CERTAIN ABORIGINAL MOUNDS OF THE GEORGIA COAST. 67 



remains, all inhumations of single bodies, were in various positions, flexed, semi- 

 sitting, reclining. There was no uniformity of direction nor any preponderance of 

 a southern direction as a choice for the head. With one skeleton was hematite ; 

 with another, a few shell beads. 



Sapelo Island, McIntosh County. Mound in Dumoussay's Field. 



Dumoussay's Field, taking its name from a French owner, deceased on the 

 island in 1794, as his headstone sets forth, is a considerable tract formerly under 

 cultivation but now overgrown with underbrush and small trees. It is studded 

 with shell-heaps. It is distant somewhat over one mile in a straight line from 

 Bourbon — N. N. W. — and may also be reached by water through a branch of the 

 creek on which Bourbon is situated. 



About one-quarter of one mile in a northwesterly direction from the landing, 

 which is only a harder portion of the marsh, was an irregular rise in the ground 

 much reduced in height and spread out by cultivation. Its maximum height was 

 18 inches; its exact diameter was difficult to determine. Probably a circumference 

 with a diameter of 50 feet would have included all portions above the general level 

 of the field. It was dug through by us by permission of Amos Sawyer, Esq., to 

 whom we are indebted for the privilege of opening the neighboring mounds at 

 Bourbon. 



Through what we took to be the center of the elevated part of the mound, a 

 line 90 feet in length was drawn running east and west. Taking this line as a 

 chord, a semi-circle with radii of 45 feet, including the southern portion of the 

 mound, was marked out and completely dug through. Evidences of disturbance in 

 the soil were met with about 29 feet from the central point, the first interment, 

 however, being 23 feet S. E. by S. 



Next, the northern half of the mound was dug through starting with a diameter 

 of 53 feet and gradually converging to a line 32 feet N. of the central point where 

 all disturbance in the sand seemed to cease, and a considerable number of feet 

 beyond an interment. On the limits of the mound were the pits so often found 

 with coast mounds, in this case about 3.5 feet deep and covering a considerable area. 

 As usual, they were filled with sand black with organic matter much darker than 

 the sand of the mound, but contained no burials. 



The mound, which had evidently lost much of its original altitude through 

 cultivation, had upon its surface but a few scattered ■ oyster shells and contained 

 practically none. There was no central grave, unless a broad area of disturbed 

 sand near the middle, extending into the bright yellow sand beneath the base and 

 containing a number of burials may be so regarded. Pits similar to this, though 

 smaller, were present elsewhere in the mound. 



Skeletal remains were met with at fifty-one points in the mound, excluding 

 scattered fragments from near the surface. These burials were distributed as follows 

 as to form : skeletons, 42 ; late disturbance, 1 ; bunched burials, 2 ; isolated cranium, 

 1 ; uncremated remains in vessels, 3 ; cinerary urn with calcined remains, 1. 



