8 O.C. Marsh—Description of an Ancient Sepulchral Mound. 
little attention has hitherto been paid to the animal remains, 
and other objects of natural history found in the mo unds, 
although a careful study of these would undoubtedly throw 
much light upon the mode of life of the mound-builders.” 
doubtless due in part to the excessive compactness of the earth 
above the remains, but mainly to the fact that the mound stood 
on an elevation, where moisture could not accumulate. The 
skeletons in the lower part of the mound were not so well pre- 
served as those higher up, probably because the original soil of 
the ridge naturally — — —— than the earth above 
it. There may have bee ver, a considerable interval 
between the ne or Se albalas one ehsee that followed, and thus 
some of the skeletons commenced to decay before the mound 
n 
was completed. The interval, however, could not have been of 
very long duration, as no perceptible deposit of vegetable matter 
was formed over the small mound then existing. The same 
may be said of the intervals between the regular interments, 
and also of the subsequent period preceding the final completion 
of the mound. It should, perhaps, be remarked before proceed- 
ing further, that this mound had evidently never been disturbed 
by the Indians, and that all the human remains and other ob- 
jects found in it were undoubtedly deposited there by its builders. 
etce 
"ite Bu etons found in this mound were of medium size, 
somewhat smaller than the average of those of the Indians still 
™ The animal remains found near the Swiss lake habitations, show conclusively 
be the ae iectope ts sa those settlements were — ters, who subsisted 
y on wild anima t a later period, however, during t he change to o- 
ral state, domestic animals were Siadally substituted ce - article of ‘ae 
Risimeyer Fauna der Pfahibauten der Base 
rier and Davis regard this fact as evidenee of the gure antiquity of the 
mounds, ‘a8 in En ngland, 1 whe re the moist climate much Nese favorable for preserv- 
ncient | Seiten have been found, — 
known to have been buried at least oot years,—Smithsonian n Contributions, 
p. 168. 
** It is well known that the modern Indians occasionally buried their dead i in panes 
» but invariably near the surface; the position of such re 
— dally the manner of their interment clearly distinguish them from 
posits of the mound-builders, 
