1919] BARRETT AND HAWKES, KRATZ CREEK MOUNDS. 59 



mound was brought very slightly above the surface, as was the 

 case with some of the other low bear mounds in the adjacent woods. 



The stratification of the burial pit was unique, not only as a 

 separate stratification within a mound, but for the large number of 

 unburned offerings represented by many dark earth streaks. It 

 contained four pairs of alternate bands of dark brown earth and 

 light gray mottled sand above the burial ; then came the burial in- 

 cased in a hard-packed, brown earth ; and underneath it, four more 

 dark earth streaks interspersed in a bed of gray ash. This ash prob- 

 ably represented the remains of a fire built in the pit, possibly for 

 purposes of purification, before the burial was laid down. 



The burial itself was that of two infants, possibly twins, which 

 were laid in each others arms. The skeletons were much decom- 

 posed, affording little additional data. The date of this burial was 

 certainly later than that of the construction of the bear mound, and 

 previous to the superimposing of the panther mound. It may have 

 been done by the last surviving remnant of these mound builders, 

 who took this hasty but convenient method of disposing of their 

 dead in a mound already built. 



One unusual feature of this mound is the absence of fire in it, 

 except as above noted in the burial pit. Almost all of the other 

 older bear mounds show several fires along the top of the mound 

 and all the panthers were built with one or more fire strata in the 

 mound and always with a great crowning fire layer on top of the 

 mound. The absence of fire in connection with this mound is, 

 therefore, very extraordinary. In the bear this may be due to its 

 having been left incomplete and in the panther to the evident haste 

 of construction above alluded to. 



Mound No. 6 is a small conical, situated at the end of the tail 

 of the superimposed panther mound, No. 5. It had nearly the same 

 stratification as that of the tail of the panther. It was 14 feet in 

 diameter, and had an absolute elevation above mean lake level of 

 20.78 feet, or 1.1 feet above the surface level. It probably had no 

 special significance, except perhaps as a "marker" to delimit the 

 outline of the panther's tail. 



Mound No. 7 was a small conical situated against the hind 

 leg of the panther effigy. It had an absolute elevation above 

 mean lake level of 21.28 feet, or 1.8 feet above the surrounding 

 ground. On account of its evident close relation to the panther 

 and bear mound, it has been considered, like No. 6, along with it. 



