THOMAS.] INSCRIBED TABLETS. 637 



handle, being comiJosed of dark soil with some adniixtuie of day;" 

 moreover, there appears to have been no indication of stratificatiou. 

 At the bottom, and jnst under the stone pile, was a miniature vault, 

 A, 5 inches in depth and a " little larger than the tablet," probably 

 about 13 or 14 by 8 or 9 inches, the bottom of the excavation forming 

 the bottom of the vault. 



This vault appears to have been walled around by the outer lower 

 stones of the pile and covered by a single flat slab. In the bottom of 

 it, immediately under A. lay the tablet, an inch and a half thick, on 

 which were four arrow jioints, a little quaitz crystal, and a Unio shell. 

 With the exception of these, which occupied considerably less than 

 half the space, this little vault was empty; for it is stated in the pub- 

 lished account that, " on raising the flat stone, an irregularly rectangu- 

 lar engraved tablet was suddenly exposetl to view as it lay face up in 

 a walled vault evidently built for its reception." 



But, in order to be certain as to this inference, the following inquiry 

 was addressed to Mr. W. H. Pratt, the curator of the museum of the 

 academy, who was fiimiliar with all the facts: " Was the cavity A, Fig. 

 17, Proc. Dav. Acad. Sci., j). 222, Vol. 2, filled with dirt when first dis- 

 covered ?" — to which he kindly returned this answer: '< Mr. C. E. 

 Harrison, who assisted iu the work, states that the cavity in which the 

 limestone tablet was found contained scarcely any dirt when the flat 

 stone with which it was covered was raised, exposing it to view." 



That there should have been an unfilled space in the base of a pile 

 of h)0se or "uncemented" stones, standing in an excavation beneath a 

 heap of comparatively loose dirt which had stood there for centuries, 

 is certainly most extraordinary. The excavation in which the pile was 

 placed would necessarily gather about it the water that i)erc(i]ated 

 through the earth above and the layer of compact clay below would 

 have prevented its rapid escape downwards. 



The interior of mounds lias frequently been found comparatively dry 

 when there was ojqiortuiiity for drainage and the body was composed 

 of hard, compact, mortarlike material. A stone grave has occasionally 

 been found only partially filled with earth where well covered, and stand- 

 ing high eiHJUgh in a mound to shed the water. But here the conditions 

 are entirely different. The mound ^^'as so low that for three years it 

 had escaped the trained eyes of eager searchers, was composed of com- 

 paratively loose earth, and had been plowed over for years; beneath it 

 was a i3it which acted as a reservoir into which the water gathered, and 

 at the bottom was compact clay to prevent its ready escape. The stone 

 slab over the little vault and loose nnmortared stones at the sides 

 would not prevent the water from entering at the sides. Moreover it 

 must also be borne in mind that there was no side drainage except as the 

 water soaked into the earth. It follows, therefore, that all the sedi- 

 ment carried down by the water would have been deposited in this little 

 vaiilt and the exca\atiou around it. 



