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



The perforations in these ornaments are countersunk and from large openings 

 at the surface meet at the center in a much smaller aperture. On some are 

 scratches which probably would be called file-marks bj those disbelieving in any 

 proficiency obtained by the natives through ages of aboriginal culture, which marks 

 are exactly similar to those noted on certain ornaments of red jasper found by us in 

 Florida, on which material the file leaves no mark and which was no doubt worked 

 with the aid of hard, cutting sand. 



In the southern part of the mound, whence, with the exception of two copper 

 pendants and the deposit of ten pendants of rock, came practically all articles of 

 especial interest met with during the investigation, were found ten copper pendants, 

 including the three already referred to, making twelve in all from this mound, 

 shown in Fig. 53. Three pendants were twice found together, and three times, two 

 pendants were in association, always, of course, with burials. All came from con- 

 siderable depths in the mound, from 4 to 8 feet, and nearly all were wrapped in 

 fabrics and in bark, as is customary with "finds" of copper. 



An especially noteworthy feature connected with these pendants, which are of 

 native copper, is that all are of the same type as other pendants of stone and of 

 shell found in this mound, even the conventional bird-form being represented. 



The method of wearing these pendants was interestingly shown. Apparently, 

 certain material, seemingly hide, was cut into a small circle. A cord was run 

 through the center of this and knotted on the lower side. The hide was then 

 adjusted on the end of the pendant, like a cap. and the lower portion of the hide 

 was bound around with a cord and fastened with bitumen. The cord which ran 

 through the hide, when fastened to a belt, would allow the pendant to hang true, 

 which it could not do had the hide not been used and a cord been tied around the 

 end of the pendant and knotted at one side. 



But once in the elevated ground surrounding the mound proper, was copper 

 met with, and this was so greatly corroded that it was hardly more than a paste- 

 like substance. 



Upon several occasions in the mound, copper was found in a like condition. 



About 8 feet from the surface of the mound, near one of the streaks of sand 

 dyed with hematite, to which reference has been made, was a flat mass of bitumen, 

 about 6 inches by 8 inches and 1.25 to 2 inches in thickness. Imbedded in this was 

 an oblong bit of sheet-copper, about 1 inch in length by .5 of an inch in breadth. 



During the excavation of the mound proper there were found, always with 

 burials, three pairs of ear-plugs of sheet-copper. 



One pair has the upper and the lower discs of a similar pattern, consisting of 

 open spaces made with considerable regularity (Fig. 54). There is a circular con- 

 cavity at the center of each disc. Careful measurements show that while the four 

 discs closely resemble each other, the openings do not exactly coincide in size or in 

 shape, thus precluding all chance of their having been made with a die or stamp. 

 These discs, eo.ch about 3.5 inches in diameter, were wrapped in bark. With one 

 set of discs was a vertebra of a fish, which probably had been used to hold the pair 



