1919] BARRETT AND HAWKES, KRATZ CREEK MOUNDS. 91 



Some preliminary digging by Mr. L. J. Dartt, in mound No. 50, 

 disclosed human bones, so that a complete excavation of the mound 

 was made. Much the same stratification was encountered as in the 

 simpler mounds in the main sub-group on the other side of the 

 creek. These strata were as follows: 



Surface loam 22.64 



Burial 21.04 



Fire remains 20.84 



Fine yellow sand 19.84 



Altar 1874 



Bottom of Mound: 

 Red clay hardpan 18.64 



The burial was that of a child, but the bones were so badly de- 

 composed that only a few fragments of the skull and some ribs 

 were recovered. This was in spite of the fact that the mounds 

 were situated on a high sandy bluff and consequently well drained. 



At the head of the child had been placed a large pot filled with 

 food or some other like offering. The crushed fragments of this 

 pot as they lay in position indicated that it was a vessel of consid- 

 erable size, since they measured 8 by 10 inches. 



The altar, which measured 20 by 30 inches, was built of small 

 smooth stones, like those in the larger conicals in the first line of 

 old mounds in the main sub-group. Like these also, it sug- 

 gested that it had been built in animal form, being somewhat 

 like the outline of the bear mounds. (See plate XVIII, fig. 1.) 

 Some archaic flaked points had been deposited on the top of the 

 altar. 



This was the only infant's burial found in this group of mounds, 

 except the double burial in the low bear mound (No. 5) which had 

 been covered by a later panther effigy and was evidently also of 

 extreme age; and that of the abnormal individual, evidently an 

 infant or small child found in mound No. 41 at the other extreme 

 of this group of mounds. 



