File:Annual report of the Bureau of American Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution (1897) (14597810989).jpg

Identifier: annualreportofbu219smit (find matches)
Title: Annual report of the Bureau of American Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution
Year: 1895 (1890s)
Authors: Smithsonian Institution. Bureau of American Ethnology
Subjects: Smithsonian Institution. Bureau of American Ethnology Ethnology Indians
Publisher: Washington : U. S. Govt. Print. Off.
Contributing Library: Boston Public Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Kahle/Austin Foundation and Omidyar Network

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on either side of it in the chain. Reginning at the topof Chetumal bay, these mounds extend in a diain for nearly 150miles, first following the coast line, then trending inland in a south-westerly directioTi. The intervals between them are in no case greaterthan 12 miles or less than (i miles. Each of the mounds forming partof such an extended chain, along wliiih it was easy to convey intelli-gence either by day or by night, standing also in the center of thetown or village and adjacent to a fortified position into which theinhal)itants could i-ctire, would form a most useful signal station fromwhich to observe and comnuuiicate the approach of an enemy, eitheri)y sea or land; and there can, I think, be little doubt that this wasthe use for which they were designed. A SEPULCHER MOUND. At a distance of O.H yards almost due east of the large centralmound was situated the mound marked 1> in the jilan. This was theonlv mound excavated on the whole estate \vlii<ii had unquestionalily
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GANX) CONTKNTS OF ilOUND 8 687 been used solely for sepulchral purposes. It was one of the smallestmounds explored, being onh 15 yards in circumference and 3^ feet inheight at its highest point. It was nearly circular at the base and flaton top, and was built of earth and rough blocks of limestone. Nearlyin the center of the mound, at the ground level, a human skeleton wasdiscovered, the head pointing toward the north. The bones wereso brittle that in the attempt to remo\e them they were very iiuichdamaged. The skull was full of earth, and, while being lifted out, itcollapsed into numberless pieces from its own weight and that of theearth which it contained. The fragments of the bones were removed,and, after exposure to the air for a few days, they hardened consider-ably and could ))e handled without injury to them. The bones wereapparently tho.se of a male of from 5 feet 4 inches to 5 feet G inchesin height. Lying by the side of the skeleton were a conch shell withthe apex broken smo

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