There are general and specific relationships between these archaic periods of the northern region of St. Johns and other archaic manifestations of the Southeastern United States. Finally, the significant element of the burial mound is part of the St. John tradition, while absent from the archaic one. The culture of the period of St. John I cannot be wholly derived from the archaic; but, nevertheless, there are some traits that carry over and continue.
The last third of the time span assigned to the period of St. John II., is further marked by the appearance of the early
THE SITE
DESCRIPTION OF THE SITE AND ENVIRONS
EXPLORATION AND MOUND FEATURES
After a short period of training and orientation for the crew, the north side of the approach ditch served as a working wall and the fill from top to bottom was quickly shoveled into thin slices. And in the final stages of the project, even less attention was paid to beauty. Before a week of digging had passed, the main structural features and sequences of the site had emerged and were vaguely understood.
The ash gray sand has been interpreted as a stable original ground surface that preceded any human use of the site.
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There was no functional or structural connection between the pit features and the graves of the. The evidence, strong but inconclusive, was that the dozens of burials represented a mass burial. There was also evidence that the site had been left unprotected for quite some time after the mass burial ceremony.
This evidence consisted of the broken and displaced condition of some of the burials (although six or more feet of mound fill lay above these "under the mound" skeletons), indicating that they were disturbed before the actual mound was located. The notes show that during the excavations much attention was paid to the time lapse between the burial of the first group and the raising of the mound, and to the long hesitation. His final view, which appeared in a preliminary report prepared immediately after the project's conclusion, was that there was a time lag between the deposition of the coquina layer and the construction of the mound itself.
This can be explained as bm-ial mass on the uneven surface of the first piles of dirt. Also, the idea of a mass burial is supported by our observation that the central part of the mound was built with significantly darker sand, representing surface scratches. Continuous, short-lived burst of construction to accommodate the mass burial of several dead in a concentric pattern may indeed have been their core or first stage. construction, while the remainder of the mound was added later at a slower rate as accidental deaths occurred.
Throughout the fiU mound, and especially in the darker central part, occasional sherds were common. For some time after this ceremony there was exposed or random re-inhabitation of the site, with an area of land developed on this surface.
BURIALS
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We all, . there are small TiO ceraic provinces cataloged in the Ormond Bench Mound Collections at the United States National Museum. Twenty-one of these units belong to the "under-mound area". and these units total 225 ceramic specinums.. seven units are grouped together in the "mound proper", and these combined total 284 specimens. Jiold Cheek Starnpet-n<'jt, in Hcj.ond irrou]), and, conversely, thepn^enceofLitUe Manat^;eShell Starnpfd.
Thenepari'uAxlav types Ijave a ehronoloj^ieal -iig^nifjeanee el,sev»here in Florida, a;jd their stratjgrapliic relationship-ship-s in the (Jntioiidmound tends U> .nuppo/l tlie inf^irenee, made during the excavation, that there is an approximately/tmhle time difference/ys between the us/mfd occupation of the r-.ite and the. 102; did not know that while Dunns Creek Red in both the.St.John.s f and St. .Johns II periods, is more common on the earlier Ijorizon. 357;, Its general chronological/;al position in the Icmer southeast is early, foUo^^irig immediately after the fiber- teinpcrcA v.an:s.
The presence of these tv.o Deptford Bold Check Stamped sherds in the lower area of the mound, t^>ogether with three other fragments of the same type unc^jrtain. Some early sherds in the zone below the mound and some late sherds in the mound itself indicate the use of the site arrangement throughout this period (estimated at 400 BC to 1100 AD, Goggin, 1952, pp. 36 and Fig. 3). Thus, in the same general context - a mass burial on an old floor surface - we have the following ornaments and implements: a pottery pipe with a widened mouth, a shell.
Loose in the body of the mound were three chipped stone projectile points, a socketed bone point, a grinding stone, a piece of worked pumice, a stone celt fragment, and several chiseled projectile picks. None of the local artifacts listed above are of importance in dating the Ormond Beach mound with greater certainty than we have already attempted.
SKELETAL MATERIAL
Johns Plain, curved rim bowl, was found with a burial (No. 62), several Ormondsite ceramic features were associated with burials. With only two exceptions, these associations were with burials from the zone below the mound or premound. The two artifacts from burial associations in the body of the mound proper are the worked deer vertebra and the skull of a green heron.
The pipe, the plumes or pendants, and the projectile points all fall within the St. Further details on the racial anthropology of native Florida have been ah-readily published in summary form (Newman,. Although the Ormond Beach series is probably too small to be representative, we are especially impressed by the massiveness and the very heavy areas for muscular attachments of the male skeletons.
Two of the Ormond Beach skulls are unusually long-headed, and thus stand out as foreign to the rest of the series. In the effort to catalog these skulls about 20 years ago, someone (probably Hrdlicka) made the catalog card for the USNM. To us, however, the side profile of the vault is long-headed Indian, as it lacks the more prominent forehead and flattened parietal area characteristic of the Negro.
The right tibia of USNM 372606 shows nodular changes of a pathologic nature, and USNM 372639 from the mound structure shows marked periostitis of the right tibia, fibula, and ulna, probably of syphilitic origin. The lack of even a simple and presumably accidental flattening of the occiput indicates that cradleboards or any other type of rigid bed were not used for infants.
ARTIFACTS POTTERY
These rim folds and the tendency toward surface pohsh, when combined with the sub-spherical shape, suggest the Weeden Island and Papys Bayou series of pottery of the Florida gulf coast (Willey, 1949 a, pp. 409 ff. and 442 ff.). Half a dozen sherds occasionally show faint cross-lands (pi. 9, a, e, g), but these cross-lands or cross-bars are so rare and unreg-. They can be distinguished from plain-stamped impressions in that the technique of wiping, dragging, or carving the soft surface of the vessel is evident in its result.
Although the brick red pigment is not "volatile" in the sense that it is collected after firing the barrel, it nevertheless wears off. This makes it possible that the percentage of Dunns Creek Red on Ormond Hill was originally higher than we are. Some sherds indicate relatively large (30 cm diameter) subspherical bowls; others suggest small (15 cm in diameter) simple bowls with slightly curved edges.
Johns-like sherds have external markings somewhat resembling the imprint of a cord-wound paddle (pi. 10, c, d). However, these impressions are very faint, and it is possible that four fragments are semiobliterated, single-stamped pieces. Deptford Bold Check Stamped.— There are five sherds of a hard, sandy ware, contrasting with the soft paste, temperamental St.
The identification of these sherds with the DeptfordBold Check Stamped is somewhat doubtful, but they appear to be closer to this type than any other (Caldwell and Waring, 1939; Willey, 1949 b, p. 357). Unclassified Incised.—This sherd has a deeply incised form with broad lines combined with what appears to be heavy grooves (impressions.
IMPLEMENTS AND ORNAMENTS
Stone celt—^The cutting edge of a gray-green celt (diorite or igneous rock) has a broken portion. The tip of a large bone point (or possibly a dagger) similar to the one described above was found on Feature XIII, Hearth in Section 55R2 (Fig. 11, f).
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SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
Although the recumbent, supine position was most common, some burials appear to have contained no more than single skulls; and the base under the mound, most likely before the first mass burial. Most of the extended burials appear to have been primary, but the mass burial interpretation suggests that these individuals were probably preserved or held as corpses for some time prior to their burial. An examination of the 50 Ormond skulls, together with some of the postcranial skeletons, reveals no apparent differences between the earlier, or submound, phase of occupation of the site and those.
Most of the Ormond pottery, both from the level below the mound and from the level of the mound proper, belongs to the St. A few earlier sherds, such as Deptford Bold Check Stamped and Orange Incised, imply an ancient, thin occupation that preceded this; but there is little doubt that this was the first substantial occupation of the site. The most notable cultural features are those of the Burial Mound or Middle Woodland phase of the southeastern United States, although use of the site may have continued into periods of contemporaneity with Temple Mound or Mississippian cultures elsewhere.
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LITERATUKE CITED
The low dome form of the mound and the encroachment of the Halifax Road are visible, b,View of the site after leveling was completed. The upper zone, the filling, is composed of natural substances and contains different amounts of humus stain, a and b. View of the entrance pit on the south side. BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 164 PLATE 7. Partially restored vessels from St. The streakingon sample is a result of repair fluid and is not paint.
Various artefacts, a, b, pendants or whiskey made from the columella of a clam shell._ c, pendants or whiskey made from coquina.
