Page:Anthropology.djvu/35

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.
34
MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS RELATING TO ANTHROPOLOGY.

sided. From the appearance of the earth one would be strongly inclined to believe that the fire in this instance had been one of unusual intensity. From the position of the skulls with reference to one another, the feet of one body would reach to the head of the next, if laid at full length. One of the skulls was rather thinner than those we usually find in other mounds. Some of the teeth evidently belonged to a person of great age, while others were very small, but I cannot say that they belonged to an infant. The skulls were in fragments, the largest piece obtained being about 2 inches square.

On another hog-back, east of the one described, commencing on section 12, township 11, range 4 east, and extending across the northwest corner of section 7, township 11, range 5, and also some distance on section 6, township 11, are thirteen common round mounds, varying in height from 18 inches to 5 feet. As far as examined these are burial mounds, and nineteen skeletons were found in one of them. This mound was 45 feet in diameter and 5 feet high. The bones in it were in a fair state of preservation. I opened four or five of this group, and in each were found pieces of trap-rock from 1½ to 2 inches square, pieces of burnt §and-rock, and small water- worn pebbles, which I suppose to be jasper or something of that character, and in the largest mound was discovered a very small fragment of red pottery.

On the high bluff between Spoon River and Walnut Creek, on the south line of the southeast quarter section 6, township 11 north, range 56, are three mounds of some importance. The first is a common round mound, 3½ feet high, with a base diameter of 40 feet. This mound is three rods north of the sectional line between sections 6 and 7, and 60 rods west of the east line of section 6. (The land is owned by Henry Jaques.) I opened this mound at the apex, and at a depth of 2 feet found quite an amount of ashes, also one piece of trap-rock of irregular shape, and about the size of a small boy's head; also a honestone arrow point of the leaf-shape pattern. Eight feet east of this is a mound 62 feet long and 19 feet wide, with the greatest length from southwest to northeast. I made a cross cut of this mound at the middle, and in the center found a bed of charcoal, 10 inches deep, intermingled with ashes. I also made an opening near the east end and found nothing. Twenty rods east of this, on the sectional line, is an oblong mound, measuring 64 feet from west to east, and 47 feet from north to south, with an apparent height, above the surrounding level, of 3 feet. I made an opening in the center of this mound, 4£ feet in diameter, and at a depth of 2 feet I found some ashes and fragments of stone which had been polished, and 3 inches of yellow clay. This clay has the appearance of having been rammed or packed while in a plastic state. Below the clay is a thin stratum of red paint, and below the paint were ashes and paint intermingled. In this material were found fourteen arrow points made of honestone, all of the leaf pattern except one, and this was 3 J inches long, with notches at the base, and had the appearance of having been used;