y, are those of animals used for
food. With the bones are always many shells of fresh-water mussels
(_Unionidae_), the more massive of which have a large circular piece cut
out near the centre. Fragments of pottery (rarely a whole vessel) also
abound in each pit, quantities of implements made of bones and antlers,
some forms of which are unlike anything known elsewhere, implements of
chipped and polished stone, pipes carved in various shapes from stone,
and objects of copper. In some pits several bushels of charred corn,
which had been covered with bark matting, lay underneath the ashes; and
in three instances human skeletons, or parts of skeletons, have been
found in the pits,--a fact which seems to have no special significance.

On the hill-side near this great cemetery is to be seen what doubtless
is the site of the permanent village of the people who made the
ash-pits. This site is indicated by several earth-circles, the
explorations of which, prosecuted by means of trenches, revealed in the
centre, upon the hard clay, beneath about two feet of accumulated
leaf-mould, fireplaces made of large stones, enclosing beds of ashes
mingled with potsherds, flint-flakes, burnt bones, and perforated shells
like those in the pits. The few things disclosed within the circles, and
the abundance of household-utensils and refuse found in the ashes in the
pits, suggest the possibility that on special occasions all the articles
in the house, with ornaments, weapons, and other personal property, were
partly destroyed by fire, gathered up with the ashes, and deposited in a
pit dug for the purpose, while the great number of broken bones of
various animals indicates that at such times feasts were held. A custom
like this, which is quite consistent with the Indian character as
manifested within the historic period, would account for the character
of the contents of the pits, while their great number would indicate a
long-continued occupation of the village.

Another phase of American archaeology remains to be considered. It is
represented in the museum by a unique and most interesting series of
specimens illustrating every detail with the greatest particularity and
exactness, so that future students need lose no essential feature of the
picture that lay before the original explorers and describers. In the
northeastern part of Anderson township, near the Little Miami River, a
group of earth-works exist which are among the most remarkable o