SOME ABORIGINAL SITES ON MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 411 
JOHNSON PLACE, Tunica County, Miss. 
About two miles east by north from Mhoon Landing is a mound in a cultivated 
field which forms part of the plantation of Mr. W. M. Johnson, who resides upon 
it. This mound, about 13 feet high and 120 and 150 feet in diameter of base, has 
been spread by the long-continued cultivation to which it has been subjected, doubt- 
less with considerable impairment of height. 
A number of trial-holes sunk into this mound soon came upon raw clay where 
there was no likelihood of encountering a burial. 
Surrounding the mound is a considerable aboriginal dwelling-site, part of which, 
on a slope, has been subjected to much wash of rain, judging from the quantity of 
fragments of human bones on the surface. 
Superficially on this site, on which lay considerable debris, were gathered by 
us: a flint drill; a barbed arrowhead of flint; a pebble on which a cutting edge 
had been ground, thus forming a diminutive chisel; numerous fragments of pottery 
colored red, and some showing stripes of white and red; a modeled earthenware 
head of some animal, colored red in places, and having protruding eyes coated with 
white pigment. 
Apart from human remains, in the soil was a pipe of earthenware, having a 
flat base protruding slightly beyond the bowl. 
Unfortunately at this place, which has long been under cultivation, most of the 
burials, in all probability, had been ploughed and washed away. Diligent work over 
all parts of the site came upon four burials: a bunched burial with the bones and 
skull of an adult; another burial of the same class, having bones and skulls of three 
adults; a burial, presumably a bunched one, consisting of adult bones which had 
been badly disturbed by cultivation; the bones of a young child. 
With the child’s burial was a small vase coated with red pigment, and many 
fragments of another vessel. : 
No artifacts lay with the other burials. 
Commerce, Tunica County, Miss. 
Commerce is a small town on a great plantation belonging to Mr. R. F. Abbey, 
who lives upon it. About three-quarters of a mile in a southerly direction from 
the landing is a mound on cultivated ground, which has been very symmetrical and 
is still imposing in appearance, though the corners are somewhat rounded. This 
mound has been extensively used for burials in recent times. Its height taken from 
the northern side, where were neither depressions nor ridges of any kind, is slightly 
more than 20 feet. Its sides face the cardinal points, approximately. Its diameter 
of base N. and 8. is 193 feet; that of the summit-plateau in the same directions is 
114 feet. East and west the basal diameter is 173 feet, 85 feet of which is included 
in the summit-plateau. U 
Near this mound is a limited area of artificially made high ground, on which 
lay some fragments of pottery, a few flint pebbles, and much baked clay, remains 
