The men in two parties went
industriously to work on the opposite sides, working toward each
other, making a tunnel about eight feet in diameter. The earth though
originally soft soil had become so hard that it was necessary to use a
pick axe to loosen it for the spade. A number of skeletons were found
on the south side, but all I should say within ten feet from the
original surface of the mound. As we penetrated the interior fewer
remains were continually found. The earth gave many indications of
having been burnt. At one point the pick-axe sank ten inches into the
hard wall. This was about fifteen feet from the outside. The excavator
then dug out with his hand from a horizontal pocket in the earth eight
or ten inches wide and eighteen or twenty inches deep, a quantity of
soft brown dust, and a piece of bone some four inches long, a part of
a human forearm bone. This pocket was plainly the original resting
place of a skeleton, probably in a sitting posture. As deeper
penetration was made brown earthy spots without a trace of bone
remaining were come upon. The excavation on the south side was
continued for thirty feet into the mound, but at this stage it was
evident that bones, pottery, etc., had been so long interred that they
were reduced to dust. No hope seemed to remain now of finding objects
of interest in this direction, and so with about forty feet yet
wanting to complete, the tunnel, the search was transferred to the top
of the mound.
Pages:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25