1885.] Anthropology. 825 
ANTHROPOLOGY .! 
Burnt Cray 1n THE Mounps.—The earliest travelers among 
the Indians mention mounds with buildings on the top of them 
covered with earth. In the mounds which I have examined, 
wherever burnt clay has been found more or less ashes occur 
underneath, and the impress of grass, sticks, cane or poles plainly 
reveals itself in the burnt clay. These vegetable substances were 
needed to support the earthen roof of the dwelling. 
The dwellings of some modern Indians are built of poles, 
sticks and grass, covered thickly with mud. Upon the death of 
any of the inmates the house is burned down, and the framework 
= consuming partly bakes the clay and leaves its impress therein. 
The Pimos and Maricopas of the Gila river, with all of the Indians 
of the Colorado river, build winter and summer dwellings. The 
former are hemispherical and mud-covered, the latter is an open 
mud-covered shed. When these are burned down at death, the 
clay jis baked and appears just like that dug from many 
mounds. 
In many of the modern houses the earth is dug out in the cen- 
ter for a foot or more; this points to the reason for the pits found 
in the middle of mounds. Charred posts are found in mounds, 
the same phenomenon presents itself whenever a summer shed is 
consumed, 
In examining the celebrated ruins of adobe and stone houses 
in Arizona, it is found that they were destroyed by fire, burnt 
clay with impressions of sticks and poles being found in them. 
The examination of some mounds demonstrates the existence 
of buildings without clay covering. Now I have lately visited 
several Indian tribes who live in the hot season under sheds cov- 
ered with thatch, with merely earth enough above to keep the . 
twigs from blowing away. Now the burning down of such a 
shelter would leave only ashes and c ` 
Again, both houses are on the outside the receptacle of every- 
thing which the Indians wish to keep out of harm’s way, baskets, 
pottery, wattled granaries for corn, mezquit, &c. Now in some 
mounds I have found the pottery and other relics so curiously 
located as to leave little doubt in my mind of the burning of such 
a structure as I have just describe à 
The modern hut builder does not cover his consumed dwelling 
with a mound because the new arts taught by the white man and 
his new environment have taken away all necessity. Further- 
more the argument that the superior arts of the former Indians 
were associated with better houses for the artists is false. The 
finest works of modern art are produced in places no more ele- 
gant than the Pimo’s summer shed.—Zdward Palmer. 
1 Edited by Prof. Ors T. Mason, National Museum, Washington, D. C. 
k ‘ 
