Antiquities of central and southeastern Missouri / by Gerard Fowke.

  • Fowke, Gerard, 1855-1933.
Date:
1910
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Antiquities of central and southeastern Missouri / by Gerard Fowke. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    plane with these bones, lying 3 feet farther north, was a single frag- ment of a J ong bone. MOUND NO. 2 Mound no. 2, measuring 40 feet in diameter and 3 feet in height, stood 70 feet north of mound no. 1. A space 12 by 20 feet was cleared out around the center. A foot above the bottom, 6 feet southwest of the center, lay a skull. On the same level, a foot farther north, another skull was unearthed, while a foot higher, 4 feet west of the first, a third one came to light. To the north and west of these crania lay other bones. All were so soft as to be less coherent than the earth in which they were embedded; often only the color, or ash- like patches, remained. At the center a skull was found, and a foot to the south of it another one, both on the bottom. Accompanying the cranium last referred to was the crown of a molar, having cusps not at all worn; this was the only tooth found in the mound. MOUND NO. 3 Mound no. 3, situated 80 feet north of no. 2, was 40 by 45 feet and 5 feet high. Eight feet south of the center and 1J feet above the bot- tom a number of small flat rocks, laid in the same manner as a pave- ment, covered a space 1 by 2 feet. Beneath these, grayish-colored earth indicated a burial, probably that of an infant. Nothing else worthy of mention was found in the mound. MOUND NO. 4 Mound no. 4, which stood 70 feet from no. 3, was 25 feet in diam- eter and 2 feet in height. A number of small flat rocks, which had been plowed up, lay on top. On the bottom lay an extended adult skeleton 5 feet 8 inches long, with the head toward the north; the feet lay just east of the center. The bones of this skeleton were so soft that they adhered to the earth when it was removed; all the teeth had disappeared. A foot above the bottom, beginning at the center and extending east and south, was a layer of limestone slabs occupying a space 18 by 60 inches; nothing was found under them. MOUND NO. 5 Mound no. 5, 200 feet north of no. 4, measured 25 feet in diameter by 2 feet in height. From 6 to 8 feet south of the center, on the original surface, was a layer of stone slabs extending north of east by south of west 2 J by 5 feet (pi. 2). These formed the cover of a grave from 16 to 20 inches deep, in which were remains of either one or two infants, including part of a jaw in which the teeth had not come through the bone.