MILLS— THE TREMPER MOUND 



covered on the southern and western sides with fine yellow sand, 

 and on the eastern and northern sides with bits of charcoal and ashes 

 mixed with clay. 



The three small depositories, shown as 20, 21, and 22, figure 2, 

 were not specialized as was the large one, but were merely prepared 

 bases of clay. The ashes of the dead were piled upon these flat bases 

 to a depth of two and one-half inches on No. 20, two inches on No. 

 21, and three inches on No. 22. A specialized depository (No. 6 in 

 figure 2) was found near the great cache, but it contained no cremated 

 remains and apparently never was used. In form it was very similar 

 to the large grave, and measured 5 feet 3 inches in length and 2 feet 

 5 inches in width, outside measurements. 



A comparison of the mortuary customs of the Tremper mound 

 builders with those of the Harness and Seip mounds shows the great 

 advantage of the communal plan of the former. In the use of individ- 

 ual prepared graves, as in the Harness mound, or in the Seip mound 

 where the graves occasionally were enlarged so as to hold as many as 

 four cremated bodies, the available space soon would be exhausted, 

 while under the communal plan the number of cremations that could 

 be placed in one depository was limited only by its size. Additional 

 depositories, moreover, could easily be constructed, making the 

 Tremper mound plan of burial much superior. 



Estimated Number of Cremations. — There is no way of ascertain- 

 ing exactly the number of dead contained in the four depositories of 

 the Tremper mound. The bulk of ashes and charred bones was 

 computed at twenty-five cubic feet, which, allowing one-fifteenth of 

 a cubic foot to each burial, would represent the cremation of three 

 hundred and seventy-five individuals. No doubt this is far short of 

 the total number of dead cremated, as the floor of the charnelhouse 

 was strewn with ashes and fragments of charred human bones. 



An individual cremated burial was found in the room containing 

 the great cache, and is shown as No. 24 in figure 2. This burial 

 appears to have been of considerable importance, as it was placed in 

 the angle formed by the joining of two walls, and a row of small 

 posts placed around it. A second individual cremated burial was 

 found in this room, about two and one-half feet above the floor. 

 With the charred remains was a flint spearpoint, six inches long. A 

 feature peculiar to the Tremper mound was the finding of cremated 

 burials beneath the floor. These are shown as 12 and 13 in figure 2. 

 The two graves were three and one-half feet deep, the floors being the 

 surface of the undisturbed sandstone strata underlying the site. 

 Their dimensions were 7 feet long and 3 feet wide, and 7 feet long 



[343] 



