THomas.| A SO-CALLED ‘‘ALTAR MOUND,” WEST VIRGINIA. 57 
found two cavities resembling in form the bottle or gourd shaped ves- 
sel so frequently met with in the mounds of southeastern Missouri and 
northeastern Arkansas. Unfortunately the further investigation of 
this work was stopped at this stage of progress by cold weather. 
In another mound of this group the burial was in a box-shaped stone 
vault, not of slibs in the usual method, but built up of rough, angular 
stones, 
Mound 31 of this group seems to furnish a connecting link between 
the West Virginia and the Ohio mounds. It is sharp in ou tline, has a 
steep slope, and js flattened on the top; is 318 feet in circumference at 
the base and about 25 feet high. It was opened by digging a shaft 10 
feet in diameter from the center of the top to the base. After passing 
through the top layer of surface soil, some 2 feet thick, a layer of clay 
and ashes 1 foot thick was Sucountered) Here, near the center of the 
shaft, were two skeletons, lying horizontally, one immediately over the 
other, the upper and larger one with the face down and the lower with 
the face up. There were no indications of fire about them. Immedi. 
ately over the heads were one celt and three lance-heads. At the 
depth of 13 feet and a little north of the center of the mound were two 
very large skeletons, in a sitting posture, with their extended legs inter- 
locked to the knees. Their arms were extended and their hands slightly 
elevated, as if together holding up a sandstone mortar which was be- 
tween their faces. This stone is somewhat hemispherical, about 2 feet 
in diameter across the top, which is hollowed in the shape of a shallow 
basin or mortar. It had been subjected to the action of fire until 
burned toa bright red. The cavity was filled with white ashes, contain- 
ing small fragments of bones burned to cinders. Immediately over 
this, and of sufficient size to cover it, was a slab of bluish-gray lime- 
stone about 3 inches thick, which had small cup-shaped excavations on 
the under side. This bore no marks of fire. Near the hands of the 
eastern skeleton were a small hematite celt and a lance-head, and upon 
the left wrist of the other two copper bracelets. At the depth of 25 
feet, and on the natural surface, was found what in an Ohio mound 
would have been designated an “altar.” This was not thoroughly traced 
throughout, but was about 12 feet long and over 8 feet wide, of the 
form shown in Fig. 24. 

za Wan 
Fic. 24.—Mound with so-called “altar,” Kanawha County, West Virginia. 
It consisted of a layer of well-prepared mortar, apparently clay, 
slightly mixed with ashes. This was not more than 6 or 8 inches thick 
in the center of the basin-shaped depression, where it was about 1 foot 
