bd 
Seam eae meste SS ctr hi ter. tl) Rip gu. ts etna: Re aca ae MM a SI 
* fs ae 
O. C. Marsh—Description of an Ancient Sepulchral Mound, 11 
concerning the superstitious rites of this 5? seam r poopie it 
seems natural to conclude that in each of these c 
victim, was sacrificed as part of the funeral ceremonies, ‘Sitbiless 
as a special tribute of respect to a person of distinc 
All the skeletons in this mound, except one, eaiie to have 
been buried in a horizontal position with the face u wards, 
The Rin sp was the skeleton of the aged female found in the 
grave, which lay on its side; but this may have been owing to 
99 fact that the body had been bent ei ei perhaps in conse- 
uence of age. The skeletons which had received a regular in- 
terment all had their heads toward the east, bide no such definite * 
position has been noticed in the remains found in other mounds, 
As the grave had the same direction, this can hardly have been 
sition of the ridge upon which the mound ei fe 3 layer of 
e human remains, suddenly exucaihes by a cov- 
pore of earth. Pauidly the mtg as well as other objects of 
interest, were contained in the outer portion of the mound, 
which was not examined, though usually everything deposited 
by the mound-builders was placed near the — and hence 
our explorations were chiefly confined to that 
Such is a brief and incomplete description of one of the an- 
cient mounds of the West, of which at least ten thousand are 
known to exist in the single state of Ohio, and countless num- 
bers elsewhere in the valleys o Aon Bee se and its tributaries. 
These abe are the only remaining memorials of a race 
whose history has been buri with them, and from these alone 
can we hope to learn who this people were, and whence they 
came. The Indians of this country, although retaining no tradi- 
tion of oe more ancient fi oe regarded their works with 
eration; but the present possessors of the soil have, in 
peti little of this feelin ais hence hundreds of these monu- 
ments of the past are annually swept away by the plow, and their 
contents irretrievably lost. A few pioneers in American arche- 
ology have, indeed, rescued much that is valuable, but the work 
is hardly commen need ; and a careful and systematic oo 
of these various mqnuments would not only add greatly to our 
knowledge of this interesting people, but doubtless also help to 
solve the question of the antiquity of man on this continent, 
ene — that more important one of the unity of the hur 
poetic! psec Ct., Feb. 1866. 
