45 



on the side of a gravel knoll, four feet from the surface, completely 

 imbedded in the gravel, which showed no trace of the superficial soil. 

 In the case of one of the skeletons the lower jaw was removed two feet 

 from the skull to which it belonged, and the bones generally were 

 much scattered. It is- an interesting fact that a thigh bone, having a 

 perfectly re-united fracture, was found among the bones. The posi- 

 tion of the united parts is bad, and the amount of shortening is up- 

 wards of three inches. A few rods distant on the summit of the knoll 

 stands a small mound; there is also another in the bottom and still 

 another on a hill on the opposite side of the stream. Many flints are 

 plowed up in the neighborhood. 



A large deposit of skeletons has been unearthed at Catawba station, 

 on the C. C C. & I. railroad, in the work of removing a portion of the 

 steep gravel bank at this place for ballasting the road bed. Rev. Gr. 

 G. Harriman reports that the bones were found buried in two 

 trenches, running east and west, eight feet apart and eighteen inches 

 below the surface, resting on the top of the gravel. There was no 

 appearance of any regular burial, but the bodies had apparently been 

 thrown in helter skelter. They comprised both those of children and 

 adults. Most of the bones fell down the bank during the work of 

 excavation and were carried off on the gravel trains. The place was 

 visited by parties from Delaware, Springfield and Cincinnati, who all 

 secured specimens, and a skull and several of the long bones in a good 

 state of preservation were obtained for the cabinet of the Association. 

 I examined on the spot as many of the bones as I could gather and 

 observed that a large percentage of the humeri, or arm bones, was 

 perforated. The skulls seen are small and rounded in form, much 

 resembling those found in the mounds of the neighborhood. It was 

 estimated that several hundred skeletons had been exhumed from 

 these trenches. The hill on which these remains were found is 

 the eastern border of a jutting portion of the plateau or bench which 

 borders Buck creek valley. This extends out into the valley on the 

 west like a kind of promontoi-y, and on the end of the promontory are 

 three circular depressions. From these depressions a graded way, as 

 wide as an ordinary wagon road, leads to the foot of the hill. The 

 attention of the Association was called to these depressions by Mr. 

 Joseph C. Glenn, upon whose farm they are found. 



An account of the antiquities of Mad river valley would not be 

 complete without a map which should contain the location of every 



