times by myself, have
shown that only fragments of skulls and of the long bones of the
body are to be found in the mound, and that these are commonly
associated with earthen pots, sometimes whole, but more frequently
broken fragments only. In some instances portions of the skull were
placed in a pot, and the long bones were deposited in its immediate
vicinity. Again, the pots would contain only sand, and fragments of
bones would be found near them. The most successful "find" I made
was a whole nest of pots, to the number of half a dozen, all in a
good state of preservation, and buried with a fragment of skull,
which I take, from its small size, to have been that of a female.
Whether this female was thus distinguished above all others buried
in the mound by the number of pots deposited with her remains
because of her skill in the manufacture of such ware, or by reason
of the unusual wealth of her sorrowing husband, must remain a matter
of conjecture. I found, altogether, fragments of skulls and
thigh-bones belonging to at least fifty individuals, but in no
instance did I find anything like a complete skeleton. There were no
vertebrae, no ribs, no pelvic bones, and none of the small bones of
the hands and feet. Two or three skulls, nearly perfect, were found,
but they were so fragile that it was impossible to preserve them. In
the majority of instances, only fragments of the frontal and
parietal bones were found, buried in pots or in fragments of pots
too small to have ever contained a complete skull. The conclusion
was irresistible that this was not a burial-place for _the bodies_
of deceased Indians, but that the bones had been gathered from some
other locality for burial in this mound, or that cremation was
practiced before burial, and the fragments of bone not consumed by
fire were gathered and deposited in the mound. That the latter
supposition is the correct one I deem probable from the fact that in
digging in the mound evidences of fire are found in numerous places,
but without any regularity as to depth and position. These evidences
consist in strata of from one to four inches in thickness, in which
the sand is of a dark color and has mixed with it numerous small
fragments of charcoal.

My theory is that the mound was built by gradual accretion in the
following manner: That when a death occurred a funeral pyre was
erected on the mound, upo