Additional mounds of Duval and of Clay counties, Florida; Mound investigation on the east coast of Florida; Certain Florida coast mounds north of the St. Johns riverMoore, Clarence B. (Clarence Bloomfield)
History
Additional mounds of Duval and of Clay counties, Florida; Mound investigation on the east coast of Florida; Certain Florida coast mounds north of the St. Johns river
Moore, Clarence B. (Clarence Bloomfield)
Florida -- Antiquities; Mounds -- Florida
About 5 feet in from the southern margin and 1 foot, 8 inches from
the surface, unassociated with human remains, was a vessel of
heavy earthenware, unique so far as our experience extends. This
interesting vessel, entirely intact, consists of four irregular
compartments joined together on the same plane. From their point of
union a fifth compartment rises as shown in Plates I and II.
We are indebted to Professor Holmes for a sketch of a five-chambered
vessel about 5.25 inches square, from a mound in Franklin County,
Florida. The central compartment is not raised above the other
four, as is the case in our specimen, but is on the same plane and
surrounded by them. Various high authorities consulted by us express
ignorance of the discovery within the limits of the United States of
five-chambered vessels other than the two here recorded.
Nothing in these mounds gave any evidence of intercourse with the
Whites.
LOW MOUND AT MULBERRY GROVE, DUVAL COUNTY
About ten miles south of Jacksonville, on the west bank of the
St. Johns, is the estate of A. M. Reed, Esq., known as Mulberry
Grove. We are particularly indebted to Mr. Reed for permission to
investigate his mound inasmuch as it was under cultivation at the
time of our visit. The mound is reported to have been ploughed down
for thirty years and materially reduced in height. Its diameter of
base was 46 feet; its height, 2 feet.
A central excavation, 32 feet in diameter (and this, we think,
included the original mound) was carried through at a depth of about
5 feet. The mound was of brown sand, unstratified, and contained
great numbers of fireplaces with charcoal. The form of burial, with
one exception, was in anatomical order, about two dozen skeletons
being met with, all much decayed. The crania were also badly crushed.
About 2.5 feet from the surface was a heap of calcined human bones
with charcoal.
Some of the crumbling skeletons lay at a depth of 5 feet from the
surface.
Sherds were infrequent and probably of accidental introduction.
[Illustration: FIG. 3.—Earthenware vessel with incised decoration.
Mound at Mulberry Grove. (½ size.)]
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