THOMAS.) THE MOUND-BUILDERS. 607 



aud a few copper disks, and opaque mica in slieets so laid as to over- 

 lap one auotlicr. Resting- on these were some charred linman bones, 

 probably those of a single skeleton. 



There certainly is nothing in this to indicate that there had been a 

 sacrifice. The facts might warrant the conclusion that cremation had 

 been attempted ; but to base the theory of sacrifice on these facts is 

 unjustifiable. It was apparent that the mica and bones were care- 

 fully placed there after the fire had died out, and with the evident 

 intention of sepulture. Moreover, as the authors inform us, "the lay- 

 ers of mica aud calcined bones * * * were peculiar to this indi- 

 vidual mound, and were not found in any other of the class." 



In the basin of another was " a deposit of fine ashes, intermixed 

 with charcoal, 3 inches thick." In these ashes were some fragments of 

 pottery and a few shell and pearl beads. The basin of another con- 

 tained nothing more than a mass, -i or o inches thick, of something 

 like lime mortar, apparently made from calcined sjiells, fragments of 

 the shells being intermixed. It will scarcely be claimed that these 

 contain any indications of sacrifice. 



The basin of another of large size was filled with relics, chiefly 

 articles of stone and copper, and fragments of pottery mixed with coal 

 and ashes. A single fragment of a partially calcined bone was found 

 on the altar; it was the patella of a human skeleton. 



In the basin of mound No. S was found the collection of articles which 

 has become so noted in works relating to American archeology. This 

 deposit, we are informed, consisted of "not far trom 200 pipes carved 

 in stone; many pearl aud shell beads; numerous disks, tubes, etc., of 

 copper, and a number of other ornaments of copper covered with silver, 

 etc.," intermixed with much ashes. 



The altar of mound 18 "contained no relics, but was thinly covered 

 with a carbonaceous deposit resembling burned leaves." 



The altar of mound 7 was nothing more than "a smooth, level floor 

 of clay slightly burned, which was covered with a thin layer of sand an 

 inch in thickness. A small portion of one side was covered with a 

 layer of mica, the rounded pieces overlapping as the scales of a fish." 



The basin of a small altar in another mound was rich in relics con- 

 taining "several instruments of obsidian;"' " several scrolls tastefully 

 cut from thin sheets of mica ;" traces of cloth made of dcnibled and 

 twisted thread; a numljer of bone implements; a quantity of pearl 

 beads, and some fragments of copper in thin, narrow slips. 



The altar of one was simply a mound-shapeil mass covered with 

 stones; that of another consisted of sand with a median stratum of 

 charcoal, aud a dished surface paved with small cobblestones. 



These are all the examples of the type designated " sacrificial mounds" 

 which these authors describe, and they furnish the evidence upon which 

 archeologists are expected to accept the theory that these structures 

 were built and used for sacrificial purposes. If this be sufficient to 



