1919] BARRETT AND HAWKES, KRATZ CREEK MOUNDS. 19 



work in a few days or weeks without any particular ceremonial ob- 

 servance. In other words there is every reason to believe that the 

 builders of these mounds went about this task with the same cere- 

 monial and ritualistic circumspection that would characterize the 

 methods of the present day Indians were they to undertake such a 

 work in connection with the disposition of their dead. 



From the evidence found in the Kratz Creek group, it would 

 appear that the several intaglios formerly in this state, were ap- 

 parently only unfinished panther mounds 11 . The most striking in- 

 stance of an intaglio being used as the foundation for a cameo is 

 that of the panther mound, No. 3, shown in figure 5, in which the 

 excavation extended from about two feet below the surrounding 

 surface at the head of the mound to a few inches below the surface 

 at its tail. This excavation had practically the same form, and ap- 

 proximately the same size as the finished mound. The shoulder po- 

 sition of this mound held three very carefully placed burials, show- 

 ing its definite purpose. These are illustrated in plate V. The 

 shoulder and hip positions were considerably deeper than the re- 

 mainder of the body, which was in turn deeper than the legs and 

 tail. In substantiation of the theory that the intaglio was used reg- 

 ularly as a base for the cameo it should be noted that the Fort 

 Atkinson panther intaglio shows precisely this same condition and 

 was in all probability to be filled in and finished as were the panthers 

 of the Kratz Creek group had the work not been interrupted. 



In another instance, that of the "rabbit" mound, No. 9, shown 

 in figure 11, a fairly deep excavation at either end decreased in depth 

 to about zero at the middle of the mound, producing what we may 

 term a half intaglio form as its foundation. These deeper excava- 

 tions at the two ends held burials. 



Still another and perhaps even more interesting mound struc- 

 ture is that of the panther effigy, No. 5, shown in figure 9, in plate 

 VI and in plate VII, fig. 1. As has been mentioned, in this mound 

 the original excavation or intaglio was in the form of a bear and 

 much smaller than the superposed panther. The stratification here 

 showed that this original bear intaglio had been filled in with care- 

 fully placed strata to a point very slightly above the level of the 

 surrounding land, producing perhaps a mound like one of the low 

 bear forms found in other parts of this group. 



11 Nine such intaglio structures, all of them of the panther form, are on record. All of 

 these have been destroyed except one which is now preserved as a state park at Fort 

 Atkinson, Wisconsin. 



