CERTAIN ABORIGINAL REMAINS OF THE ALABAMA RIVER. 307 



During our excavation we met with a discoidal stone of Felsite, highly 

 polished; a flat pebble notched for suspension (Fig. 17); two canine teeth of large 

 carnivores, one grooved at the base for suspension ; an interesting little chisel 

 made from a flat pebble of silicious rock colored with iron, with the beginning 

 of a perforation (Fig. 18), about 2.2 inches long and 1.75 inches across the blade. 



Fig. 19.— Pendant of eartl.e 

 ware. Cemeterv at D 

 rand's Bend. (Full siz< 



Fig. 20.— "Bann. 



(Full 



Fig. ia— Chisel of silicious rock. 

 Cemetery at Dnrand's Bend. 

 (Full size.) 



From colored inhabitants we got a small pendant 

 . of earthenware with a single perforation (Fig. 19), and 

 a " bannerstone " of polished hematite with an uncom- 

 pleted perforation (Figs. 20, 21). 

 As iron rods, as a rule, located only urns, numbers of trenches 

 were dug, always over 2 feet in depth, through the sand into undis- 

 turbed material beneath. This resulted in the discovery of twenty- 

 seven unenclosed burials from 2 to 3 feet below the surface. Two 

 of these were bunched burials ; one, a burial of part of a skeleton, 

 mainly in order; one, part of a skeleton, disturbed by a burial 

 beneath ; one, a child on its back with its thighs drawn up ; one, 

 also a child, on its left side. Twenty-one skeletons lay extended 

 at full length on the back, all but three with arms parallel to the 

 trunk. In one instance the right arm crossed the lumbar vertebrae ; in another, the 

 right hand lay upon the pelvis. A child had both hands raised to the shoulders. 

 The skeletons had no uniformity of direction, but headed to all points of the 



Sixteen were of adults, seven were of adolescents or of children. The skeletons 

 probably had been interred when denuded of flesh, though still fairly well connected 

 by ligaments. This was evidenced in a number of cases where bones were wanting, 

 or were placed in improper order or turned in the wrong direction. 



Crania were so badly decayed, crushed or penetrated by roots that but two 

 were preserved. These two, found near together, close to the bluff, belonged to 

 singularly well-preserved skeletons. One, of a male (Collection Academy of Natural 

 Sciences, No. 2,168) seems to partake strongly of the negro type. Its companion, 

 however (Collection Academy of Natural Sciences, No. 2,169), shows marked arti- 

 ficial flattening. Adair tells us that the Choctaws practised flattening of the skull. 

 These skulls may belong to comparatively recent interments. 



