re no different layers or
stratifications in this case. In some cases, at least, the building
of such a mound occupied several years. We can see where the dirt was
thrown down in small quantities, averaging about a peck, as if from a
basket. In one case grass had started to grow on the unfinished surface
of the mound, to be covered up by fresh dirt.<24>

Illustration of Burial Mounds.-------------------

In the majority of cases the mounds contain the remains of but one
individual, with various relics of a rude and barbarous people. Where
but one body was buried, the usual mode of procedure seems to have been
to first clear a space on the surface of the ground; the body was then
placed in the center of this prepared place, and often a rude framework
of timber was placed around it, sometimes a stone chamber was built up.
Over this the mound was erected to the desired height. This description
would apply to nearly all of the many thousands of burial mounds in the
country.

In the cut a layer of charcoal is noticed near the top. Nearly all
mounds show evidence of the existence of fire during some period of
their construction. In some cases these fires were fierce and long
continued, as if the object had been to cremate the body. It may have
been a part of their religious belief that it was necessary to keep
fires blazing on the mound for a short length of time to keep off evil
spirits, or to comfort the soul of the departed. Such at any rate
was the custom among some Indian tribes. We are told that among the
Iroquois, a "fire was built upon the grave at night to enable the spirit
to prepare its food."<25>

In some cases, many individuals were buried in the same mound. These may
be communal burials, such as we have already referred to. Mounds of this
kind have been examined near Nashville, Tennessee. One mound alone was
the burial place of over two hundred persons. Pidgeon describes some
triangular burial mounds in Minnesota, differing in shape only from
the ordinary circular mounds that belong to this division. In general,
burial mounds are not very high, yet there are exceptions to this rule.

Illustration of Grave Creek Mound.-----------

This cut represents one of the largest of these mounds. It is situated
at the junction of Grave Creek and the Ohio River, twelve miles below
Wheeling, in West Virginia. It measures seventy feet in height, and its
base is nearly one thousand feet in circumference. An excava