24 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 



others, different. As the sod line extends unbroken over some of the 

 latter, they may pertain to a different people. 



Although many skeletons are in direct contact with the earth, some- 

 thing was probably always interposed at the time of burial. Poles, 

 puncheons, or bark frequently formed a resting place as well as a cover- 

 ing for a corpse. Sometimes these were placed across two logs, one on 

 either side of the body. Pens were often built of poles or small logs 

 crossing at the corners after the manner of a log cabin; some were barely 

 large enough for one person, others were fully ten feet square. The 

 walls were either vertical, and covered with poles to form a flat top, or 

 drawn in on two sides like the roof of a house. Again, poles were set 

 with one end in the ground, the tops being fastened together to form a 

 conical or bee-hive like structure inside of which the dead were placed; 

 some of the poles were cut or broken to the desired length, others left 

 projecting considerably. Such ligneous remains are found only in excep- 

 tionally dry mounds, and are loose as ashes, their arrangement being 

 traceable only by the casts or molds left in the earth. Bark exists only 

 as a very thin layer which appears always to extend somewhat beyond 

 the bones; hence reports of skeletons wrapped in it are questionable, 

 unless it be shown to cover a space but little larger than a body would 

 occupy. 



The light, porous, black, earth so often found about skeletons, may 

 result from decay of furs, cloth, feathers, and the like. 



Fire was sometimes an important feature in funerals, as shown by 

 large quantities of ashes; these were often brought from elsewhere, skel- 

 etons without any marks of burning being partially or entirely covered 

 with them. 



If it was customary to deposit with the dead his personal belongings, 

 they must have been largely of a perishable nature; for more than half 

 of the skeletons exhumed are unaccompanied by relics of any description. 

 With some are only a few beads or arrow-heads, a pipe, ornament, or 

 hatchet; others were provided with a considerable variety or large num- 

 ber of articles. No systematic distribution is manifest in relics associated 

 with skeletons. Various ornaments are found in positions denoting 

 attachment to the clothing or person of the deceased; but for the most 

 part funeral offerings seem to have been deposited promiscuously, the 

 mourners having little regard for preciseness in the arrangement of their 

 tributes. Pipes are found near the skull, in either hand, on the breast, or 

 at the feet; clay vessels containing carbonaceous matter, probably remains 

 of food, though of rare occurrence, have no particular place; objects suit- 

 able for war, hunting, or adornment are put anywhere. True a consid- 

 erable degree of uniformity which may signify tribal relationship,, has 

 often been observed in different places,- in the positions of skeletons and 



