franklin township. From 

 here it extentls eastward across Hopewell township aiul about 2 miles 

 into Muskingum county, making its entire length very nearly 8 miles, 

 counting by section lines, and fully 10 miles following the turns of the 

 road. At about 2 miles from its western end, north of the village of 



