HOLMES ANNIVERSARY VOLUME 



In this connection it is interesting to know that this term, so often 

 encountered in Virginia and other parts of the South, referred to a 

 mound or communal burial, and not to a single grave as might be 

 supposed. There is little doubt that this mound was reared within a 

 few generations of the time it was examined by Jefferson, as in writing 

 of mounds in general, but of this one in particular, he said: "But on 

 whatever occasion they may have been made, they are of considerable 

 notoriety among the Indians; for a party passing, about thirty years 

 ago, through the part of the country where this barrow is, went 

 through the woods directly to it, without any instructions or enquiry, 

 and having staid about it some time, with expressions which were 

 construed to be those of sorrow, they returned to the high road, which 

 they had left about half a dozen miles to pay this visit, and pursued 

 their journey." It is reasonable to suppose that among this party 

 were some whose forefathers were buried in this communal tomb, as 

 these and no others would have retained knowledge of the site, and 

 made a pilgrimage to it. Other mounds within the same territory are 

 known to have been visited at a much later day by other parties of 

 Indians, but whence they came is not known. A mound, evidently 

 similar in all respects to the preceding, stood on the right bank of 

 the Rapidan, about one mile east of the boundary between Orange and 

 Greene counties, twenty miles northeast of the "Jefferson" site. It 

 is supposed to have contained the remains of at least one thousand 

 individuals, men, women, and children, deposited without order and 

 at varying levels. It is of interest to know that no ornaments or 

 objects of any sort were associated with the burials in either mound, 

 and in this respect the communal burials of the South differed essen- 

 tially from those of the northern Iroquois. 



The islands lying off the coast of Georgia were, as already men- 

 tioned, the home of the ancient Yamasee. Many burial mounds 

 standing on the islands and neighboring mainland have been exam- 

 ined, resulting in the discovery of several forms, or rather methods, 

 of disposing of the dead. A mound of exceptional interest stands 

 about two miles from Sutherland Bluff, on Sapelo river, Mcintosh 

 county, Georgia. When examined it was less than six feet in height 

 and about forty-six feet in diameter. "The mound was composed of 

 rich, loamy, brown sand with many local layers of oyster shells. The 

 usual charcoal and fireplaces were present. A black layer from three 

 inches to one foot in thickness, made up of sand mingled with char- 

 coal in minute particles ran through the mound at about the level 

 of the surrounding territory." Human remains were discovered at 

 thirty-six points, and "in no one mound investigated by us has there 



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