Indian Mounds at Broken Kettle Creek. 101 



friction of the string on the bone during this operation 

 would sometimes cause a depression to be worn around 

 the drill, making it wealv at that point. This is notice- 

 able in one of the drills found. To avoid this, the round 

 and square drills were sometimes set in wood deep 

 enough so that the cord would wear the wood instead of 

 the bone, which could be more easily replaced. A square 

 base was better, because a round drill in a round holder 

 would be liable to slip, while a square one could be 

 wedged tight. The drills were all worked to a uniform 

 size throughout the instrument, while in the awls and 

 needles it usuallj^ continued in the shape of the original 

 bone to the point. 



One-half mile due east of the mound, on the summit 

 of a sharp hill that rises abruptly from the creek valley 

 and overlooking the Big Sioux valley for miles in all 

 directions, is a burial place or graveyard that was used 

 by the people who inhabited the mound. The entire top 

 of this bluff is thickly strewn with remains. 



There seems to have been no particular design for 

 the cemetery, or any regularity in these burials. On the 

 contrary, there is evidence that many were placed one 

 upon another. To illustrate, within a space of three 

 feet square were found the remains of six different per- 

 sons, apparently buried one over the other, yet so close 

 to each other that the taking of one would in many 

 instances reveal the other. Two skulls taken from the 

 spot were so close that it was impossible to remove one 

 without the other. One was a well matured adult, the 

 other a very young person. Directly beneath these 

 were the jaw bones and parts of several others in a 

 very advanced stage of decay. The arm bones of at 

 least six different persons, together with the ribs and 

 leg bones, were scattered around these skulls. 



From the various positions and directions that 

 these bones are in it is evident that they were placed 

 there without any regard to the former burials. No 

 weapons are found in these graves, nor ornaments of 

 any description, with the exception of a very few beads. 

 These were not found in the graves, but on the side of 

 the hill. 



