HOLMES ANNIVERSARY VOLUME 



and 5 feet wide respectively. The first grave, No. 12, contained only 

 a small amount of ashes and charred remains, and no artifacts of any 

 kind. The second grave contained, besides the cremated remains, 

 four copper ear-ornaments, mica cut into the form of crescents, a mica 

 effigy of the bear, and a small flint spearpoint. 



PRIMITIVE MASONRY 



A special feature of this grave was a wall of thin slabs of sand- 

 stone at the sides and ends of the grave, completely lining it, and 

 resulting in a vault-like receptacle with perpendicular walls. So far 

 as recorded this is the only instance of a regularly laid-up wall of 

 stone constructed by aboriginal man in Ohio. The wall was 2^ feet 

 high, built of flat pieces of sandstone, ranging from 1 inch to 3 inches 

 in thickness, and in length from 4 to 12 inches. 



FIREPLACES 



What might easily have been confused with the crematories of 

 the mound were two fireplaces, situated one in each of the more 

 northerly of the tier of rooms at the eastern end of the mound, and 

 shown in figure 2 as 4 and 7. That shown as 4 was situated in the 

 room where the great cache was found, and was surrounded by a 

 considerable space of level floor, unencumbered by interior posts. 

 The fireplace was three feet in diameter, and in the form of a basin, 

 four inches in depth, the earth being burned red for one foot below 

 its bottom. The basin contained no remains of human bones, but 

 instead charcoal and ashes in great quantities. The fireplace shown as 7 

 in figure 2, situated in the room with the great depository, was fully 

 four feet in diameter, circular in form, with a basin-like depression 

 at the center, four and one-half inches deep. It was filled with char- 

 coal and the earth beneath was burned red for fully one foot in depth. 

 This fireplace showed evidences of having been mended by plastering 

 the sides of the basin with puddled clay. 



The prominence of the location of these two fireplaces with respect 

 to the communal deposits of ashes and artifacts suggests that they 

 might have been dedicated to the sacred fire, which plays so im- 

 portant a part in the ceremonial observances of primitive peoples. 1 

 From the great depth to which the earth beneath them is burned, it 

 would appear that they were in use for a long time; while the amount 

 of charcoal contained therein would indicate that they were burning 

 at the time the construction of the mound was commenced. 



1 The Cherokee believed that a perpetual sacred fire burned beneath the mounds. 



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