44 



quantity of charred bones, among which was a mass of charred cloth. 

 This last interesting deposit will be described in detail elsewhere. 

 One of the badges is much longer and more tapering than the others 

 and is the only one pierced with holes. It is made of banded blue 

 stone, and as new and fresh as if it had just been wrought. It is a 

 matter of regret that the opening of the mound had not been made by 

 some experienced person so that the relative position of the cloth and 

 bones might have been observed. 



The places of sepulture over which no structures have been erected 

 are exceedingly numerous throughout the region we have been de- 

 scribing. Hardly a railroad or turnpike cutting is made, or gravel 

 bed op.ened, that does not disclose a mass of skeletons. The hill tops 

 are literally sown with the dead. It is probable that these burials 

 belong to all periods in the history of the country down to the time 

 of its occupancy by Europeans. The mound builders may have 

 buried their common dead in this way, reserving tumuli for their 

 chiefs and their families and for other distinguished persons.* The 

 two modes of bvirial are, it must be observed, entirely diiFerent from 

 each other. In the case of the mounds the remains are placed upon 

 the surface of the ground, often being first incinerated, and the earth 

 heaped over them, while in the latter instances, a pit is dug and the 

 remains are interred below the surface. In the case of these gravel 

 bank burials every surface indication of the cemetery below has usu- 

 ally been effaced by time. The bones are found in the knolls, quite 

 near the top. Generally, when exposed, the depth of the deposit may 

 be known by the mixture of the surface loam with the gravel under- 

 neath. The bodies may occur single or in graves grouped together, 

 or crowded promiscuously into large trenches. They have been 

 found in almost every posture, prostrate, sitting and even standing. f 

 Sometimes the parts of the same skeleton are quite widely separated 

 from each other and so mingled with the materials of the drift that 

 they would almost seem to have been deposited by some surface action 

 before the alluvium was laid down upon it. This condition of things 

 was especially observable in a deposit examined by Dr. J. L. McLain, 

 Prof J. E. Werren and myself, on the farm of S. M. Hodge on the 

 east side of Buck creek valley and near the southeast corner of Cham- 

 paign county. The bones of portions of several skeletons were found 



^Ancient Remains of the Mississippi Valley p. 171. 



fAn instance of this last posture was related to me by an eye witness, but I do not know 

 how reliable the statement may be. . 



