Massive Skeleton Described in a Burial Mound, North of Chillicothe, Ohio
Ohio Archæological and Historical Quarterly, 1899
Two tumuli upon the farm of Mr. M. V. Briggs, four miles north of Chillicothe in the southeast corner of Union township were explored. They are ranged north and south, about one hundred feet apart, upon the second terrace of the Scioto. The south mound is seven feet high and seventy-five feet base; the north one ten feet high and seventy feet base. Both have a sandy clay top and black soil in the lower sections. The southern tumulus had been farmed over for many years, the other was more nearly in its original condition. “We trenched the south mound thoroughly. Found the skull of a skeleton north of the center and within two feet of the surface. Nothing else save a few worked pieces of flint came to light during our digging. The other bones of the skeleton could not be found. “We dug a pit in the south mound twenty feet long, fifteen feet wide and eleven feet deep. Two feet from the south edge of the mound we found a skeleton-headed west and fairly well preserved. One foot north of this lay another headed west but not very well preserved. Near it we found a celt. Seven feet deep and twenty-five feet north of the south edge I found a large burned red sandstone relic of unknown use. (The celt and ashes-covered bones are shown in Figure X, Nos. 17 and 18). “Near these was a third body headed east. These three were in a row although they headed differently. Five feet deep, in the central part of the structure, we found a fourth skeleton. The bones were the largest I ever removed from a mound. All joints were exceedingly massive and the muscular attachments were wonderfully developed. Badly decayed as it was, the long bones were sound enough for me to make these observations. Another body lay beyond this one, and five feet below the central skeleton we found another buried in a large bed of ashes. They Were perfectly white and appeared very pure. They were six to seven inches thick and covered the entire body, preserving it in good shape. save that the skull was fractured.
