A few pieces of flint weapons were found in the upper layers, and nothing else of any significance.

At this juncture the diggers abandoned the search, and some days later the writer, desirous of seeing all that was to be seen, resumed the work and removed the earth and remains until the bottom of the vault was reached; several layers being thus removed.  All of these had evidently been burned, as charcoal and ashes were mixed with the bones of each succeeding layer.  The layers were about an inch in thickness, with from two to four inches of earth between, and small flat stones, about the size of a man’s hand, spread on each different layer, as if to mark its division from the next above.

Between the bottom layers, mixed with charcoal, ashes and small portions of burned bones were found what gives value to the search, numbering about fifty tools and a smoking pipe.

The material of the tools is the same as the rock forming the vault, locally known as “cotton rock.”  I would consider it a species of sandstone.

Overlying the edge of “cotton rock” in the bluff is flint in great quantities, and in every conceivable shape, that these people could have resorted to had they been so disposed, and why they used the softer material I will leave to some archaeologist to determine.  The tools themselves are made after no pattern, but selected for their cutting qualities, as they all have a more or less keen edge which could be used for cutting purposes, and were no doubt highly prized, as they were found all in a pile in one corner of the vault and on top of which was found a stone pipe.  The pipe is made bowl and stem together, and it is curious that people of such crude ideas of tools and weapons should manufacture such a perfect specimen of a pipe.  It is composed of a very heavy stone, the nature of which would be difficult to determine, as it is considerably burned.

A description of the vault will be found interesting to many.  The wall of the vault rests upon the natural surface of the ground, about three feet high and eight and a half feet square, the inside corners being slightly rounded; it is built in layers about four inches in thickness and varying in length upward to three feet, neither cement nor mortar being used in the joints; the corners formed a sort of recess as they were drawn inward to the top, in which many of the stones were found.  The stone for constructing the vault was brought from a distance of about a quarter of a mile, as there is none in sight nearer.

I assume from all these circumstances that these people lived in this neighborhood anterior to the age of flint tools, as the more recent interments indicate that they were then entering upon the flint industry, and it may be that the “cotton rock” had become obsolete.

These people buried their dead on the highest ground, covering and protecting them with these great mounds, when it would seem much easier to bury as at the present day; but instead, they, with great labor, carried the rock from a great distance, and it is reasonable to suppose, also, that the earth was brought from a distance with which they are surrounded, and piled high above, as there is no trace of an immediate or local excavation.