6 CERTAIN ABORIGINAL MOUNDS OF THE GEORGIA COAST. 



Florida coast, nor do they compare in size with the great heaps of fresh-water shells 

 so noticeable on the St. Johns River. 



Before proceeding to a detailed description of certain coast mounds of Georgia, 

 We wish to point out that it has not been our intention to investigate each mound 

 included within the limits of the entire territory, as we have done on the St. Johns 

 and the Ocklawaha Rivers, Florida, but rather, by demolishing a considerable num- 

 ber, to give a general idea of the aboriginal earth-works of the territory bordering 

 the Georgia coast. 



Five months of continual work have been devoted by us to the coast mounds 

 of Georgia, during which time most of the territory has again and again been 

 traversed by steam motive power, so that but little time has been consumed in 

 transit. A few important mounds still remain unexamined, through no fault of 

 ours, however, notably at the north end of Ossabaw Island and on the islands of 

 St. Simon and Sapelo. 



But little work has been previously done among the mounds of the Georgia 

 coast. The late Col. C. C. Jones, whose interesting work 1 we have largely consulted, 

 occasionally refers to certain objects as derived from coast mounds, but nowhere 

 makes reference to any systematic explorations. 2 The territory is virtually a new 

 one for the archasologist, though relic hunters have at times left traces of their work 

 in the shape of comparatively small trenches or superficial excavations near the 

 summits of certain mounds. 



Before proceeding to a detailed description of our mound work it may be well 

 to make clear to the lay reader certain terms frequently to be used by us. 



The "bunched" burial, which we found to predominate in Florida when the 

 condition of the bones made determination possible, is present also in the coast 



mounds of Georgia, though to a much more 

 limited extent. This method of interment 

 consisted of bunching together a number of 

 bones ; sometimes the skull and long bones 

 of one individual with perhaps some of the 

 smaller bones, or in others, taking parts of 

 the skeletons of two or three individuals 

 and burying them in a heap together. The 

 exposure of the dead body until deprived 

 of flesh, prior to inhumation, was a common 

 aboriginal custom. In Fig. 1 we give a 

 representation of a typical bunched burial. 

 Fig. i.-a " bunched- burial. (Not on scale.) In the Georgia coast mounds the burial 



in anatomical order exceeded all others, 

 though it is not unlikely that many at least of the skeletons had suffered exposure 



1 " Antiquities of the Southern Indians." 



2 See also "A Primitive Urn Burial," Smithsonian Report, 1890, p. 609 et seq., by Dr. J. F. 

 Snyder, in relation to Southern Georgia. 



