Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia . the mound. It was then thickly covered with palmettoes andits presence, or at least its nature, was certainly unknown to a man named Tanner,whose cabin formed the only residence on the borders of the lake. At Tannersdeath the house was occupied by a man named Mansfield, who also was unawareof the presence of an artificial formation upon the place. In the summer of 1891Mr. Singleton, the tenant, cut down the palmettoes with a view to the cultivationof the spot, since shell hammock is highly prized in Florida; but neither plowr norgrub
Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia . the mound. It was then thickly covered with palmettoes andits presence, or at least its nature, was certainly unknown to a man named Tanner,whose cabin formed the only residence on the borders of the lake. At Tannersdeath the house was occupied by a man named Mansfield, who also was unawareof the presence of an artificial formation upon the place. In the summer of 1891Mr. Singleton, the tenant, cut down the palmettoes with a view to the cultivationof the spot, since shell hammock is highly prized in Florida; but neither plowr norgrubbing hoe was used upon the surface of the ground, which was, previous to the 92 CERTAIN SAND MOUNDS OF investigations of the writer, filled with the roots of former trees. The mound,then, was absolutely virgin. In digging a post hole at the southern margin of themound. Singleton threw out a considerable number of bones. Near these lay agorget of shell scalloped around the edge, with three perforations and three concen-tric circles on the face. (Fig. 109).. Fig. 109. Shell gorget (full size). A careful search with trowels was made in the upper portion of the mound,where alone were burials, during several days of the winter of 1892, and again inthe succeeding year. The composition of the mound is as follows : A—1 ft. d m. Composed of a mixture of sand and loam filled with humanremains. With them were fragments of plain —1 ft. 9 in. Composed of powdered shell, mainly Unios, and sand, withfragments of plain pottery and broken bones of edible animals,chiefiy the —1 ft. 6 in. Crushed Unios, some showing marks of fire, with plain pot-tery and an implement of a depth of 1 feet the artificial portion of the mound ended. Continuedexcavation showed it to have been built upon a small eminence of white sand andminute fragments of marine shell, dating their origin from the period of the sub-mergence of the peninsula, and having no connection with the artificial
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1810, booki, booksubjectnaturalhistory
