So te a nae E TE 7 
ee ie 
O. C. Marsh—Description of an Ancient Sepulchral Mound. 9 
living in this country. The bones were certainly not stouter 
than those of Indians of the same size, although this has been 
regarded as a characteristic of the remains of the mound-build- 
ers. All the skulls i in the mound were broken—in one instance 
Both were of small size, and showed the vertical occiput, promi- 
nent vertex, and large ere diameter, so oe 
of crania belonging to ce. In other spects 
there was nothing of special itera in their conformation, 
With a single exception, all the human teeth observed we 
perfectly sound. ‘The teeth of all the adult skeletons ae 
much worn, those of aged individuals usually to a remarkable 
degree. The manner in which these were worn away is pecu- 
liarly interesting, as it indicates that the mound-builders, like 
the ancient Egyptians, and the Danes of the stone age, did not, 
in eating, use the incisive teeth for cutting, as modern nations 
do. This is evident from the fact that the worn incisors are all 
truncated in the same plane with the coronal surfaces of the 
molars, showing that the upper front teeth impinge directly on 
the summits of those below, instead of lapping over them. This 
peculiarity may be seen in the teet of Egyptian mummies, as 
was first pointed out by Cuvi 
All the bones in this mo sae nimal as well as human, were 
very light, and many of them Seteaingee brittle. They adhere 
strongly to the tongue, but application of shydrochloric “— 
shows that they still retain a considerable portion of the c 
age. Some of the more fragile bones, which showed a ei coand 
to crumble on exposure to the air, were readily preserved by 
immersing them in aoenanend melted in boiling water, a new 
method, used by Prof. Lartet = other French paleontologists, 
and admirably adapted to such a purpose. 
There are several points puted with this mound which 
deserve especial notice, as they appear to throw some additional 
light upon the customs of the mound-builders, particularly their 
modes of burial, and funeral ceremonies. 01 
markable features in the mound was the large number of skele- 
tons it containe ith one or two exceptions, none of the 
burial mounds hitherto examined have contained more than a 
single skeleton which unquestionably belonged to the mound- 
builders, while in this instance parts of at least seventeen were 
exhumed. The number of small children represented among 
these remains is also worthy of notice, as it indicates for this 
particular case a rate of infant mortality (about thirty-three per 
** Lecons d’Anatomie comparée, tome ii, p. 105. Bruxelles, ages os 
Am. Jour, Sci1.—Szconp Series, Vou. XLII, No. 124.—Jury, 1866, 
2 
