18 Chronicles of the Cape Fear Rwer The most interesting village site yet examined is located about one and one-half miles south of Myrtle Sound, three miles north of the ruins of Fort Fisher, and less than one hundred yards from the sea beach. Three small shell-mounds are stand- ing near the center of the area. The largest is about thirty inches in height and twenty feet in diameter. Quantities of pottery are scattered about on the surface, and a few pieces of stone are to be found. Sugar Loaf is less than one mile from this site in a northwesterly direction. Here, in the vicinity of the three shell-mounds, was probably the last Indian settlement on the peninsula. A level area of several acres at the end of Myrtle Sound was likewise occupied by a settlement, and fragments of pottery are very plentiful, these being intermingled with quantities of oyster and clamshells scattered over the surface. Many pieces of the earthenware from this site are unusually heavy and are prob- ably parts of large cooking vessels. Northward along the sound are other places of equal inter- est, some having the appearance of having been occupied during comparatively recent years. This may be judged from the con- dition of the shells and the weathering of the pottery. Other remains may date from a much earlier period; but all represent the work of the one people, the Indians, who had occupied the country for centuries before the coming of the Europeans. On both sides of Hewlet’s Creek, near its mouth, are numer- ous signs of Indian occupancy. On the north side, in the rear of the old McKoy house, are traces of an extensive camp, and many objects of Indian origin are said to have been found here during past years. On the opposite side of the creek is a large shell-heap in which fragments of pottery occur. Several miles northward, on the left bank of Barren Inlet Creek, about one- half mile from the sound, are signs of a large settlement. Here an area of four or five acres is strewn with pottery. This was probably the site of a permanent village as distinguished from the more temporary camps met with on the shore of the sound. A careful examination of various sites existing on the penin- sula would be of the greatest interest. The burial places of the ancient inhabitants of the country would undoubtedly be dis- covered, and this would assist in the identification of the people who bore the name “Cape Fear Indians,” all traces of whom are so rapidly disappearing. b Exploration and Settlement 19 Inprtan Mounps or tue Carr FRar. By Pror. J. A. Hotmgs. (Wilmington, N. C., Weekly Star, October 26, 1888. Reprinted Journal Elisha Mitchell Scientific Society 1883-4, pages 73 to 79.) So far as is known to me, no account of the Indian burial mounds which are to be found in portions of eastern North Carolina, has, as yet, been published. This fact is considered a sufficient reason for the publication of the following notes con- cerning a few of these mounds which have been examined in Duplin and some other counties in the region under consid- eration. It is expected that the examination of other mounds will be carried on during the present year, and it is considered advisable to postpone generalized statements concerning them until these additional examinations have been completed. It may be stated however, of the mounds that have been examined already that they are quite different from those of Caldwell and other eonris ties of the western section of the State, and of much less interest so far as contents are concerned. As will be seen from the following notes, they are usually low, rarely rising to more than three feet above the surrounding surface, with esta bases varying in diameter from 15 to 40 feet; and they contain little more than the bones of human (presumably Indian) skeletons arranged in no special order. They have been generally built = somewhat elevated, dry, sandy places, out of a soil similar to that by which they are surrounded. No evidence of an excava- tion below the general surface has as yet been observed. In the process of burial, the bones or bodies seem to have been laid on the surface, or above, and covered up with soil taken from the vicinity of the mound. In every case that has come under my pi oe charcoal has been found at the bottom of the und. : a No. 1.—Duplin County, located at Kenansville, about ne-half mile southwest from the courthouse, on a somewhat ore dry, sandy ridge. In form, its base is nearly circular, os 3 = — height 3 feet. The soil of the mound is = — w ach surrounds it, with no evidence of stratification. oe oo was made by beginning on one side of the mound —— ing a trench 35 feet long, and to a depth nearly 2 feet Se 1e general surface of the soil (5 feet below top of mound), removing all the soil of the mound by cutting new trenches sr a een nace ana ncn acme” _—— ——— * pee | : | |