CERTAIN ABORIGINAL MOUNDS OF THE GEORGIA COAST. 101 



About 68 yards in a N. E. direction from Mound A is the remnant of a shell 

 heap nearly all of which, above the general level, has been carted away for lime. 

 A small portion still remaining shows the height of the heap to have been somewhat 

 over 2 feet. The diameter, difficult to determine at present, was probably about 

 50 feet. 



This shell heap was trenched around the margin and in several directions 

 toward the center. No human remains were encountered nor any indication that 

 the heap had been used for sepulchral purposes. Sherds were abundant. One, 

 with an average diameter of 4 inches, showed a number of grooves made by 

 sharpening pointed tools. From different parts of the mound came three discs of 

 earthenware cut from fragments of vessels, each about 1.5 inches in diameter. 



Ossabaw Island, Bryan County. Middle Settlement, Mound B. 



This mound, in a cultivated field, lay somewhat over one-half mile in a N. E. 

 direction from the Middle Settlement. 



Its height above the level of the field was a trifle over 7 feet, and a measure- 

 ment taken from the surface at the center of the mound to the base-line, when the 

 mound was half dug through, showed a corresponding altitude. The diameter of the 

 mound at the base, we took to be about 46 feet, but as portions of the margin were 

 covered with a thick deposit of oyster shells, it is not unlikely that in places the 

 extreme outlying portions escaped us. 



The mound, covered with undergrowth and small live-oaks, showed no sign of 

 previous investigation, although a considerable excavation made into the shells of 

 the margin, to obtain material for lime, was apparent. 











%^ 



Scale in jeef. 



Fig. 57. — Section of Mound E 



The mound, with the exception of certain marginal portions, was dug through 

 as shown in the diagram (Fig. 56) at a level much below that of the sur- 

 rounding field that no grave or pit might pass unnoticed. At the level of the field 

 there ran through the mound a dark layer, A A (see section, Fig. 57), varying from 

 a few inches to one foot in thickness, composed of crushed oyster shells, small bits 

 of charcoal, and earth blackened by admixture of organic matter. This we took to 

 be the original surface of the ground upon which the aborigines were living previous 



13 JOURN. A. N. S. PHILA., VOL. XL 



