Chattanooga, Ga. Mr. McKinley ascribes the use of these urns and
covers to the Muscogees, a branch of the Creek Nation."

These urns are made of baked clay, and are shaped somewhat like the
ordinary steatite ollas found in the California coast graves, but the
bottoms instead of being round run down to a sharp apex; on the top
was a cover, the upper part of which also terminated in an apex, and
around the border, near where it rested on the edge of the vessel, are
indented scroll ornamentations.

The burial-urns of New Mexico are thus described by E. A. Barber:
[Footnote: Amer. Natural, 1876, vol X, p. 455 _et seq_]

"Burial-urns ... comprise vessels or ollas without handles, for
cremation, usually being from 10 to 15 inches in height, with broad,
open mouths, and made of coarse clay, with a laminated exterior
(partially or entirely ornamented). Frequently the indentations extend
simply around the neck or rim, the lower portion being plain."

So far as is known, up to the present time no burial-urns have been
found in North America resembling those discovered in Nicaragua by Dr.
J. C. Bransford, U. S. N., but it is quite within the range of
possibility that future researches in regions not far distant from
that which he explored may reveal similar treasures.



SURFACE BURIAL.