POTTERY FROM MILES COUNTY 
57 
those shown in Figures 19 and 28 but its edge is cross marked 
with some sharp instrument such as a knife. The figures on 
pots 25, 27 and 29 were gouged as with a broken stick. Those 
in figure 27 are more distinct than in the specimen. 
The one hundred and twenty specimens referred to in this 
article comprise about one-third of the bulk of my collection. The 
rest have no markings by which to judge whence they came. I 
have never so much as counted them. 
Figure 1 shows a rough section of a mound I dug into September 
2, 1921. It is situated on the ridge west of Mr. Boyce’s house on 
Pony creek about one hundred yards south of a larger mound. 
It may be described as nearly circular, about eighteen inches or 
two feet high and twenty feet in diameter ; with a sort of moat 
four to six inches deep and six to eight feet wide almost sur- 
rounding it. A black hickory about seven inches in diameter 
stands on the inner edge of the moat at the northeast. A similar 
shell bark grows at the east, and a somewhat smaller scrub oak 
on the east brow of the mound. The whole area is well grown 
to weeds and deep with last year’s leaves. 
Toward the east edge the earth was solid and hard to dig 
although the top foot seemed to have been moved. In the mid- 
dle digging was easier and the earth was streaked with yellow 
clay. At a depth of about one foot I began to find charred, 
crumbling bones that seemed to be of limbs and skulls of 
men. No vertebrae were noted in the mound. From fifteen 
inches deep to twenty inches deep in the middle of the mound the 
clay was red from burning and the bones almost as close as they 
could be piled. Is this evidence of murder or human sacrifice 
by some Indian tribe? 
The first bones struck seemed to be two leg bones and the top 
plates of a skull as in the sign of death. These were blackened 
but not so badly burned. South of these were piles of absolutely 
mixed bones thoroughly burned. Around them were bones as of 
feet and fingers, bits of jaws and the crown of a human molar. 
I attempted to scratch this tooth thinking it might be metal and it 
fell to pieces like any thoroughly burned bone. 
I tried to dig out some bones with my knife but they were so 
soft that the knife cut them up as badly as the shovel. Most 
of the larger bones had been broken before being burned. Those 
about the edges and below twenty inches in depth were not so 
badly burned and were quite solid although brittle. The deposits 
