1919] BARRETT AND HAWKES, KRATZ CREEK MOUNDS. 25 



mainder of the skeleton in as perfect condition as were the bones 

 of regular burials in the flesh. Furthermore, these partly burned 

 remains were buried with the same care and attended by the same 

 ceremonial stratification as was customary with burials in the flesh. 

 This lends color to the idea that this partial cremation was really 

 a preliminary ceremony to burial in the flesh. 



While the custom of human sacrifice is, as above stated, an as- 

 sumption, and is impossible of absolute proof, it is very stronglv 

 suggested by the presence of partly burned human remains directly 

 on altars. The partly cremated burials, on the other hand, were 

 placed in separate positions in the mounds as were burials in the 

 flesh. Further, in contrast to the carefully ordered deposition of 

 the partly burned remains, was the disorderly appearance of these 

 bones on the altars, evidently left as chance placed them. Such a 

 condition would obtain in the burning of human sacrifices, such as 

 slaves or prisoners of war, whose remains were not entitled to the 

 respect paid those of a regular member or dignitary of the tribe. 



Various possible explanations may be suggested for the occur- 

 rence of both cremation and burial in this group. Total cremation 

 may have been reserved for a special class in the tribe. On the other 

 hand, it may have been practiced by one of several tribes frequent- 

 ing this locality, or by certain clans, while contemporaneously other 

 tribes or clans practiced burial. Such divisions may have been de- 

 scended from different peoples with widely varying customs. A 

 third and more likely explanation may be found in the possible 

 chronological succession of tribes in this locality practicing these 

 two forms of disposition of the dead. 



BURIAL 



The forms of burial were five in number : 



1. Burial in the flesh. 



2. Burial of partly cremated remains. 



3. Bundle re-burial in an ossuary. 



4. Intruded burials. 



5. Intrusive burials. 



Original burials in conical mounds were, as a rule, near their 

 centers, as shown in fig. 2. In effigy mounds, on the other hand, 

 they were placed usually in the shoulder or sometimes in the hip 

 position of the animal figure, as shown in figs. 5, 9, and 11. 



