It may be that this was due to the fact that the skeletons found were those of warriors who had fallen in battle in which they had sustained defeat.  This view is supported by the fact that they were all males, and that two of the skulls bore marks of ante-mortem injuries which must have been of a fatal character.

Writing of the Choctaws, Bartram,[22] in alluding to the ossuary, or bone-house, mentions that so soon as this is filled a general inhumation takes place, in this manner: 

Then the respective coffins are borne by the nearest relatives of the deceased to the place of interment, where they are all piled one upon another in the form of a pyramid, and the conical hill of earth heaped above.

     The funeral ceremonies are concluded with the solemnization
     of a festival called the feast of the dead.

Florian Gianque, of Cincinnati, Ohio, furnishes an account of a somewhat curious mound-burial which had taken place in the Miami Valley of Ohio: 

A mound was opened in this locality, some years ago, containing a central corpse in a sitting posture, and over thirty skeletons buried around it in a circle, also in a sitting posture, but leaning against one another, tipped over towards the right, facing inwards.  I did not see this opened, but have seen the mounds and many ornaments, awls, &c., said to have been found near the central body.  The parties informing me are trustworthy.

As an example of interment, unique, so far as known, and interesting as being sui generis, the following description by Dr. J. Mason Spainhour, of Lenoir, N.C., of an excavation made by him March 11, 1871, on the farm of R.V.  Michaux, esq., near John’s River, in Burke County, N.C., is given.  The author bears the reputation of an observer of undoubted integrity, whose facts as given may not be doubted: 

     EXCAVATION OF AN INDIAN MOUND.

In a conversation with Mr. Michaux on Indian curiosities, he informed me that there was an Indian mound on his farm which was formerly of considerable height, but had gradually been plowed down; that several mounds in the neighborhood had been excavated, and nothing of interest found in them.  I asked permission to examine this mound, which was granted, and upon investigation the following facts were revealed: 

Upon reaching the place, I sharpened a stick 4 or 5 feet in length and ran it down in the earth at several places, and finally struck a rock about 18 inches below the surface, which, on digging down, was found to be smooth on top, lying horizontally upon solid earth, about 18 inches above the bottom of the grave, 18 inches in length, and 16 inches in width, and from 2 to 3 inches in thickness, with the corners rounded.

Not finding anything under this rock, I then made an excavation in the south of the grave, and soon struck another rock, which, upon