198 CERTAIN ABORIGINAL REMAINS OF THE NW. FLORIDA COAST. 



■The mound lay about one-half mile inland from a point near the eastern 

 extremity of the sound, on property of Mr. Joseph Dyer, of Wetappo, Florida. The 

 mound, which was pleasingly symmetrical, the usual truncated cone in shape, with 

 a height of 7.5 feet and a basal diameter of 56 feet, had escaped the ravages com- 

 mon to the mounds of this district, partly through being more difficult of access than 

 others, and partly through the presence of modern burials in the summit plateau. 

 The only signs of previous digging were two or three small holes and a narrow 

 trench on the western side, which continued superficially across the top. 



The mound was levelled by us with the exception of a small part of the west- 

 ern margin and of a portion 10 feet square in the western part of the body of the 

 mound, where modern burials were thickest. During a long period before our 

 digging was discontinued no trace of earthenwai'e or aboriginal interments had been 

 found. 



Aboriginal burials, as noted by us, numbered thirty-one and included, as to 

 form, the lone skull ; the bunch ; close flexion on the side ; one skeleton in a squat- 

 ting position ; scattered bones ; and masses of bones continuing in on the same level. 

 These masses, though each counted as one burial, in all cases represented a number 

 of individuals. 



Certain skulls showed flattening while in others it was not mnrked. 



The first interment was found at the margin of the mound, almost due east and 

 as the digging continued, burials were met with exceptionally as far to either side 

 as north and south, though the great majority lay with a deposit of earthenware in 

 the eastern and southeastern parts of the mound. No burial was met Avith farther 

 than 16 feet from the margin. 



The burials in nearly every case lay beneath 

 masses of shells, not oyster-shells, however, such as we 

 have found to be the case in other mounds, but small 

 conchs [Fulgur pugilis). 



With a number of burials were shell drinking cups 

 {^Fulgur perverszitn), sometimes immediately on the 

 skull, and with certain interments were "celts," two in 

 one instance. In all, seven of these hatchets and part 

 of another were met with, some not immediately with 

 burials. 



There were present also in the mound, exclusive 

 of earthenware: a fossil shark's tooth; mica; a frag- 

 ment of a graceful, barbed lancehead, 4 inches long ; a 

 gorget of ferruginous sandstone with two perforations for suspension (Fig. 121). 



The earthenware of this mound was in better condition than usual in this dis- 

 trict, while the decoration was much above the average. The deposit began in con- 

 tact with the first burial in the eastern margin of the mound, as stated, and con- 

 tinued in about 15 feet, sometimes associated with burials and sometimes at a distance 

 from them, but always in an area where they were most frequent. Incised and punc- 



Fiu. 121. — Gorget. Larger mound near 

 Have Hammock. (Full size.) 



