THOMAS. ] MOUNDS AT EAST DUBUQUE, ILLINOIS. 37 
In the center chamber were found eleven skeletons: six adults and five 
children of different ages, including one infant, the latter evidently 
buried in the arms of one of the adults, possibly its mother. Appar- 
ently they had all been buried at one time, arranged in a circle, in a 
squatting or sitting posture, against the walls. In the center of the 
space around which they were grouped was a fine specimen of Busycon 
perversum, which had been converted into a drinking-cup by removing 
the columella, Here were also numerous fragments of pottery. 




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Fic. 11.—Section of mound 16 (P). 111) showing vault. 
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Tic. 12.—Plan of yault, mound 16 (P). TIT). 
The end cells, walled off from the main portion, as heretofore stated, 
were found nearly filled with a very fine chocolate-colored dust, which 
gave out such a sickening odor that the workmen were compelled to 
stop operations for the day in order to allow it to escape. 
The covering of the vault was of oak logs, most of which had been 
peeled and some of the larger ones somewhat squared by slabbing off 
the sides; and the slabs and bark thus removed, together with reeds 
or large grass stems, had been laid over them. Over the whole was 
spread layer after layer of mortar containing lime, each succeeding 
layer harder and thicker than that which preceded it, a foot or so of 
ordinary soil completing the mound. 
As there can be scarcely a doubt that the mounds of this group were 
built by one tribe, we have here additional evidence that the same 
“people were accustomed to bury their dead in various ways. Some of 
the skeletons are found lying horizontally side by side, others are 
placed in a circle in a sitting or squatting posture, while in another 
mound we find the dismembered bones heaped in a confused mass. In 
one place is a single huge frame decked with the ornaments of savage 
