EARTH AND SHELL MOUNDS ON THE ATLANTIC COAST OF FLORIDA.*

Two and a half miles west of Daytona, Florida, a beautiful town largely founded upon an Indian shell ridge on the west bank of the Halifax river, is a mound, concerning which, I shall next speak. It is a double-headed mound, situated at the termination of a natural ridge, but is separated from it by a slight depression of perhaps six feet. A similar depression continued through the mound, leaving a knoll or pinnacle of that height on either side, and the entire slope descended at an angle of about thirty-five degrees to a marsh at the base, which extended for a distance of some miles. I was limited in time and not prepared to excavate, but could not fail to observe this peculiarity of slope. The perpendicular height of this mound I estimated at thirty feet from the marsh level. Each summit was about thirty feet in breadth of plateau, and the extreme distance from the outer edge of one plateau to that of the other, about seventy-five or eighty feet. This mound was quite unique in this feature of a divided summit.

I now recur to the "Spruce Creek" mound, (before instanced as a specimen of the flanked mounds), because it displays some other peculiarities of a unique character, so far as my own experience of mounds goes. Spruce Creek comes into Halifax river on the west side, some five miles north of Mosquito inlet. Sailing up this creek some six miles, we reached a long bend, on the southern bank of which rose a continuous cliff of Coquina rock, the summit twenty-five feet above the water level, and the base bedded for a height of ten feet, in a sloping bank of debris.

Having a general idea that the mound stood upon the plateau somewhere in the rear of this cliff, and looking for a break where it could be ascended conveniently, we saw, after skirting it a quarter of a mile, a low projecting promontory covered with palmetto. Just beyond it was a marshy cove, and here we moored the yacht and landed upon the promontory, where we found ourselves at the foot of a steep ravine. Ascending this ravine about one hundred and fifty yards, the rise became steeper, and we found ourselves upon the summit of the desired mound. With a suspicion that it was not altogether a natural ravine, I retraced my steps, and was satisfied that the promontory on which I had landed was an arti

*This article and the one in the March Number constitute the different parts of a paper read before the Anthropological Section of the American Association for the advancement of Science, at their session in Philadelphia, September, 5, 1884.

ficial construction. It arose four feet above the water level, and terminated in a dug way near the base of the mound. Examining this ascent carefully, I found that the bottom and sides of the ravine showed the thick bed of leaves undisturbed, and no abrasion of the sides indicated a water course.

A DUG-WAY AND A LANDING.

It was impossible to resist the conviction, that when the mound was constructed, easy access to and from the water, and a suitable place to land were also provided. Further examination showed that the descent was from West to East, and crossing the left flank of the mound as we ascended, we came upon an open field covering several acres, quite clear of trees and having in its centre a sand mound five feet in height.

The great mound, on the south side, joined this field with no indication of a trench or ditch. The mound itself rose to the height of twenty-two feet above the plain, and the summit plateau was forty feet in diameter. On the west and northwest the sides sloped steeply down into a pit some eight feet deep. On the north extended the flanking ridge before noticed. On the northeast, the surfaces of the adjacent plateau to the cliff, had been scraped away to some feet below the original level, the material no doubt having contributed its share to the construction of the mound. With its present dense shade it offered an agreeable shelter for our tents, and it was pleasant to imagine that it had perhaps furnished. similar accommodation to our savage predecessors some centuries since. Adjacent to this plateau descended the dug way, and beyond that, the steep bank rose to the summit level. of the cliff. On the southeast of the mound and fifty yards from its base, were three pits but a few yards apart, and quite disconnected. These were about twelve feet square and eight feet deep, about three feet of the lower depth being in rotten Coquina rock. These pits were similar to those before mentioned as occurring at the terminus of the flanking ridge on the north side of the mound. The earth from these pits could have been carried to the mound at an early stage of the work, and heaped upon its slope with slight expenditure of labor, since, on this south side no trench intervened. I was, greatly to my regret, denied the privilege of excavating this mound as completely as I wished. Having in one day's work, cleared the sides of the scrub growth and the summit of a vast mass of dead and decayed trees, I was advised that the owner objected, and would pay me a visit. All I could do the next day before he came to forbid it, was, to dig the entire summit plateau the depth of five feet, the material being replaced as we went along. From the appearance of the surface, other explorers had in successive efforts done quite as much, and it was not surprising that our work was quite fruitless.

I had the opportunity of interviewing several parties who were cognizant of a find of extreme interest. About five years before my visit, a family in the neighborhood having some visitors from the North, made a raid in the centre of the plateau on the summit of this mound. They assured me that at the depth of four feet, five skulls were found, arranged in a circle.

MODERN RELICS.

Upon one of these skulls were three circular silver plates, slightly concave, each perforated in the centre. One plate was four inches in diameter, another three inches, and the last two inches. In addition was a solid silver cylindrical bar, resembling a trumpet, with a flare at the larger end. It was twelve inches long and three-quarters of an inch in diameter, slightly increasing towards the flared end. Five pieces of Spanish silver coin were found stamped with a large figure 4, evidently four real pieces. These objects so rare and unique have entirely disappeared. The silver bar, most probably a Spanish decoration donated to some Indian Chief, was lost in some unaccountable way before the party reached the house. No doubt it has added its proportion to the silver money of the present age. The silver plates were probably gorgets or breast ornaments, and the Spanish coins would indicate an intrusive burial since the Spanish discovery. About five miles southeast from the Spruce Creek Mound is the Stone House Mound which exhibits one peculiarity quite. unique so far as I am aware. New Smyrna, lying on the Lagoon called Hillsboro River, at a distance of three miles south of Mosquito Inlet, is situated on an old shell ridge which is more or less continuous for some three miles north from that town. The northern extremity of this ridge terminated in a Lagoon, and here its base is skirted by a small creek, navigable at high tide, which, threading the innumerable Mangrove Islands of that Lagoon, outlets opposite the Inlet itself. This termination is a high eminence of shell on which for over an hundred years has stood a stone house, now in ruin, but mentioned by Vignolles in 1821, as the last inhabited house on the coast south of St. Augustine. A little more than half a mile due west from this house, and on the westerly verge of the intervening Hamak, is the Stone House Mound, so named from the Hamak. This is a large mound rising at a very easy grade to the height of eighteen feet from the level of the adjacent plain. Two feet below the surface, this Mound proved to be encased with irregular flat blocks of coquina, set well together, each a good load for two men to handle. Above and below this stratum the soil was free of rock. My excavation commenced on the north slope with a width of thirty feet, and was carried in converging lines to a point fifteen feet south of the centre of the summit. It was carried

in on the apparent original level of the ground, which was about six feet above the level of the adjacent ditch.

Throughout this section these stones had to be removed, and as the depth of the excavation increased, the sand became more indurated, till it resembled rotten brick and required the use of a mattock to dislodge it. The sand was of a dull red color, but occasionally a sort of pocket of pure white sand intervened which was not compact, and ran freely from the cavity when opened. There was nothing found within the mound-neither burials nor relics. The indurated character of the sand was doubtless due to some ingredient peculiar to the locality. About 150 yards to the north, I dug a burial mound nine feet in height and seventy feet in base diameter, and at five feet depth encountered the same hardened material. Below that level we found human bones greatly decayed, but no other object. The stone casing referred to, I imagine to have been so disposed in order to relieve the neighborhood of the fragmentary blocks which were exposed as the soil was stripped away from the out-cropping coquina layers. They became obstacles in excavating, and at a certain stage it was more convenient to clear the surface of this accumulation, and at the same time add to the height of the mound. The soil thus cleared, the supply was ample to overlay and conceal the

stone stratum.

The base diameter of this mound was 130 feet, and its perpendicular height eighteen feet; its surface rounding much like the bottom of an inverted shallow bowl. In this connection I would call attention to two mounds made entirely of loose rock, the only ones, so constructed, which have come under my notice on the East Coast.

These mounds are found upon the north and south banks respectively of the Miami River, which empties into Bay Biscayne, nine miles northwest from Cape Florida. They are (with one other, a sand mound), the last mounds on the Atlantic Coast of the Peninsula, before we reach the terminating headland called Cape Sable, where the Western or Gulf Coast of Florida may be said to commence. The northern of these mounds is but a short distance from the shore of Bay Biscayne and 200 yards to the north of the River. The Southern mound is about half a mile back from the coast, and 150 yards from the river. The only published notice I have seen. of these mounds, is that by the late Professor Jeffries Wyman, who visited the locality in 1869, and gave in the Third Annual Report of the Peabody Museum, a brief, but sufficiently accurate account of their appearance and dimensions. The northern mound having been extensively used for recent burials, he was unable to examine. Of the southern one he says: "It is about eleven feet high, sixty long and forty broad, covered with sand and supporting a growth of young

trees. With the exception of the covering of sand, it is made entirely of loose fragments of the coral limestone of the neighborhood, and appears to have been simply a monumental structure. An excavation was made from one of the sides as far as the centre, and from the top to the base, but nothing was found buried or enclosed in it." My notes show a slight increase on these measurements. The structure is in effect a long slightly undulating ridge of loose rock twelve feet perpendicular height, and rising to a narrow plateau from eight to ten feet broad, the base one hundred and twenty feet in length and fifty in breadth. The summit plateau was seventy feet in length. I did not observe the excavation referred to by Prof. Wyman, not being at the time aware of his visit, and in the dense foliage it could easily have been overlooked, unless intentionally hunted up. A deep excavation had been made, at the point where I first reached it, by searchers after the hidden hoards of Black Cesar, an independent free-booter of the last century, and in a private interview with the explorer, I was assured that he had unearthed a huge Indian coffin containing remarkable remains. This opening gave me the opportunity of noticing that the interior filling of soil was light, as if drifted in by the gales and hurricanes during a period of years, but by no means compact enough to indicate that many hundred years had elapsed since its erection. Fragments of the exhumed coffin and of the bones it had contained, strewed the bottom of the excavation. Though greatly decayed, the boards proved to be tongued and grooved plank, and conclusively brought this interment within the range of a very recent historic period. The rocks of which the mound or ridge was constructed, were not larger than one man could handle. The northern mound was much larger, and of a broader ridge. How far this was due to changes made to adapt it to use as a cemetery for the Military Post of Fort Dallas, upon the same bank of the Miami River, it was impossible to determine. Its original features must have undergone considerable change, but it was much the largest mound of the two. Its highest summit was fifteen feet in perpendicular height, breadth of summit plateau from ten to twenty feet, the length at the base 200 feet, with a breadth of about eighty feet. The stones used in its construction were similar to those in the south mound. I remained in this vicinity about two weeks, and after examining the character of the soil and country generally, could not avoid coming to the conclusion that these elongated ridges were simply heaps of stone, gathered from the thin soil around them to clear the ground for cultivation. Information of the early history of this remote corner of the Peninsula is extremely meagre. Vignolles is of the opinion that it was shunned by settlers, and even the Indians only lived there under compulsion. This