CERTAIN ABORIGINAL REMAINS OF THE NW. FLORIDA COAST. 349 



Pine Key, lariiely marsh, lias a certain amount of solid ground rising from "2 to 

 3 feet above the general level. About one-quarter acre of this higher ground liad 

 been used as a sort of burial place, or cemetery. There had been considerable pre- 

 vious digging, and fragments of human bones and bits of earthenware of the most 

 inferior quality lay scattered over the surface. 



The cemetery was trenched in all directions. 



In 2:)laces, bones lay in profusion, while again burials were met with singly, the 

 flexed burial, the bunch and the lone skull being represented. No cranial flattening 

 was noticed. The remains, as a rule, were about 1 fo(jt l>eloAV the surface, though 

 several burials were met with at a depth of 3 feet. 



A •• celt " was found not iar from the surface, as were a shell drinking cuj) with a 

 basal })erforation, and many sherds, all of poor ware, undecorated in the main, 

 though the check stamp and the complicated stamp were represented. 



Also near the surface was the lower part of a ceremonial, mortuar}" vessel 

 having a basal perforation made before baking. The portion found resembled an 

 inverted cone. Just above the base were two deep, encircling grooves made when 

 the clay was soft. The ware and workmanship were of the coarsest description. 



Mound xi;ak the Shell-heap, Levy County. 



This mound is in thick scrub, about 300 j-ards from the homestead of Mr. W. 

 R. Young, who lives on the great shell-heap, to which we have referred, and is the 

 owner of the mound in the rear. This mound, 6.5 feet hiah, 64 feet throuah its 

 circular base, had been dug into from the NE. margin previous to our coming, a 

 trench 6 feet wide having been carried to the center where it broadened to include 

 a space about 10 feet in diameter. A few fragments of human bones and two or 

 three bits of rude earthenware lay on the surface. 



Seven large trenches made by us, not all of which were entirely carried to the 

 base, some having been abandoned when results of others were noted, showed the 

 mound to be mainlv of oyster shells irregularly placed. 



At the center a measurement from the top showed IS inches of sand, 22 inches 

 of shell, 14 inches of sand, 1 foot of shell, in order, going down. Beneath, was undis- 

 turbed sand. The mound probabl}' was built on rising ground, as its height, taken 

 from the margin, is not accounted for by these measurements. 



On the south side of the mound trenching shoAved 18 inches of sand on top. 

 with a solid mass of shells below, and other trenches gave but slightly varying 

 results. 



No human remains or artifacts were met with in our digging, though one bit of 

 human bone, just below the surface, projected from the side of the former trench. 



At Cedar Keys our mound investigation lor the season was brought to an end. 



A continuation of our work farther south hardl}- would have been consistent 

 with the title of this report. Moreover, Mr. J. S. Raybon, captain of our steamer, 

 who had worked so successfully for us to the northwanl and to the westward, had 

 been unable to locate any new mounds of importance between Cedar Keys and 



