88 CERTAIN ABORIGINAL MOUNDS OF THE GEORGIA COAST. 



Two, from one vessel, however, were of good quality. No example of the com- 

 plicated stamp was met with. 



Human remains were encountered at 31 points. Of these, 25 were skeletons 

 from which comparatively full data were obtained. The bones of four infants, badly 

 crushed, were present in addition, and two layers of bones, some calcined, others 

 unaffected by fire. 



Of the 25 skeletons : 7 were of males ; 5 were of females ; 8 were uncertain ; 

 2 were of adolescents ; 2 were of children ; while the skeleton of one adult was 

 not determined owing to decay. 



Twenty-three lay full length, face down, while two lay at full length on the 

 back. The faces of the prone skeletons occasionally were turned to the side. As 

 a rule the upper extremities were parallel to the body. 



There seems to be no uniformity of direction in which the skeletons lay. The 

 upper portion of one skeleton was missing through aboriginal disturbance. The 

 other 24 headed as follows : E, 2 ; E. by N., 1 ; E. N. E., 2 ; N. E. by E., 1 ; 

 N. E., 2 ; N. E. by N., 2 ; N. N. E., 1 ; N., 3 ; N. by' W., 3 ; W., 1 ; W. S. W., 1 ; 

 S. by W., 1 ; S. S. E., 1 ; S. E., 1 ; E. S. E., 1 ; E. by S., 1. 



Burial No. 11, 15 feet N. E. by E., 3 feet 3 inches down, was a layer of calcined 

 fragments of human bones, 23 inches, across at the start and 6 inches thick. Eight 

 inches in it had tapered to a width of 16 inches, though keeping the same thick- 

 ness. It converged and disappeared 15 inches from the start. Uncremated bones 

 were mingled throughout. 



Burial No. 28. On the undisturbed yellow sand beneath the central shell 

 deposit was a layer of bones of numerous individuals, inextricably mixed, having a 

 thickness of about 8 inches. It extended in 4 feet 9 inches, and was about 28 inches 

 across. At the western extremity were a few fragments of calcined bones and 

 numbers of tubular shell beads, the largest 2 inches in length. In addition, were a 

 piercing implement of bone, and several considerable portions of lower jaws of large 

 carnivores, having their lower parts, including much of the roots of the teeth, 

 ground away, thus widening and squaring the bases, as we have already described 

 in this Report, and shall have occasion to refer to again in relation to specimens 

 from a mound on Ossabaw Island. Professor Putnam informs us that jaws similarly 

 treated — human and of lower animals— from the mounds of Ohio are in the Peabody 

 Museum, Cambridge, Mass. 1 



It has been suggested that this method of treatment originated in a desire to 

 loosen the teeth to facilitate extraction, but this seems hardly likely, for, as a rule, 

 teeth treated this way are present in the jaws when found, and we have never seen 

 single teeth pierced for suspension, whose bases showed evidence of grinding. Jaws 

 treated in this way have been considered by some to have been used as ornaments. 



There is in the collection of the Academy of Natural Sciences a rough wooden 

 effigy or mask, from Alaska, representing the head of a dog or of a wolf. Set in 

 this mask are jaws imitated in bone, squared off at the base somewhat like the 

 1 See also " Primitive Man in Ohio," Moorehead, page 227, et seq. 



