THOMAS.] STONE GRAVKS. 697 



Mr. Taylor nieutious, in tlu^ 8mitlLSoiii;iii report for 1S77,' some .stone 

 gravco oftlie type under coiLsideratiou found on the Mahoniug river, 

 Jr'eiinsylvaQia. An iuiportaiit fact in this connection is tliat tliese 

 graves were in a mound. He describes tlie mound as 3.5 feet in diam- 

 eter and ') feet high, having on one side a projection 35 feet long of the 

 same height as the mound. Xear by a cache was discovered ('ontain- 

 ing twenty-one iron implements, such as axes, hatchets, tomahawks, 

 hoes, and wedges. He adds the significant fact that near the mound 

 once stood the Indian (Delaware) village of Keesh-kushkee. 



Graves of the same type have been discovered in Lee county, Vir- 

 ginia, one of which is noticed in the Eleventh Report of the Peabody 

 Museum.^ I have also noticed some in ai mound on the Tennes.see side 

 near the southern boundary of Scott county, Virginia. Allusion has 

 already been made to the occasional presence of the Shawnees in this 

 region. In the map of North America by John Senex, Chouanon villa- 

 ges are indicated in this particular section. 



The presence of these graves in any part of Ohio can easily be ac- 

 counted for on the theory advanced by the well known fact that both 

 Shawnees and Delawares were located at various points in it and were, 

 during the wars in which they were engaged, moving about from point 

 to point, but the mention of a few coincidences may not be out of ])lace. 

 In the American Antiquarian for July, 1881, is the description of one 

 of the.se cists found in a mound in the eastern part of Montgomery 

 county. Mr. Koyce's article, already referred to, states that there was 

 a Shawnee village three miles north of Xenia in the adjoining county, 

 also on Mad river, which opens into the Miami a short distance above 

 the location of the mound. 



Stone graves have been found in large numbers at various points 

 along the Ohio, from Portsmouth to Ripley, a region known to have 

 been occupied at various times by the Shawnees. 



Similar graves have also been discovered in Ashland county, of which 

 mention is made in the Smithsonian Report for 1881.^ These were, as 

 will be seen by reference to the same report, precisely in the locality of 

 former Delaware villages. 



Without stopping to give other proofs, the evidence is now deemed 

 sufficient to assume tliat the Shawnees and Delawares were accustomed 

 to bury in stone graves of the type under consideration and that the 

 graves found south of the Ohio are to be attributed to the former 

 Indians and those north to the two tribes. 



As graves of this kind are common over the West side of soutlicrn 

 Illinois, from the mouth of the Illinois river to the junction of theOliio 

 and Mississippi, we call attention to some evidence bearing on their 

 origin. 



Hunter, whose travels were in tha West, states that some of the 

 Indians he met with during his captivity buried in graves of this kind. 



1 p. 307. •' p. 208. » p. 598. 



