B USHNELL— ABORIGINAL BURIAL 



lay near or upon the base." No extended remains were met with. 

 As in the north, the later burials were made in an extended position, 

 and it is also of interest to know that mounds continued to be con- 

 structed in this part of Florida after the coming of Europeans. Such 

 a work was discovered and examined by Mr Moore about one mile 

 northwest of Fort Mason, just south of Lake Yale. It was two feet 

 in height and fifty feet in diameter, and had been reduced by cultiva- 

 tion. "Unlike other mounds demolished by us on the Oklawaha, the 

 method of burial in this mound was in anatomical order, in various 

 forms of flexion. In all fifteen skeletons were encountered." Objects 

 of iron, silver, and copper were discovered, and "three skeletons had 

 each one polished stone celt in association." Stone arrowheads were 

 likewise found. The entire mound was erected after contact with 

 Europeans. 1 The mound probably dates from the transition period, 

 before the native stone implements and weapons had been entirely 

 superseded by others of European origin. Although this was not far 

 from the site of a late Seminole settlement, it would seem that the 

 mound belonged to a somewhat earlier period, as it is doubtful if 

 these people would have had and evidently used stone implements. 



The Aucilla (Ocilla) river formed the northwestern boundary of the 

 Timucuan territories, and beyond were probably Muskhogean tribes 

 whose identity has not been clearly established. To these tribes may be 

 attributed the mounds in the vicinity of the lower Apalachicola. A 

 mound, nine and one-half feet in height and eighty feet in diameter, 

 stood about two hundred yards north of Alligator Harbor and one 

 mile from its lower end, and when it was excavated, "seventy-nine 

 burials were noted by us, including the flexed; the bunched, which 

 sometimes had several skulls; the lone skull; and scattering bones." 

 All burials were in the southeastern half of the mound, and within 

 the same section were sixty-two pottery vessels, and many objects 

 of stone and shell. 2 This site is in Franklin county, and the mound 

 undoubtedly antedates European contact; but in Calhoun county, 

 which adjoins Franklin on the west, was a mound on the northern 

 bank of Chipola cut-off which belongs to a later period, as glass beads 

 and pieces of brass found at the base of the mound indicate the 

 entire work to have been erected since European contact. Burials, 

 forty-two in number, were scattered throughout the mound, and 

 these included flexed skeletons, bunched burials, and lone skulls. 3 



1 The preceding references to mounds in Lake county are from Moore, C. B., in Joum. Acad. 

 Nat. Sci. of Phila., x, 1895. 



2 Moore, C. B., Certain Aboriginal Mounds of the Central Florida West-coast, Joum. Acad. 

 Nat. Sci. of Phila., XII, 1903, pp. 257-265. 



3 Moore, ibid., pp. 445-466. 



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