102 CERTAIN ABORIGINAL MOUNDS OF THE GEORGIA COAST. 



to the inception of the mound. Beneath, and sometimes through, this layer there 

 ran down at places into the clear yellow sand, masses of dark disturbed sand rilled 

 with organic matter and bits of charcoal, of which portions of the mound were 

 composed. These evidently had been pits, and while the purpose of those containing 

 human remains was evident, the cause for the digging of others containing no 

 skeletal remains is unexplained. 



Rising from the base-line at BB was a layer of oyster shells (CC) varying in 

 thickness from 2 or 3 inches to 1 foot, This layer, after a downward slope, 

 terminated abruptly at DD, when within 4.5 feet of the center of the mound, up 

 to which point, however, it had been a continuous layer. The shells of this layer 

 lay loosely together and were not crushed and packed, leading to the belief that 

 they had been placed there intention all}' at one period and were not midden refuse 

 due to surface habitation. Beneath this layer (CC) the sand reaching to the base- 

 line was of a yellow color much resembling that below the base though it contained 

 in addition occasional oyster shells and particles of charcoal, not present in the 

 sub-basal sand. Above the layer CC, and clipping to the base-line between the 

 terminal points of the layer, was sand of a dark brown color extending to the 

 superficial layer of oyster shells (EE) which covered the entire mound. This layer 

 (EE) varied greatly as to thickness, at some places disappearing almost entirely, at 

 others attaining a thickness of from 1 to 2 feet. It was filled with midden refuse, 

 bones of lower animals, sherds, charcoal, etc., and was unquestionably a gradual 

 deposit made by the use of the mound as a dwelling site. Around certain portions 

 of the margin of the mound, where doubtless the shell had been carried and thrown, 

 the deposits had a thickness of almost 4 feet and extended below the surface of the 

 field, which we accounted for under the hypothesis that sand removed for the 

 construction of the mound had left hollows subsequently filled by shell. Above 

 the upper layer of oyster shells was a deposit of black surface loam, several inches 

 in thickness. The pocket of shell (F) shown in the diagram, is referred to in our 

 detailed description as Burial No. 37. 



From a careful study of the mound it was suggested to us that its original 

 construction had been a circular ridge of light sand, about 3 feet in height, sloping 

 up on all sides from the level of the field, and enclosing a sort of basin, and that 

 this ridge had been intentionally coated with oyster shells. That the central portion 

 corresponding to the area between the terminal points of the stratum (CC) had been 

 subsequently dug out, thus accounting for the abrupt termination of the shell 

 stratum, and that later the entire ridge and basin had been covered with' sand, 

 brown in color or made so through percolation, extending on all sides considerably 

 beyond the surface of the ridge, and that the mound thus formed had for a period 

 been used as a place of abode. The reader, however, must bear in mind that 

 conclusions of this sort are by no means final. 



Several small local layers of hematite were present near the base. 



Throughout the mound, but principally in the midden refuse, were fragments 

 of earthenware vessels. These, with several exceptions found at the base, were of 



