THE ST. JOHN'S RIVER, FLORIDA. 101 



Length of Tib i.e. 

 From articular surface to tip of internal malleolus. 

 Measurements are given in mm. 



Positively Intrusive. 



Male. 



351 



Original Burials. 

 Bex Uncertain. 



329 



336 



These bone measurements from the small sand mound adjacent to the great 

 shell-heap, known as Mulberry Mound, are of considerable importance, since on the 

 St. John's River no other burial mound can with certainty be attributed to the per- 

 iod of the shell-heaps. As before stated, Mulberry Mound is an island shell-heap, 

 the nearest solid ground being two miles distant, and it is therefore most unlikely 

 that Indians living far away should resort to this shell-heap for purposes of sepul- 

 ture. Nor is the supposition tenable that later Indians living upon the shell-heap 

 erected the entire burial mound. These Indians relied upon agriculture mainly as 

 a means of support, and it is certain that the limited area of the shell-heap could 

 not have supported over a single family at one time. That later Indians did in- 

 habit the shell-heap we shall presently see, but they must have been few in number, 

 and consequently contributed but a small quota to the interments in the mound. 



Certain points relative to the long bones from Mulberry Mound are worthy of 

 remark : 



1 — The low index of the femurs. 



2 — The high index of the tibia?. 



3 — The fact that in platycnemic tendency females exceeded males. 



4 — The unusually high average occurrence of perforation of the humerus. 



To those accepting the theory of Dr. Manouvrier that lateral flattening of the 

 tibiae is largely brought about by unusual activity on steep or rough territory, the 

 absence of lateral flattening in the male tibiae, and the small development of the 

 lineae asperse of the femur will serve as additional evidence, since the males of Mul- 

 berry Mound must have spent their time mainly in canoes. The greater platyc- 

 nemic tendency among the women is not difficult to explain under the same theory, 

 as the constant ascent and descent of the steep sides of the mound imposed upon 

 those remaining upon the shell-heap the greater portion of their time, would be pe- 

 culiarly conducive to a lateral flattening of the shin bone. 



IMPLEMENTS, ORNAMENTS, ETC. 



With the calcined bones already referred to, in immediate association with the 

 skeleton of a woman, was the closed shell of a small tortoise, which probably had 

 served as a rattle. 



13 JOURN. A. N. S. PHILA., VOL. X. 



