Page:Anthropology.djvu/11

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10
MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS RELATING TO ANTHROPOLOGY.

Near the northwest corner of section 18, township 55, range 6 west, is an isolated conical hill, called the "Bound Knob." Its crest is a narrow ridge about 150 yards long, on which are four mounds. The northern one was much the largest, and forty years ago portions of a dry wall still were standing, 4 to 5 feet in height. Human remains were found in all these mounds.

In section 24, northeast quarter, township 55, range 7, and on the opposite side (the left) of the river, is a similar but smaller hill, called "Wilson's Knob." Its crest is about 120 feet long, completely covered with stone to the depth of several feet, the pile being about 20 feet wide. On examination, made recently, it was found to have been originally a row of burial-places, nine in number, circular in form, each from 8 to 9 feet in diameter (inner measure), contiguous to each other. The remains of the walls still stand to the height of about 20 inches. Judging from appearances, it would seem that each had been of a conical or dome-like form. They were composed wholly of stone, and the remains found in them were almost wholly decomposed.

On the top of an opposite ridge to the west is another row, four in number, similar to those just described, except that the cists are square instead of circular, the sides being equal to the diameter of the former. In these also only small fragments of bones could be found. These last have been examined within a few days.

On the left bank of the river, about 1 mile below the "Round Knob" above referred to, are what are known as "The Painted Rocks," a number of rough representations of the human figure, about 20 inches in height. They are drawn on the face of the bluff, which overhangs so as to afford almost complete protection from the weather. This bluff rises 180 to 200 feet above the bed of the stream, and these drawings are 60 or 70 feet below the top. At the foot of the bluff are large masses of fallen rock and earth, filling up between the river and the bluff, and rising within 30 feet of the drawings. The central human figure is somewhat larger than the others, who are represented as approaching him in Indian file.

A single mound was found on the northwest corner of the southwest quarter section 12, township 55, range 7, on the point of a secondary ridge, near a small northern tributary of Salt River. It contained two skeletons, one with the head east, the other west. Beneath one of these a trench had been dug and filled up with stone, on which flat stone had been laid, and on which last the body had been placed.