Burial Mounds of the Northern Sections of the United StatesThomas, Cyrus
History
Burial Mounds of the Northern Sections of the United States
Thomas, Cyrus
Indians of North America -- Funeral customs and rites; Mounds -- United States; Wyandot Indians
Mound 21 of Group C was about 4 feet high and 50 in diameter.
It proved to be made entirely of the sandy loam of the
immediate vicinity. The remains of five skeletons were
discovered at different points in the lower portion of the
mound. The bones were nearly all reduced to dust, and only a
fragment here and there could be saved. There was not a single
relic found with the skeletons, and a few flint chips and a
broken arrow-head were the only artificial objects found in the
earth composing the mound. The condition of the bones showed
considerable antiquity, but their advanced decay and friability
were probably largely due to the character of the soil in which
they were enclosed. The position of the skeletons rather goes
to show that the several bodies were buried at different times,
and that the mound was gradually constructed as the burials
took place. For the present we are inclined to consider this
mound, with some others in the valley, as a place of sepulcher
by tribes of a more recent time than the builders of the
earthworks of the Turner group.
Mound No. 22 proved to be of a more interesting character than
the last. This mound was 14 feet high and about 100 in
diameter. It was composed of pure clay, except in the central
portion. Five feet from the top there was found a hard mass of
burnt earth and ashes, 7 feet deep and a little over 9 feet in
width and length. Resting on top of this, about in the center,
and covered in part by the overlying clay, lay a large stone
celt. A foot below this, in the burnt material, was a stone
implement perforated at its upper end. Below this, at points
several feet apart, in the burnt mass, were three holes or
pockets, each of which contained the remains of portions of
human skeletons, surrounded by a thin layer of clay. Near the
bones in the lowest pocket were three spear-heads or chipped
points. A few potsherds and several flint chips were found
throughout the burnt mass. Under it was a circular bed of black
soil and ashes, 13 inches thick in the center and 14 feet in
diameter, beneath which was a layer of fine sand and gravel, 3
inches thick, which covered another circular bed of black soil
and ashes, 14 inches thick in the center and 15 feet in
diameter. Directly under the center of this lower layer was a
pit 4 feet deep and 10 feet 4 inches long, 4 feet wide at the
ends and 3 feet 5 inches wide at the center. This pit probably
had contained a wooden structure, as its sides showed rough
striations, as if large logs had once rested against them. The
pit had been dug in the drift gravel upon which the mound was
built, and was nearly filled with soft, spongy ashes mixed with
a reddish substance. Extended at full length at the bottom of
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