Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1908-01-03

Dordered on both sides by majestic
bluffs have been for years a fertile
above the level of the stream. These
bines have been for years a fertile
field of arhaceologic research, show
ing evidences innumerable of having
been the habitat of man through many
succeeding ages.
During the latter part of Septem-
Der of the present year (190G) when
passing through a wooded tract in
the northern part of Douglas county,
! found upon the summit of a very
high hill a small excavation where
boy hunters had dug out rabbit. In
the earth thrown out l noticed sew
eral small pieces of human bones.
With spade, borrowed from a neigh
boring farmer, l followed down the
line the boys had opened, and at four
feet beneath the surrounding level
came upon what happened to be
compact clay bed, different from the
loess covering in which / had been
working. There were visible evil
dences OF ancient fire.
What l took to be clay bed burn
ed into a semblance of brick proved
to be the original top of the loess
hill. Fire had been built upon it, and
on the ashes an upper layer of bones
was laid. 1t was so hard as to re-
sist the spade. managed. however.
TO make a considerable mole through
hA arfa II
found the upper portion of human
Uranium. The spade was at once
discarded for q sharp trowel, and l
succeeded In taking out a frontal
bone and a portion of the occipital.
A hasty examination convinced me
that / had made find Of more than
ordinary interest. A few scattered
sections OF vertebrate and three brok-
en- pelvic bones were next brought to
light.
The next operations at the mound
consisted Of drifting in a ditch from
the south side. This ditch was a
foot below the surface when begun,
but at the mounds centre 1t was four
feet deep. Five feet from the south
end OF the ditch l encountered the
same stratum of baked earth. A few
inches deeper l unearthed the lower
leg or shin bones of a skeleton, but
not those belonging with the first
skull. Fifteen feet from the begin
ming OF the ditch / cross sectioned
the mound from west to east and
then cleared a circle eight feet in d.
ameter. Evidence of fire above the
bones was very marked. Two of the
skeletons seemed to have been placed
I'm a squatting position With the ex-
eeption Of the frontal bone the crani-
am OF each skeleton was more or
less broken, but the interior of the
skull by being filed with earth had |
been saved from total collapse. A
noticeable feature In connection with |
the skulls was the fact that the left |
temporal bone had been smashed
probably Intentionally with a club or
other weapon. Some of the bones
went to powder when brought into
The afr.
II occurred to me, while working In
the mound, that some OF the skeletons
Rad been inferred as skeletons and
not as bodies-the pelvic bones OF
two lying so close as to touch each
other.
The manner of burial differed rad
ically from that observed In other
mounds had opened In this vicinity
and elsewhere. 1t seemed that a
lower stratum Of skeletons had been
placed in The mound, and that earth
had then been piled on top and burn
ed to the consistency of a plaster
wall. In another part of the mound
some five feet distant, lay the upper
layer Of skeletons; but with, three
exceptions these skeletons had been
and more or less scat.
.ared about.
Over the bones had been laid a
Oyering to the mound for the pur-
pose. Through this covering were
scattered small pieces of shells of a
lind very different from the bivalves
" the streams In this vicinity at
he present day. Erosion had so re-
luced the mound that 1t seemed mere
v the crest Of hill, being recogniz-
bile as a mound proper to no one in
experienced in mound burials.
Throughout the mound covering
we're found a score of small quart
.ire spalls which had been fractured
rom drift pebbles. Two small pieces
Il three cornerei blades, a tiny pebble
showing a drilled hole and crude
crapers-such were the only imple-
nents found in the lower level.
My operations at the mound s
which were concluded on Nov. 16 6
ast-have yielded portions OF nine g
rama and bones indicating as many !
keletons. While they were in prog q
ess, l became persuaded that an in. {
rusive burial had taken place Tho /
ntire upper mound covering was {
own with tiny pieces of bone, indi. 1
ating that 1t had been removed at I
IN ancient date. Corroborative of /
ny suspicion that Others than the a
riginal builders of the sepulchre had 6
sed 1t as burial place was the find. u
ng In the upper level, among the g
Op layer of skeletons. Of two WELL I
ormed faxed flint knives, similar to b
hose have frequently found in the $
ircles OF this vicinity. The lower =
aval imnlemenfs were IF the crud. | !.