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Cincinnati Society of Natural History. 



undressed oak logs, and one was one foot and three-quarters in diameter. 

 Four short pieces of logs were set upright at each corner, and served to 

 lock and strengthen the whole. The top had originally been made of split 

 staves about six feet long, four inches wide, and two and a half inches 

 thick. All the wood had almost completely decayed. A few chunks were 

 taken out with that peculiar red color so often seen in logs in a forest, 

 which are so far decomposed that they are falling to pieces. The vault 

 contained the skeleton of a man about six and a half feet high, lying with 

 his feet to the east and head toward the west. On the south side of the 

 body, nine stone arrow-points were found. About the wrists a few dozen 

 sea shells, and around the neck, and extending over the chest and below, 

 was a string of beads made of parts of the conch shell. Nothing further 

 was found. The floor of the vault was covered to the depth of two and a 

 half inches, throughout its entire area, with very black soil, the evident 

 product of the decay of the organic matter of the body, together with that 

 resulting from what was placed in the vault along with the skeleton, not 

 including the wood. Careful search was made for hair, cloth and other 

 fragile articles of wear, but none were found. The skeleton itself was 

 badly decayed, and only a few fragments of it were saved after the greatest 

 care, patience and difficulty. 



The Articles found in the Vault. 



A brief consideration of various things found in this vault, or ancient 

 sepulchre, seems appropriate now. 



The arrow-points present many points of difference ; they vary in length, 

 in the form of the cutting edges (some being straight, others curved), in 

 the beveling and in the degree of skill which is manifested in their manu- 

 facture. This last point is called to your special notice, for it has been a 

 reasonable presumption that a difference of skill was a proof that man im- 

 proved in art as he progressed in civilization and experience ; and, there 

 fore, the one who made and used the ruder weapon was more ignorant than 

 the one who made and used better weapons. It is probable that very great 

 differences of skill could be relied upon as presumptive evidence of differ- 

 ent people, with different skill, living at different ages, and so on. It will 

 also be equally apparent to those of you who examine these specimens, 

 that came from the same grave, that it is only when these differences in 

 skill are very marked, that any such conclusion could be drawn. 



It is also a very interesting fact that all the nine stone points found to- 

 gether in the vault, had the peculiar square barbs, and that the piece 

 which extends backward from between the barbs on both sides, is made 



