298 CERTAIN ABORIGINAL REMAINS OF THE ALABAMA RIVER. 



It was investigated by kind permission of Messrs. Miller and Bonner, of Cam- 

 den, Ala., through whose courtesy all our work near Matthews' Landing was done. 



Extensive trenching of the mound, which was of clay covered with sand, 

 showed it to have been of a domiciliary character with no yield beyond sherds, one 

 perforated mussel shell and one earthenware " checker." 



About 50 yards in a southwesterly direction from the mound just described, 

 near the river bank, with the plantation road passing over it, was an irregular 

 undulation from 1 to 2 feet in height. Its exact area was impossible to determine 

 though it was considerably less than that of the neighboring mound. A large 

 portion was dug through by us. The upper stratum was of clay 4 or 5 inches 

 thick. Next came a layer of yellow sand 18 inches to 2 feet in thickness, having 

 a slight admixture of clay, while the bottom layer, from 1 to 2 feet thick,- was of 

 clay blackened with charcoal and organic matter and containing many sherds. In 

 it were a large number of pottery " checkers" and one small one of shell, also the 

 earthenware head of a duck, formerly the handle of a vessel. The ware was of 

 good quality, containing an admixture of pounded shell, while some was black and 

 highly polished. 



Burials were met with at two points : one being the bunched remains of an 

 adult and of a child ; the other, also of an adult and of a child, had the bones in 

 anatomical order. 



The crania, badly broken, showed artificial flattening. The Choctaws, we are 

 told, 1 compressed the skulls during infancy, and hence were called "flatheads" by 

 the traders. Probably other Indians along the Alabama practised this same 

 custom of cranial compression. 



This mound had every appearance of having been a dwelling site like its 

 neighbor, with burials, perhaps of a later period than the mound itself. 



About 400 yards in a W. S. W. direction from the landing is a mound on 

 undulating country, with probably an average height of 7 feet. The sides, washed 

 by the river in times of unusual flood, probably originally ran steeply up to a 

 perfectly level plateau, most likely intended for domiciliary purposes. Pine trees, 

 some 2 feet in diameter, are on the mound which bears no appearance of previous 

 cultivation. The mound at present has somewhat the shape of a blunt wedge, 

 probably conferred by wash of water and, doubtless, formerly was rectangular in 

 shape like other mounds of its class. The summit plateau, in an easterly and 

 westerly direction, has a diameter of about 138 feet, with a base diameter about 35 

 feet greater. Across the western portion of the plateau, the thick end of the wedge, 

 the diameter is about 100 feet, the base-diameter about 45 feet in excess. 



Various trenches and pits indicated the mound to have been made of sandy 

 clay, with a superficial layer of sand, of varying depth, say from 1 to 3 feet. 

 About 3 feet down, extending through the mound on the same level, was a thin 

 layer of earth blackened probably by fire and admixture of organic matter, seem- 

 ingly indicating a long-continued period of occupation. No interments were found 

 1 Pickett, quoting Adair, "History of Alabama," page 125 et seq. 



