CERTAIN ABORIGINAL MOUNDS OF THE GEORGIA COAST. 131 



Ossabaw Island, Bryan County. Bluff Field, Mound A. 



The Bluff Field is a cultivated tract about 2.5 miles by land in a northeasterly 

 direction from the Middle Settlement, and is under the same control. 



Mound A, about midway between the extremities of the field, and perhaps 75 

 yards from the bluff, had a height of 2 feet 3 inches above the surrounding level. 

 We gave to it a diameter of about 56 feet, which probably included more than the 

 mound. The mound had been much plowed away but bore no trace of previous 

 investigation, save several small holes dug by colored men. 



The mound was completely dug through. It was composed of black loam with 

 oyster shells scattered here and there and contained several local layers of shell. 

 The central portion of the mound, with an average diameter of 24 feet, was a solid 

 mass of oyster shells from the surface down to a thin stratum of black loam from 6 

 to 12 inches in thickness. Beneath was undisturbed grayish-white sand. At the 

 center of the mound this mass of shell was 2 feet thick. Marginal pits filled with 

 black midden refuse and containing no burials, were present. 



Human remains in fairly good condition were met with at fourteen points 

 — one deposit of calcined remains and thirteen skeletons. The skeletons, head- 

 ing in all directions, were flexed on the right, on the left, or with trunk on back and 

 lower extremities to the right or to the left. The calcined remains were a layer at 

 the bottom of a pit extending 18 inches into undisturbed sand with fragments of 

 charcoal above it. Completely covering the area where the pit entered the undis- 

 turbed sand, was a layer of four thicknesses of large cord-marked sherds. 



Away from human remains was the skeleton of a dog, the principal parts of 

 which were forwarded by us to Professor Putnam. 



By the cranium of a child was a practically undecorated pot, imperforate, with 

 inverted rim, in the shape of an inverted cone with rounded apex, or of an acorn 

 with blunted point. Diameter of aperture, 4 inches ; maximum diameter, 5 inches ; 

 height, 4.3 inches (Fig. 75). 



Scattered sherds were practically unrepresented in the mound. A mass of 

 stone, probably amphibolic gneiss, pitted, and used as a smoothing stone, lay loose 

 in the sand. 



On the surface, near Mound A, lay a rude implement, probably of amphibolic 

 gneiss, about 4 inches in length, somewhat resembling in form a hoe-shaped imple- 

 ment, or spud. It is much chipped at the edge, having probably seen service as a 

 hoe. It bears a longitudinal groove showing secondary use as a hone. 



Ossabaw Island, Bryan County. Bluff Field, Mound B. 



This mound, in the extreme S. W. part of the field, had a height of 19 inches. 

 A certain amount had been ploughed away. No previous investigation was reported 

 or noted. 



A diameter of 40 feet was taken, and the circumference dug through, including 

 we believe, considerably more than the mound. It was composed of black loamy 



