skull, this was probably a woman. Those bones which extended upward into the hard dirt are in an excellent state of preservation.

FIG. 13. Spear-head and knives, from mound near Naples, Ill.

Those in contact with the sand were much decayed. The skull was broken to pieces; yet with patience it was restored. The bones, both of the

skull and other parts of the skeleton, are clean and white-even the spongy ends of the femora and other bones being perfect.

Resting against the skull of this skeleton, with the point downwards, was found a fine wrought bone awl (Fig 15, a). Unfortunately the point was broken off, and it was probably deposited in the mound in the condition in which it was found. The portion recovered was probably placed in the hand of the person at the time of burial. This awl, together with five or six others of somewhat similar character found in the same

FIG. 14. Pipe and flaked ornament, from mound near Naples, Ill.

mound, were all made of the metatarsal bones of the elk (Cervus canadensis). The one marked a in Fig 15, is 9 inches long, and was, when

a.

b. Head of same; full size.

FIG. 15. Bone awl, from mound near Naples Ill.

perfect, about 10 inches long. The metatarsal bone was split down through the center and the implement made of one of the halves. It is

FIG. 16. Bone awl, from mound near Naples, Ill.

finely polished and is so well preserved that, with the point restored, it would be as useful an implement as it was the day it was manufactured. Around the circumference of the lower end are cut twenty-six notches. The part of the bone selected for these implements and the method of

their manufacture are shown in Fig. 17, which represents the end of

was driven into the opening at the end, and the bone split in two along the middle line, each half afterward being converted into an implement by scraping and rubbing. Ten or twelve of these large bone awls were

FIG. 17. Bone of elk, from mound near Naples, Ill. found in mound No. 1, sticking in the sand around a single skeleton. One of these is painted red and retains its brilliant color.

A small bone awl, represented in the following cut, half size, was found in mound No. 15.

FIG. 18. Bone awl, from mound near Naples, Ill.

Lying at right angles to the two skeletons already described in mound No. 3 were six or eight others, all with their feet to the west, except one, which was at least 15 inches below the surface sand, stretched out at full length, with the head to the northwest and feet to the southeast. No object of any kind was found with these skeletons. The bones were greatly decayed, and the skulls so far gone as to render the fragments almost worthless for any scientific purposes. The posterior portions had been much distorted, probably by the pressure of the earth. The fragmentary frontal of one bone is remarkable for the heavy superciliary ridges and retreating forehead, while another has the bone of the nose almost perfect, showing the feature to have been very prominent. The latter specimen is very similar in this particular to Fig. 65 in Foster's "Prehis toric Races." The comparison of the Dunleith mound skull with the Neanderthal skull in that figure seems to be very unfair to the former. By elevating the posterior portion of the fragment until the skull assumes a normal position, the difference between it and the Neanderthal specimen will be found to be very great.

No animal bones or fragments of them were found, and no evidence of any funeral feast or any funeral ceremony in which fire was used. Mound No. 4 was opened by sinking a shaft about 8 feet square in the center several feet below the original surface. Nothing was found but a few fragmentary human bones greatly decayed and one fine, white chert arrow-point, rep. resented in the following figure (half size):

Mound No. 5 was opened but nothing found. The earth in mound No. 4 was of the same character as that in No. 3. The oval mound, No. 1, was explored in April, 1881 by beginning a trench at the north end and carrying it to the original surface and through to the south end. Lateral FIG. 19. Chert ar trenches were opened at intervals, and from these and the main one a complete exploration was made by tunneling.

Near the center of the mound a single skeleton was found in a sitting position, and no objects were about it except a single sea-shell resting in the earth just over the head, and a number of the bone awls already described sticking in the sand around the skeleton. The individual had been seated upon the sand, these awls stuck around him in a circle, 4 or 5 inches in the sand, and the work of carrying dirt began. When the mound had been elevated about 6 inches above the head, the shell was laid on and the work continued. Although the many perfect bone implements found in this mound fully repaid the expense and labor of exploration, some disappointment was felt, since, from the size and beauty of outline of the mound, we expected some fine discoveries in the way of pipes, copper axes, &c. This mound was raised to about the height of 6 feet with hard clay, and then finished with sand. The skeleton was about 10 feet below the surface. The shell, a fine specimen of Pyrula perversa with the inner whorls removed, so as to be used for a drinking cup, is represented in the following figure:

FIG. 20. Pyrula drinking-cup, from mound near Naples, Ill.

Mound No. 6, upon the river bank, is the finest in the vicinity. It is a truncated cone, about 136 feet in diameter at the base, 15 feet high, and 30 feet across the top. It is perfectly symmetrical, and from the success in the mounds upon the high ground great hopes were entertained of this, though the anticipations were not realized, yet what was found and the information we obtained fully paid the expense of opening the mound. The character of the earth was the same as that found in mound No. 3, but still much harder. More than once the workmen had to take their steel picks to the blacksmith shop and have them dressed. It was impossible to use the spade or shovel until the original surface was struck. These mounds were intended as enduring monuments to the dead, and for that reason were not built of the surface loam, or sand, which would soon be destroyed by washing, but of clay, and no doubt a part of the workmen engaged in their erection were employed in carrying water and pouring it on the mound as the work progressed. This, with the constant tramping, would account for the hardness of the material. At a depth of 7 or 8 feet, bits of rude pot.

tery were encountered now and then all the way down to the base of the mound. None were found of sufficient size to indicate the form of the vessels, but, as they undoubtedly were made by the people who built this mound, they were carefully preserved. The material and appearance of these specimens are precisely those of specimens found in an old aboriginal cemetery on the bank of the river nearly opposite the mouth of McGee's Creek. (See plat, Fig. 1.) The outer edge of one pot was ornamented with slight notches made by pressing a stick or some other object into the soft clay. Judging from the fragment there was no other ornamentation on this vessel. Upon the inside, about three-fourths of an inch from the top, at intervals of about 1 inch, holes were made nearly through the vessel, not far enough, however, to cause any elevation of the corresponding portion upon the outer surface, as is the case in another fragment from this mound. The latter is ornamented with an oblong imprint similar to those in Fig. 22, c. Another piece from this mound shows a part of some figure traced upon the surface, but the fragment is too small to determine what it was. When near the base of this mound the men encountered a skeleton extended at full length with the head to the southeast. The bones were so greatly decayed that not even the fragments could be removed.

No moisture having ever penetrated to the base of this mound since its erection, the condition of these bones, as compared with those from mound No. 3, was looked upon as an indication of the greater age of the former. Even the molars were so decayed that they could be crushed between the finger and thumb. Yet the fallacy of such testimony, so often quoted by explorers, was fully demonstrated by finding in the sand below the base of this mound a perfect skull. A shaft about 10 feet square was sunk to the original surface, but, except the scraps of pot tery and the skeleton referred to, nothing was found. The surface line was sharply defined as the mound was made of dark-colored clay, built on a plain of red sand. Upon encountering this red sand it was decided to explore the whole base of the mound by tunneling, which was done thoroughly by one of my men who was a coal-miner. With a little lamp upon his cap, and with short shovel and pick, he went everywhere in the sand under the base of the mound, at the same time chipping off from a foot to 18 inches of the clay roof over his head. By so doing it was found that at intervals of from 6 to 8 feet all over the base of the mound, for a space of 30 feet in diameter, there were pockets of ashes in the sand; that is, a hole about 2 feet wide was scooped out to the depth of about 8 inches and filled with ashes. In these ash heaps were found numerous fragments of bone, many of them split in that peculiar manner practiced by savage man everywhere, for the purpose of obtaining the marrow. In these ash beds were also found a humerus of the wild turkey and about half of the skull of a skunk. In the sand near one of these ash beds was a human skull almost perfect but quite fragile. By the exercise of great care in handling it was washed and