164 CERTAIN ABORIGINAL MOUNDS, COAST OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 



over which oyster-shells were scattered, was the remnant of a mound belonging in 

 part to the estate of Mr. George Waterhouse and in part to Mr. Fred Carter, colored. 

 Our thanks are tendered to Mr. William P. Waterhouse, of Beaufort, for permission 

 to investigate. The mound was somewhat irregular in outline, its base having a 

 diameter of 52 by 57 feet. Its height was 2 feet 10 inches. It was about three- 

 fifths dug through. A few scattered bones lay near the center under hematite. 

 Four deposits of calcined and unburnt bones mingled were met with toward the 

 center. With one were quantities of hematite ; with another, a little mica. One 

 deposit lay at the bottom of a large central pit 6 feet 3 inches from the surface. 

 On the surface, near the mound, was picked up an unusually gracefully shaped "celt" 

 of polished volcanic rock, with beveled cutting edge, the opposite end tapering to a 

 blunt point. 



Indian Hill, St. Helena Island, Beaufort County. 



This mound, rising high above the flat surface of St. Helena island, is a land- 

 mark known far and near as Indian hill. It stands in the midst of cultivated fields 

 and is the property of a colored family named Chaplin. 



The mound had seen but little previous investigation, practically none, if its 

 size is taken into consideration, and the sides of the mound are too steep for cultiva- 

 tion. In shape the mound was the usual irregular truncated cone. The solid 

 plateau was perfectly level. The height of the mound is 13 feet 2 inches; its 

 diameter of base, east and west, 138 feet; north and south, 129 feet. The summit 

 plateau, about circular, was 62 feet across. 



From the northern side a trench 18 feet wide converging slightly toward the 

 bottom and contracting somewhat, 15 feet farthest in, was run along the base to the 

 center of the mound. The mound is composed, as far as our investigation enabled 

 us to judge, of a tenacious mixture of sand and clay in small irregular streaks of 

 different shades. Several small layers of clay were met with locally. No oyster- 

 shells were found, though some were scattered around the surrounding fields. 



A measurement from the center of the summit plateau, taken vertically to 

 undisturbed soil, gave a depth of 15 feet or nearly 2 feet more than the height of 

 the mound. As there were no signs of any basal pit to account for extra depth, it 

 seems likely that the surrounding country, whose soil is a black loam filled with 

 ^ organic matter, was so long inhabited that a deposit two feet in thickness grew 

 up around the mound. 



Although no distinct evidence of long-continued periods of occupation was 

 found in the mound, a number of post-holes from which the wood had rotted, still 

 unfilled, were found at four distinct levels. 



Sherds were infrequently found. Four pottery discs, one bearing a complicated 

 stamp, came from midden-refuse, probably. On the base, doubtless left there by 

 accident, was a handsomely wrought spearhead of chert, 5 inches in length. 



No burials were met with and we must regard the mound at Indian hill as 

 erected for domiciliary purposes. 



