ARCHEOLOGY. 53 



points, and to keep the face or bank in front of the diggers vertical and 

 in straight line from side to side. This is most easily accomplished by 

 undermining with picks and breaking the bank down from the top, tak- 

 ing off a section about a foot in width each time. When a skeleton is 

 reached, the earth should be removed from around and above it until the 

 bones are completely uncovered before being disturbed, in order that the 

 method of burial may be ascertained. In all cases the exact distance and 

 direction of every object from the center should be observed, as well as 

 its height from the bottom if found in the body of the mound. Full 

 notes should be constantly made, and a detailed account of the entire 

 work written in a manner so clear that from it a restoration or model of 

 the mound could be made if desired. This rule should be observed in 

 all excavations. 



The same plan could be followed in mounds which from any cause 

 have been reduced in altitude with a corresponding increase in breadth; 

 except that instead of the work beginning at the margin, it may com- 

 mence on the line to which the mound probably reached when made, and 

 be extended toward either side to the same limits. A convenient method 

 in such mounds is to mark off concentric rings five feet in breadth around 

 the center, undermining and entirely removing the outer one first, and 

 proceeding in the same way successively with the others. 



In large mounds where it would be inconvenient or dangerous to 

 work with a bank of such height as would result from carrying out the 

 above suggestions, it is well to cut off the upper half before attacking 

 the lower; or to take off a layer of uniform thickness from the entire 

 surface, leaving a core of the same shape as the original structure, but 

 smaller, which can be examined as first described. If desirable, more 

 than one layer can thus be removed. If the mound is built up in strata, 

 either curved or horizontal, these can be taken off in regular order, and a 

 separate description given of each. 



When practicable, careful drawings or photographs, should be made of 

 the entire ground plan; also of the vertical sections at short intervals or 

 wherever they present anything worthy of special notice. When nothing 

 better is to be had, sketches with numerous measurements which may be 

 re-drawn later, are desirable. 



The systematic exploration of a cemetery or village-site requires such 

 an expenditure of labor and money that it cannot be attempted except by 

 persons or institutions having ample funds. A trench should be dug 

 entirely across the area to be examined, deep enough to reach below the 

 level at which the site was abandoned. This will be sufficient to expose 

 whatever was left on the original surface, and at the same time show, by the 

 different color or density of the earth, any grave, pit, cache, barbecue-hole, 

 or other excavation that may have been made by the natives. The work 

 should progress at this level as far as the remains extend; the thickness 



