THomas:] BURIAL MOUNDS OF CRAWFORD COUNTY, WISCONSIN. 17 
In some instances the mound contained a circular stone wall, within 
which a pit had been dug to the depth of 2 or 3 feet in the original 
soil, as, for example, the one near Waukesha, described by Dr. Lapham.! 
A mound in Crawford County, opened by Colonel Norris, one of the 
Bureau assistants, in 1882, shows a similar vault or pit, but differs from 
the preceding in being distinctly stratified and wanting the stone wall. 
The construction of this tumulus and the mode of burial in it were as 
follows: 
Proceeding from the top downwards, there was first a layer of soil 
and sand about 1 foot thick; next, nearly 2 feet in depth of calcined 
human bones, without order, mingled with which were charcoal, ashes, 
and a reddish-brown mortar-like substance, burned as hard as pavement 
brick. This layer is numbered 4 in the annexed cut (Fig. 4), which 




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Fic. 4.—Section of burial mound, Crawford County, Wisconsin. 
represents a vertical section of the mound. Immediately below this 
was a layer about 1 foot thick (No. 3) of clay gr mortar mixed with sand, 
burned to a brick-red color. Below this, in the space marked 2 in the 
cut, were found the bones of fifteen or twenty individuals, in a confused 
heap, without order or arrangement. Mingled with these were fire- 
brands, charcoal, and ashes. The bones were charred, some of them to 
charcoal, and some were glazed with melted sand. The mars appears 
to have been first covered with soft clay-mortar, which ran into and 
filled the spaces, and the burning to have been done afterwards by means 
of brush or wood heaped on the top, as among the bones were lumps of 
hard burned clay. 
The bottom of this layer corresponded with the original surface of 
the ground, but’ the excavation being continued, a circular vault or pit, 
6 feet in diameter, was found extending downwards, with perpendicular 
sides, to the depth of nearly 3 feet. The bottom of this pit was covered 
to the depth of an inch with fine chocolate-colored dust. Although the 
filling of this pit was chiefly sand, there was a cavity at the bottom a 
foot high in the center, over which the sand filling was arched as shown 
in the figure. 

1 Antiquities of Wisconsin, p. 28. 
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