Mound No. 7
Mound No. 7, situated very close to No. 6 A, was oval in shape, measuring 30 yards by 10 yards at the base, and 8 feet high along the summit. It was built throughout of large blocks of limestone, limestone dust, and a small proportion of earth. It rested upon the natural limestone formation, into which, near the western end of the mound, a shallow oval pit 18 inches in length by 10 inches in depth had been dug. In this was found a somewhat imperfect skull, resting with the foramen magnum uppermost. The other bones, which were distributed irregularly around the hole, were in a poor state of preservation. Upon one side of the skull lay a small shallow bowl, with four hollow legs, each containing a pellet of dry clay loose in its interior; and upon the other side a small three-legged vase. Both of these were of rather crude pottery, painted dark-red throughout and polished. Two other excavations similar to this were found in the limestone beneath this mound, each containing fragments of a skull in a very advanced state of decay, surrounded by fragments of the other bones. No additional pottery or other objects were found beside them. The two mounds last described are the only ones in which this peculiar method of interment appears to have been employed. The procedure seems to have been somewhat as follows: First, the earth capping was removed from the limestone rock, over the area to be occupied by the mound; next, shallow oval pits were dug in the rock into which the skulls were wedged; each body was bent, and the thighs were flexed on the abdomen, so that the knees touched the rock on each side of the head; finally, the mound was built up of limestone dust, earth, and blocks of limestone around the body, in this position.