1919] BARRETT AND HAWKES, KRATZ CREEK MOUNDS. 27 



almost a straight line with the trunk, while in the one shown in 

 figs. 2 and 3 of this same plate the legs have the same sharp flexure 

 but are placed at about right angles to the body. 



Burials in the effigy mounds show a flexure which could have 

 been accomplished without binding, since there is in each instance 

 a considerable angle between the lower and upper portions of the 

 leg. Several variations in the position of the legs in relation 

 to the trunk were found, but the main one was at about right 

 angles to the body. See plate V. 



BURIALS OF PARTLY CREMATED REMAINS 



The separate burial of partly cremated bones occurs in the same 

 mounds where the burials in the flesh are found. As above men- 

 tioned, they are attended by the same careful stratification of sacri- 

 ficial earths and fires as are the regular burials in the flesh. 



This whole custom of partial cremation forms a curious transi- 

 tion between total cremation and burial, and may possibly repre- 

 sent the grafting of the one custom upon the other. It might also 

 represent an ancient custom which was decadent but which was 

 ceremonially reproduced as a purification rite. 



BUNDLE RE-BURIALS 



The bundle re-burial of forty-five skeletons unearthed in 

 the large conical mound, shown in plate XIII, was perhaps the 

 most impressive find in these excavations. Four views of this mass 

 of re-burials are shown in plates XIV and XV. Evidently, in this 

 instance, the original burials had been in trees or on scaffolds, and, 

 as was still customary among certain tribes within historic times, 

 when the flesh had decomposed and only the bones remained they 

 were collected and buried in some sacred ground. An interesting fea- 

 ture of this large cache or ossuary is that these bones were brought 

 together and made into bundles, each containing the bones of from 

 two to four individuals. The bones were not kept in the natural 

 order but were simply bundled together, carefully wrapped, and the 

 bundles placed in regular order in a large rectangular excavation. 

 The excavation itself extended about three feet below the surround- 

 ing land level and was prepared with great care, the bottom being- 

 covered with a fairly thick stratum of bright yellow sacrificial sand. 



