1 86 The American Naturalist. [March, 
east, or largest mound, is thirty feet in diameter, and was orig- 
inally two feet high (so reported by Mr. Sharkey, who first 
cleared, and still owns the tract) although owing to degradation 
by the plow now rises only one and one half feet above the 
surface of the ground surrounding the mound. The two re- 
maining mounds are smaller and lower than the first one. The 
third mound — there may be some slight doubt expressed re- 
garding its origin, for the reason that in the south portion of it 
there is imbedded a drift bowlder, weighing some seven or 
eight hundred pounds. This, however, may have been placed 
here by human hands in the long ago, or the mound may have 
been an intrusion upon the stone, A partial exploration of 
the two smaller mounds was made, but without discovering 
anything. 
In making a thorough exploration of the larger mound, 
however, the remains of five human bodies were found, the 
bones, even those of the fingers, toes, etc., being, for the most 
part, in a good state of preservation. First, a saucer or bowl- 
shaped excavation had been made, extending down three and 
three-fourths feet below the surface of the ground around the 
mound, and the bottom of this macadamized with gravel and 
fragments of limestone. In the centre of this floor, five bodies 
were placed in a sitting posture, with the feet drawn under 
them, and apparently facing the north. First above the bodies 
was a thin layer of earth ; next above this was nine inches of 
earth and ashes, among which was found two or three small 
pieces of fine-grained charcoal. Nearly all the remaining 
four feet of earth had been changed to a red color by the long 
continued action of fire. 
All the material of the mound, above and around the bodies, 
had been made so hard that it was with great difficulty that an 
excavation could be made even with the best of tools. The 
soil around the bodies had been deeply stained by the decom- 
position of the flesh. The first (west) body was that of an 
averaged sized woman in middle life. Six inches to the east of 
this was the skeleton of a babe. To the north, and in close 
proximity to the babe, were the remains of a large, aged, in- 
dividual, apparently that of a man. To the east and south of 
the babe were the bodies of two young, though adult persons. 
The bones of the woman, in their detail of structure, indicated 
a person of low grade, the evidence of unusual muscular devel- , 
opment being strongly iparked. The skull of this person- 
age was a wonder to behold, it equaling, if not rivaling in 
some respects, in inferiority of grade, the famous " Neanderthal 
