Section o^ gilder mound 249 



aiict a clean section (see plate 15, figure 1) was made each time. The 

 combined result is here briefly stated : 



Beginning at the surface and going downward, the section presented 

 the following succession : 



1. DARK SURFACE SOIL 



■ The uppermost la3fer, nearly 3 feet in thickness, in which the more 

 recent remains were found, consists of dark, loose soil near the surface, 

 )3ut from 1 to 2 feet helow the su^rface the material is yellowish, some- 

 what loess-like, as though loess had been heaped up in the more recent 

 burial. The uppermost black soil was subsequently discolored by the 

 abimdant forest vegetation. 



2. LIOHTER LOESS-LIKE SUBSOIL 



The uppermost layer shades below into a lighter brownish material, 

 which is loose and contains numerous small irregular nodules of calcium 

 carbonate and many roots. This layer extends from 3 to 7% feet below 

 the surface, and in this, at a depth of about 6 feet from the surface, were 

 found the older human remains. Here the writer also found fragments 

 of bones, a granite pebble, several flint chips, fragments of Polygyra and 

 of a fresh-water mussel, the latter wholly unidentifiable, but suggesting 

 Unio pressus or an Anodonta, forms now found in the rivers of this part 

 of ISTebraska. Professor Barbour refers to this layer in most positive 

 terms as "original undisturbed loess," but the loose texture, very numer- 

 ous small nodules, and very abundant roots all suggest a comparatively 

 recently disturbed soil into which the pebble, the flint chips, and the frag- 

 ments of mussel shell found their way intrusively with the human re- 

 mains. No such combination of materials is known in clearly undisturbed 

 loess in this country and none has been found excepting in connection 

 with mounds which are clearly the comparatively recent work of man. 



It is possible that even the land shells, Polygyra and Succinea ovalis 

 (not avara, as reported by Professor Barbour), were introduced into this 

 part of the section in the same way, for they are even now living, with 

 several other species of land shells, on the surface of the ridge from its 

 summit to the base. 



A comparison of the material was also made with the section shown, 

 along the road from near the base of Long hill to a point 50 feet east of 

 Gilder mound, and the difference is marked. This section^^ is fully 10 

 feet deep at a few points, and while its upper 3 to 6 feet show a very 

 slight brownish discoloration, such as is not imcommon in this territory 

 where there has evidently been a long-persisting forest covering, j^et in the 



1= Figure 2, plate 14, shows the middle portion of the road-cut. 



