CERTAIN ABORIGINAL REMAINS, LOWER TOMBIGBEE RIVER. 271 
The next mound, elliptical in contour, was 36 feet long by 27 feet in maximum 
width and somewhat less than 2 feet high. It showed no mark of previous digging. 
This mound was composed of sand mixed with a considerable proportion of clay, 
and midden refuse lay at the base. One full-length skeleton, lying on the back, 
was the only occurrence of human remains. An implement of chert, about 5 inches 
long, probably a knife, showing a flat cleavage on one side and considerable work 
on the other, lay alone in the earth, as did a pointed implement of quartzite. 
The next mound was practically in contact with the one to the south of it. Its 
height was 4.5 feet; the diameter of its circular base, 40 feet. It was almost of 
pure sand, no midden refuse lying on the base. 
Human remains, all badly decayed, were three times encountered. 
Eighteen inches down were the remains of a skull and fragments of a long- 
bone. 
All that was left of what had been a burial flexed on the left side, lay 15 
inches from the surface. 
At a depth of 18 inches were fragments of what had been a skeleton at full 
length on the back. 
This mound, which was symmetrical and practically untouched previously, sur- 
prised us by the paucity of its yield. 
The fourth mound was about 60 yards farther north. Its base, roughly circular, 
had a diameter of 30 feet; its height was 3 feet. This mound, almost of pure 
clay, was completely dug away with the exception of the part around a large tree 
to which reference has been made, without discovery of artifact or bone. 
Mounps NEAR Movru оғ BEAVER CREEK, MARENGO COUNTY. 
In thick swamp, which is under water in high stages of the river, about one- 
half mile in an ENE. direction from the south side of the mouth of Beaver creek, 
on property of the Misses Luther, of Luther's Store, Alabama, is a group of four- 
teen mounds, according to our count, though possibly some escaped us. These 
mounds, of sand, in close proximity one to another, have circular bases as a rule, 
though some are slightly elliptical. Among the mounds are many steep depres- 
sions whence sand for the building of the mounds was taken, and, in obtaining 
measurements of height, it is wise to be on level ground and not in one of these 
depressions, lest undue altitude be accorded the mounds. In size these mounds 
vary considerably. The largest has basal diameters of 38 feet by 33 feet, and a 
height of 4 feet 8 inches. The smallest mound, excluding certain insignificant 
elevations as to the nature of which we are not sure, has a basal diameter of 25 
feet and a height of about 2 feet. 
As all these mounds serve as a refuge for cattle when the swamp is under 
water, it was not our wish to destroy them; therefore, the four southernmost 
mounds, three of the largest and one of the smallest, were dug out centrally to 
