THO^LS.s.l MOUND-BUILDERS AND INDIANS. 663 



always broken into lumps, nevei* in a uuifonn uDbrokeii layer, showing- 

 that it had fallen and was not originally i)laced where found ; immedi- 

 ately below this is a thin layer of hardened muck or dark clay, though 

 this does not always seem to be distinct; at this depth, in the mounds 

 of the eastern part of Arkansas are usually found one and sometimes 

 two skeletons. 



Take for example the following statement by Dr. Palmer' in refer- 

 ence to these beds. Speaking of the slight elevations which here are 

 not rings, as farther north, but low, flat mounds, he says: 



As an almost universal rule, after removing a foot or two of top soil a layer of 

 burnt clay in a broken or fragmentary condition would be found, sometimes with 

 imjiressions of grass or twigs which easily crumbled, but was often hard and 

 stamped apparently -with an implement made of split reeds of compar.atively large 

 size. This layer was in places a foot thick and frequently burned to a brick red or 

 even to clinkers. Below this, at a <lepth of 3 to 5 feet from the surface, were more 

 or less ashes, and often U inches of charred grass immediately covering skeletons. 

 The latter were found lying in all directions, some with the face up, others with it 

 down, and others on the side. With tlie.se were vessels of clay; in some cases one 

 sometimes more. 



At another place, in a broad platform-like elevation not more than 3 

 feet high, he found and traced, by the burnt clay, the outlines of three 

 rectangular houses. The edges of the upright walls were very appar- 

 ent in this case, as also the clay which must have fallen from them, and 

 which raised the outer marginal lines considerably higher than the 

 inner area. " The fire," Dr. Palmer remarks, " must have been very 

 fierce, and the clay around the edges was evidently at some height 

 above the floor, as I judge from the irregular way in which it is scat- 

 tered around the margins." 



Excavations in the areas showed that they were covered with a 

 layer of burnt day, uneven and broken; immediately below this a layer 

 of ashes ('> inches thick, and below this black loam. On these areas 

 were growing some large trees, one a poplar (tulip tree) 3 feet in diameter. 



Below one of these floors were found a .skeleton, some pottery, and a 

 pipe. A large oak formerly stood at this point, but has been blown 

 down. Close by these dwelling .sites is a large mound, 10 feet high, 

 in the form of a truncated pyramid. A plan of these houses is shown 

 in Fig. 13(!. Subsequently the remains of another dwelling of precisely 

 the same form — that is, two square rooms joined and a third of the 

 same size immediately behind these two — was found in the same region 

 by Col. Norris. In this case the remains of the upright posts and reed 

 lathing forming the walls were found, also the day plastering. The 

 sides of the room varied in length from Hi to something over 12 feet. 

 These are represented in figs. 117, 118. Numerous cases, .similar in 

 character, differing only in details, will be found in the preceding part 

 of this volume, but it will be necessary to refer particularly only to 

 two others. 



I Ante p. 227. 



