of pottery. There were no post holes, no indications of a fire bed, no
trace of a distinction between the mound and the soil below it. In
fact, except for the greater thickness of the superficial dark earth
there was no difference between the appearance of the face of the
excavation and that of a hole dug at random in the field.

The second mound was somewhat larger than the first, being 2 feet high
and 40 feet across, and at a little higher level toward the edge of
the field. It was the largest which could be excavated of this group.
As in the first mound opened, there was no worked object, if a small
flint flake be excepted; no ashes; no fire bed; no trace of
demarcation between the mound and the original surface of the ground,
though in each mound the excavation over the entire area was carried
down into the gravelly, hard-packed subsoil. Its artificial origin is
clearly proven, however, by four holes dug into the earth beneath it
before its construction. Nine feet a little north of the center, which
was assumed to be the highest point of the mound, was a hole (A) 12 by
14 inches and 14 inches deep, with a flat bottom, the sides as regular
as could be expected in hard soil dug out in primitive manner. Nine
feet west of the center was a hole (B) a foot across, 10 inches deep,
with a solid though somewhat irregular bottom. Near the center was a
conical hole (C) a foot deep and the same across the top. Four feet
from it, west of north, was another (D) of about the same size and
shape. The measures given are of course only approximate, as the sides
of all the holes were somewhat uneven, but they are practically
correct. The depth was measured from the top of the gravelly subsoil.
Fourteen feet east of south from the center was an irregular hole (E)
about 2 feet deep to the bottom of the loose dirt in it. This had not
been dug, but was due to the decay of a tree which grew here before
the mound was made. At the top of the dirt filling this hole was a
piece of decayed bark, apparently oak, which had grown in the air; and
farther down fragments of root bark. Eight feet east of the center was
a hole (F), similar to the last, 10 inches deep and averaging 2 feet
across. This, also, resulted from the decay of a stump.

A plan of the holes is given in figure 37. The dotted lines are merely
to show direction and distance.

[Illustration: FIG. 37.--Plan of House Mound in St. Francois
County, Mo.]

This mound offers confir