AND BLACK RIVERS, ARKANSAS. 285 
inch іп diameter, modeled, not cut from a fragment; another clay disk in one of 
the vessels. 
Burial No. 169, a child, extended on the back: two vessels, in one of which 
was a mussel-shell carved to form a spoon ; 
shell beads at the neck. 
Burial No. 170, an adult, extended on 
the back, had seven vessels; two shell ear- 
plugs found (as these ear-plugs usually are 
found) one at each ear, but in this case the 
knob of one of them pointed backward and 
not toward the front, the direction toward Fre. if, tes ae peas = No. 164. 
which the knobs of these ear-plugs usually i 
point. However, there was evidence of disturbance with this burial to account for 
the disarrangement. 
Burial No. 172, a child, extended on the back, was accompanied with a single 
vessel, but the burial was marked by the presence of broken pottery and other evi- 
dence of disturbance. Nearby, on bits of a broken vessel, were fragments of what 
had been a rude comb of bone. The 
material is badly affected by time and 
by moisture. The parts recovered are 
shown in Fig. 14. 
The discovery of this comb is inter- 
esting, inasmuch as there has been con- 
siderable discussion as to whether or not 
combs were in use among aborigines of 
our country before the coming of Euro- 
peans. 
Inasmuch as we found nothing 
along St. Francis river, except this comb, 
that could in any way be regarded as 
showing intercourse between the aborigi- 
nes and white people, we believe, con- 
sidering the number of sites visited, the 
amount of digging done by us in these 
sites, and the quantity of artifacts found, 
that this comb also is prehistoric. 
Incidentally we introduce here the 
Ете. 14.—Aboriginal comb of bone. With Burial No. 172. representation of a comb (Fig. 15) kindly 
ae eye o е identified by Prof. F. A. Lucas to be 
made probably from horn. This comb, which is the only other one ever found by 
us in all our digging, is interesting from the fact that though the shape is 
undoubtedly copied from a European model, the decoration points to Indian 
workmanship. This comb was found by us in the mound on Murphy Island, St. 
