Antiquities of central and southeastern Missouri / by Gerard Fowke.

  • Gerard Fowke
Date:
1910
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

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

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    worn. Of the skulls, only part of the top of one and part of the orbit of the other remained; but these were solid and strong, the latter especially so, having a smooth polished appearance as if it had been much handled. Near the center, just above the bottom, lay loose in the earth a lower jaw of a young person, well polished. . It is not unusual to find bones, especially skulls, which seem to have been long preserved and much worn by rubbing or carrying around. Three or 4 feet from the jaw was the right half of a frontal bone, with the orbit, of a young infant. MOUND NO. 8 The eighth mound was almost effaced. On the ground were a piece of a tibia and a broken columella. No grave could be found. , The Dawson Mounds (9) On the farm of Mr. A. R. Dawson, a mile west of Hartsburg, were 15 mounds. Two of these, situated on a high point from which the ground slopes in every direction, have been much ravaged and were not examined. The others ranged in close order along the winding crest of a narrow ridge or spur, whose general trend is from northwest to southeast; this slopes gently on one side toward Bonne Femme creek, and more steeply on the other to the Missouri River bottom land. On the latter side, toward the foot, are bluffs which forbid ascent except at two points, where ravines are eroded. The longer axis of those mounds, which had an elliptical outline, followed the direction of the ridge at the points where they were located. In each mound opened every part was excavated except a narrow strip around the margin. MOUND NO. 1 This mound was the farthest from the end of the ridge; it measured 70 feet in length northwest and southeast, 35 feet in width, and feet in height. At a distance of 12 feet west of the center was a pavement of lime- stone slabs, 13 in number, covering a space 26 by 40 inches, the greater dimension being exactly in line with the major axis of the mound. Most of the slabs were broken by the weight of earth resting on them. Apparently they had been supported by some perishable material whose decay allowed them to settle unevenly into a small pit, dug to a depth of 8 inches in the soil, in which lay on its back, with the head toward the southeast, a closely folded skeleton; the knees were brought up to the chest, the feet were in contact with the hips, and the face was turned to the left. The joints in the sacrum were closed solid and the teeth were much worn. The lumbar verte- brae and some of the cervical vertebrae were still firm enough to be
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