160 CERTAIN ABORIGINAL MOUNDS, COAST OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 



—Sherd. Mound on Little island. (Full size.) 



ported by wooden posts ; a still later occupation during which wooden posts were 

 again in use ; and finally that of the surface of the mound as found by us. 



At two or three feet from the surface of the mound began two extensive 

 pockets of oyster-shells about 3 feet in depth. Nothing was discovered in association. 



With the oyster-shells within 

 and surrounding the enclosure were 

 numerous sherds, undecorated, also 

 stamped in squares and with compli- 

 cated stamp. One with complicated 

 stamp and knob impressed with a 

 cross is shown in Fig. 7. 



In addition were : pebble ham- 

 mers of quartz and quartz pebbles ; 

 smoothing stones ; many fragments of 

 chert ; two arrowheads of chert ; bone 

 awls ; and a considerable number of 

 discs made from fragments of earthen- 

 ware vessels. Loose in the sand were 

 a graceful arrowhead of chert, and, 

 near the surface, a polished chisel of volcanic rock, about 6 inches in length. 



Just beneath the surface of the northern slope, in a small pit, was an intrusive 

 burial, the remains of an adult male, heaped together, and in part calcined. With 

 them were fragments of earthenware, a mass of sand} 7 clay partly baked, and a 

 quantity of carbonized maize. 



Fortunately we know something of aboriginal structures which may throw some 

 light upon this one. Gen. Gates P. Thruston, in his interesting " Antiquities of 

 Tennessee" (Second edition, p. 68 et a/.), has gathered much information on the 

 subject. We quote at length : 



" The ancient works of Tennessee were apparently of simple construction, but 

 they indicate the existence of large family dwellings as a characteristic of aboriginal 

 society. Early historical records are also in harmony with this view. From Gar- 

 cilasso de la Vega we learn that some of the houses in the fortified native towns 

 visited by De Soto were very large. He says, ' the whole number of houses ' [in 

 Mauvila, Alabama] ' did not exceed eighty, but they were of size capable of lodging 

 from five to fifteen hundred persons each,' a statement probably extravagant, but 

 generally sustained by the other chronicles. 1 



'•' Joutel, one of La Salle's companions in 1687, tells us that when they visited 

 the village of the Cenis, west of the Mississippi, ' The Indian town, with its large 

 thatched lodges, looked like a cluster of gigantic haycocks.' He declares that ' some 

 of them were sixty feet in diameter.' 2 Joutel's description of one of these dwellings 

 illustrates the house life of the southern Indians at that early period. ' These 



1 Garcilasso de la Vega, L. Ill, C. 20 ; Conquest of Florida (Irving), page 262. 



2 La Salle (Parkman), pages 415, 417. 



