ANCIENT WORKS IN THE VICINITY OF LAKE MICHIGAN. ^ 



was surveyed with some minuteness, with a view to detecting the order of arrange- 

 ment upon which they were constructed. The result shows very clearly that no 

 order or system was adopted. Each person buried was placed where chance might 

 lead the relatives or friends to select the spot. No three mounds could be found 

 on the same straight line; indeed, it seems as if it were the intention of the 

 builders to avoid all appearance of regularity. Large mounds are interspersed 

 with smaller ones, without regard to symmetry or succession. 



Dr. Hoy has recently opened one of these mounds, and found in it the skeletons 

 of seven persons, buried in a sitting posture, and facing the east. (Sec Fig. 2.) The 

 bones were not accompanied by ornaments or articles of any kind that had resisted 

 the destructive effects of time. The teeth of the adult skeletons were much worn, 



Fig. 2, 



Ancient Mound at Racine, examined by Dr. P. R. Hoy. 



but sound and firm. It was observed that the muscles of the jaws must have been 

 unusually large and strong. The bones of the skull, except in one instance (pro- 

 bably that of a female), Avere found to be remarkably thick and solid. These 

 skeletons were much decayed, and could not be restored. The mound opened was 

 seven feet high and fifty feet in diameter, being the largest of the group. A basin- 

 shaped excavation had been made in the original soil, about eighteen inches deep, 

 reaching to the gravelly subsoil, upon which the skeletons were placed side by 

 side, all facing in the same direction. The legs, which had been laid horizontally, 

 retained their original position; but the skulls and bones of the bodies were huddled 

 together by the settling upon them of the earth in which they were placed. There 

 were no indications of fire. 



Another mound of smaller dimensions, opened under my inspection, contained 

 a confused mass of bones, also very much decayed, and resting upon the gravel, 

 which was here two feet below the original surface. Bones of at least three indi- 

 viduals were discovered. Their confused condition might be owing to the custom, 

 still prevalent among the Indians, of placing the bodies of those who die or are 

 killed away from home, in trees, where they remain until the softer parts are 

 decayed and gone, when the bones are collected and buried. No ornaments, or 

 indeed remains of articles of any kind, could be found in this mound ; nor was 

 here any charcoal, burnt clay, or other indication of fire. 



These mounds were made from the surface soil ; and no traces of excavations, or 

 places whence the materials were taken, could be detected. It is not probable that 

 the earth was penetrated more than a few inches to obtain the quantity necessary 



