\\2 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 118 



is known, such bone implements have been reported but once 

 previously. 1 



Conclusions 



The type of structure patterns and the artifacts taken from Mounds 

 Nos. 1 and 2 seemed to be identical in kind and there was no reason to 

 doubt that the mounds were built by the same people. The structures 

 in these two mounds may have been contemporary, as it was not pos- 

 sible to attach any precedence to one over the other. 



Both mounds were erected upon a village site, a fact which appeared 

 to indicate that the site of each of these first earth-covered houses had 

 been formerly occupied by one or more small dwellings. 



The construction was designated as "large-log type." The logs used 

 as posts were generally much larger than in the "small-log type" of 

 construction, and the molds were much farther apart and their posts 

 were not seated in trenches. 



The earliest structure in each of these mounds was made of logs not 

 much larger than those used in Sites Nos. 2, 5, 9, and others of that 

 type, but the posts were set much farther apart. 



As the later buildings were erected in succession on these mound 

 sites the structure generally became larger. The logs were larger and 

 they were placed still farther apart. Structures Nos. 7 and 8 in Mound 

 No. 1 had many molds as large as 14 inches in diameter, and they were 

 generally as far apart as 3 feet or more. The manner in which this 

 construction differed from that of other sites will be discussed in a 

 later chapter. 



Perhaps the most important find at this site was the use of pit 

 burials in the floors of houses. Here, in three out of four adult burials 

 the body was defmitely placed in a pit in a sitting posture, surrounded 

 with an unusually large number of artifacts and often accompanied by 

 the burial of a dog. No pottery was used as a mortuary offering. That 

 manner of burial was so definite and different from other types of 

 burial customs that it could but be regarded as very significant. 



Bushnell 2 points out that the custom of burial beneath the floors of 

 houses was practiced by at least two of the Muskhogean tribes, the 

 Chickasaw and the Creeks. It appeared that while both of these tribes 

 buried in pits below house floors, yet this decided difference existed: 

 the Chickasaw buried in a shallow grave, placing the body in a par- 

 tially flexed position, while the Creeks used a deep pit and placed the 

 body in a sitting posture. Further, the Creeks seemed to have been the 

 only one of the tribes reported to have deposited a wide variety of 

 objects in the grave, and also sometimes to have included dog burials. 

 For purposes of comparison it may be well to quote a number of the 



1 Thomas, Cyrus, 1894, p. 382, fig. 259. 



2 Bushnell, 1920, p. 110. 



