382 CERTAIN ABORIGINAL MOUNDS, CENTRAL FLORIDA W.-COAST. 



work done by us is shown in broken lines on plan (Fig. 17), where, however, many 

 small excavations made in the level ground and in the embankment are not given. 

 Though the shell-heap on Crystal river is a famous one, the sand mound was 

 unknown to the inhabitants of the town of Crystal River, even the owner being 

 unaware of the existence of this mound. Absolutely no digging had been done 

 previous to our visit, which is a most important feature, and especially so when we 

 note the interesting objects found by us and the fact that no object indicating Euro- 

 pean provenance was met with throughout the entire investigation. 



In the artificial elevation, burials were very numerous, and to so great an 

 extent had the ground been used that many graves, passing through earlier ones, 

 had caused great disturbance. In addition, numbers of disconnected bones lay, 

 here and there, in the sand as though they had been gathered from the dead-house 

 and scattered while the making of the elevation was in progress. Hence, exact 

 classification as to form of burial was impossible, nor could any estimate be arrived 

 at as to the number of individuals originally interred, as all bones met with were so 

 decayed that the skulls were often in small fragments. Our enumeration of burials, 

 that is of where bones were encountered, certainly falls far short of the number of 

 individuals interred. 



The mound proper, of gray sand in the upper part and of white sand in the 

 lower, had, running through it, along the base, from the eastern margin to the cen- 

 ter, approximately, a ledge of shell about 2 feet high and 20 feet broad. This ledge 

 seemed to have no particular connection with the burials. 



Running for a distance of many feet into the mound were several streaks of 

 sand dyed with hematite. One, in the southern part of tlie mound, from 2 to 8 

 inches in diameter, especially persistent, extended from the outer slope to the cen- 

 ter. The intensity of the coloring varied considerably. 



There were also pockets of scarlet sand, but these were local and in connection 

 Avith burials. Once a pocket of scarlet sand was associated with sand dyed yellow 

 by powdered limonite. 



What has been said as to the difficulty of count and of classification of the 

 burials in the elevated ground applies equally to the mound though from a different 

 cause, in part. While burials in the mound were not unusually numerous, the 

 height of the mound and the extreme dryness of the sand of which it was built, 

 caused much caving and consequent disarrangement of burialsr 



In the elevation and in the mound, were about 225 burials, including : 



Bunched burials, .....••■ 42 



Full length on back, 



Closely flexed on the right 



Closely flexed on the left side, 



Partly flexed on the right side, 



Partly flexed on the left side, 



Lone skulls, .... 



Skeletons of infants, badly decayei. 



' Four of these lay side by side in a single grave; seven had lnwer extremities cut off by later 

 interments. 



-Kk'. 



63 1 

 31 



26 



2 



7 

 11 



7 



