636 



MOUND EXPLOKATIOXS. 



near the upper righthaud coiner of the phite, the resemblance is 

 fouuil to be so stroug as to indicate that both were made by one hand. 

 As they were found in moimds of tlie same group and apparently of 

 the same age, it is not improbable tliat tliis is the case. 



The facts as to the flnding, given by the members of the Academy 

 and published in the proceedings, are not calculated to strengthen 

 belief in its genuineness. In the. first place, although situated in the 

 immediate vicinity of, and in the triangle formed by, ISfos. 1, 9, and 10, 

 this mound seems to have escaped notice iiutil the latter part of 1877. 

 In the second place, although constructed like some of the other mounds 

 of the group, it seems to have been the only one not used as a place of 

 sepulture. No. 10, which it resembles in almost every particular, con- 

 tained comparatively few human bones, though enough to show that 

 one individual had been buried there. 



Yet in this case the whole object in view in digging the pit, build- 

 ing the stone heap, and throwing up the tumulus seems to have been 

 to make a resting or hiding place for this tablet. Still, this is not im- 



FlG. S42. — Section t'f uimiiid 11, ("(mk farm jirnup. Iowa. 



possible, as one of the Ohio mounds mentioned by Messrs. Squier and 

 Davis seems to have been intended simply as a cache for flint imple- 

 ments. 



In the third place, the condition of the tablet and immediate sur- 

 roundings, when found, seems so contrary to all experience in refer- 

 ence to ancient mounds as to lead to the belief that it was recently 

 made or recently meddled with. 



The account bj' Mr. Harrison' is accompanied l)y a cut. Fig. 17, of 

 which our Fig. ;>4-' is an exact copy. By reference to this, it will be seen 

 that there was an excavation in the original earth, T T indicating the 

 line of the original surface and H H the original earth forming the sides 

 of the pit. 



This pit, as we are informed by Mr. Harrison, extended down to the 

 clay, the floor being a level and very compact stratum of yellow clay, 

 such as has been frequently noticed and described in reference to otlier 

 mounds of this group. In this excavation, resting on the floor, was the 

 stone pile X, over which the mound of earth was thrown. This earth, 

 alter ])assing through the frozen crust, was, as we are told, "easy to 



' Proc. Dav. Acad.Nat Sci., pp. 221-223. 



