Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1908-05-02
Incient tructure ut Boone
Built to Withstand Wear
OF Centuries
hTh lMPeRv,ous COVERING
Earth Mixture Five Feet in Thickness
Protected Contents ST Mound from
Ssystsr~-van hynirs corrects Wrong
Impressions Conserving valuable
Discovery at Boone.
rectal to Times-R Republican.

ssi Des Moines, May 2.-T. Van Hyn-
he, the museum assistant Of the MS
orical department, has returned from
Boone. where he finished THE explor-
Ltions OF the Boone mound There
AVE been some mistaken notions CIV
\ In out concerning tie mound which
Mr. Van Hyning on his arrival mere
corrected. The bottom Of the mound
80 found to be fiat stone fitted to-
&pther. making floor about 2lx26
Aoet tho not perfectly square. On
khis had been laid several human
Sodies and covered with dirt and
round each pile of dirt covering the
boparate bodies seemed to be row
.bf stenes q big as ones hend seeming
~ mark the outline cf the body. Then
Wor this had been piled dirt making
Sno larger mound. about the edges OF
his had been placed the timbers and
Sevsral umbers across the mound and
hen large nat stones were placed at
angle Of about IS degrees leaning
4 toward the center of the mound.
Over al was more dirt.
The nrst Impression coming from
Boone was that, these stones were up
iisieht about the hool., forming room,
N1d tkatt across these upright stones
from one side to- the other had; been
blaced timbers to torn a roof. This
Was incorrect, according to Mr.. Van
Idyning, who says aat the mound had
been built up considerable height
Ind lxrge, Hat stories eight feet long
- moyeawere place about the mound
Mtth the foot at the outer edge OF
khS. floor and the upper end slanting
howard the middle OF the mound.
The fragments tf pottery and the
Jew flint Instruments were not found
a6Wn An the center OF the mound
|wifere the skeletons were' discovered.
but were found all thru the dirt Of
thS mound from top to bottom. The
|only explanation o.. this that has been
|oftered by Mr.. Van Hylling is that
khe mound builders had lived there
|pbout for some time and that broken
Of pottery had become scat
tered about and that in building the
mound these were. scraped up with
1.-THE dirt and carried to the mound.
One of the deepest mysteries of the
mound was the hard layer of dirt
|about Ave feet thick all over the mound
and beginning about four feet from
the surface The dirt seems to be
'alothing but dirt, but is SO hard that
ia pick cannot be gotten thru it. It
shows clearly that it was placed on the
mound while 1t was moist, and seems
to have been carried to the mound in
baskets or vessels Of some kind. The
dirt is not all the same color or kind
In the explorations when going thru
this hard layer it was found that there
would be pocket of clay in amount
about what man would carry in a
basket. Next III q ball of black dirt.
Next that q ball iof dirt with more
sand than the others, This entire
layet Of hard dirt which covered the
mound wassthus made up OF different
kin1saot soil. merely dumped down out
OF y basket or vessel OF some kind
and pressed together.
The process thru which this dirt
W9s put to make it harden is unac-
counted for, fanny who have seen it.
Over this hard dirt was another layer
OF ordinary dirt, but dumped down
by the basket full. AMI on top Of the
mound grew grass ana trees. II the
hard dirt had been merely mixed with
water 1t would seem that the rains
tor the hundreds of years the mound
has been there would have soaked
down and softened 1t. The skeletons
buried in the mound We're above the
level Of the surrounding land and with
the layer Of hard dirt over the top
which seems to be impervious to wa
ter the skeletons were preserved in
the best manner possible.