THOMAS. ] THE NELSON MOUNDS, SOUTH CAROLINA. 63 
a cubical mass of water-worn bowlders, built up solidly and symmetric- 
ally, 24 inches long, 18 inches wide, and 18 inches high, but with no 
bones, specimens of art, coal, ashes, or indications of fire on or around 
it. Many ofthe stones of the vaults and the earth immediately around 
them, on the contrary, bore unmistakable evidences of fire; in facet, 
the heat in some cases left its mark on the bones of the inclosed skele- 
tons, another indication that the flesh had been removed before burial 
here, either by previous burial or otherwise. 
Scattered through the dirt which filled the pit were small pieces of 
pottery and charcoal. The bottom and sides of the pit were so distinctly 
marked that they could be traced without difficulty. 
This mound stood about 75 yards south of the triangular burial pit 
described below. 
The T. F. Nelson triangle.—This is the name applied by Mr. Rogan to 
an ancient triangular burying ground found on the same farm as the 
mound just described and about 75 yards north of it. 
It is not a mound, but simply a burial pit in the form of a triangle, 
the two longest sides each 48 feet and the (southern) base 32 feet, in 

Fic. 26.—-Burials in the T. F. Nelson triangle, Caldwell County, North Carolina. 
which the bodies and accompanying articles were deposited and then 
covered over, but not heaped up into a mound; or, if so, it had subse- 
quently settled until on a level with the natural surface of the ground. 
The apex, which points directly north, was found to extend within 3 feet 
of the break of the bank of the Yadkin River, the height above the 
usual water-level being about 12 feet. The depth of the original exca- 
vation, the lines of which could be distinetly traced, varied from 23 to 
3 feet. A rude sketch of this triangle, showing the relative positions 
of the skeletons, is given in Fig. 26, 
