Around the neck of the skeleton, forming a triple row, and retaining their position as originally strung and deposited with the dead, were several hundred beads, made of the compact portion of marine shells and of the tusks of some animal. Several of these still retain their polish, and bear marks which seem to indicate that they were turned in some machine, instead of being carved or rubbed into shape by hand. A few laminæ of mica were also discovered; which completed the list of articles deposited with this skeleton, of which any traces remained. The feet of the skeleton were about in the centre of the mound; a drift beyond it disclosed nothing new, nor was a corresponding layer of charcoal found on the opposite side of the mound. It is clear, therefore, that the tumulus was raised over this single skeleton.
As a general rule, to which this mound furnished one of a very few exceptions, whatever occurs in the mounds, whether they be sepulchral or sacrificial in their purposes, is deposited immediately beneath the apex and on a level with the circumjacent plain.[105] The predominance of storms from a certain direction, and various other circumstances, may have contributed to alter the apparent centre of the mound. In the case of a mound of this kind which was opened at Gallipolis on the Ohio river, the skeleton was found in a «cist», or chamber, excavated beneath the original surface. This can always be detected by a strongly marked line and the uniform drab color of the earth below it. The superstructure of the mounds is more or less mottled, as the materials entering into their composition are variant in character and color,—a circumstance which has elsewhere been sufficiently explained.
The charcoal layer is a frequent though by no means an invariable feature in mounds of this class, and would seem to indicate that sacrifices were made for the dead, or funeral rites of some description, in which fire performed a part, celebrated. This is further confirmed by the fact that fragments of bones and some few stone implements have been discovered in the layer of charcoal. The fire in every case was kept burning for a very little time, as is shown from the lack of ashes, and by the slight traces of its action left on the adjacent earth. That it was suddenly heaped over while glowing, is also certain.