No. 6. A pit 2-1/2 feet deep and 2 feet square, with a bed of charcoal in the bottom 6 inches deep. On this bed was a layer of flint chips, and on the chips a quantity of broken pottery, animal bones, a discoidal stone, and a bone implement. No. 7. A grave similar to those described. No. 8. A large grave, containing three skeletons, lying at full length upon the right side, with the heads a little east of north. Between the front and the middle one was a mass of mussel shells. At the head and back of the front one were a number of animal bones, and between it and the middle one, opposite the pelvis, was a large broken pot. The right arm of the third or back one was extended forward and upward, the left arm resting across the head, a white flint chip grasped in the hand. The head of this skeleton was resting on a piece of a broken pot, and in front of the face, at the distance of a foot, was also part of a pot, containing a stone fragment and some animal bones. Under the legs of the three skeletons, the head extending in front of the legs of the third or back one, was the skeleton of a bear, and in front of the latter were three broken pots, containing animal bones. [Illustration FIG. 34.--Fire-bed, Wilkes County, North Carolina.] No. 9. A basin-shaped fire-bed, or bed of burnt clay, 8 inches thick. A section of this bed is shown in Fig. 34--_b_, _b_, _b_, the bed of burnt clay, 8 inches thick, the material evidently placed here and not a part of the original soil. The basin _a_ was filled with ashes, to the depth of 12 inches; the diameter, from 1 to 2, 2 feet 3 inches, from 1 to 3 and from 2 to 4, 1 foot 6 inches. No. 10. A bed of mussel shells, 3 inches thick and 3 feet in diameter, lying on a flat bed of burnt earth 3 inches thick. No. 11. A pit 5 feet deep and 3 feet in diameter, filled with animal bones, mussel shells, and broken pottery. There was no mounding over any of these graves or pits. The basin-shaped fire-bed, No. 9, reminds us very strongly of the so-called altars of the Ohio mounds, and may possibly assist us in arriving at a correct conclusion concerning these puzzling structures. A mound opened by Dr. J. M. Spainhour in Burke County, some years ago, presents some variations, though, so far as the posture and relative positions of the skeletons are concerned, reminding us of those in Caldwell County. The following extract is from the article containing the description:[39] Digging down I struck a stone about 18 inches below the surface, which was found to be 18 inches long and 16 inches wide and from 2 to 3 inches in thickness, the corners rounded. It rested on solid earth and had been smoothed on top.