Indian Burial Mounds

I was talking to someone about indian burial mounds - of which there are lots in Kentucky - & they seemed tolerably knowledgable, going on about Native Americans fleeing Kentucky & Daniel Boone & what-not, & I said, "Well, what was in the Indian burial mounds?"

The person said, "Hunh.  I don't know.  Bones?"

Like it was some sort of mystery.  Do you know who knew what was in Indian burial mounds?  Do you?

THOMAS MOTHERFUCKING JEFFERSON, that's who.

You can read it about right here.

When people talk authoritatively about stuff, & then can't really answer questions about it, I don't really judge them - I think we learn how to talk authoritatively about stuff as a survival skill - I just go find out what I asked them myself.

One thing I learned is that there weren't just burial mounds - there were residence mounds & ceremonial mounds, too.  & especially platform mounds.  Those are neat.

So what's in Indian burial mounds?  The ones that have been excavated - & some of the extant ones haven't, in accordance with the wishes of Native American tribes - have bones & artifacts in them.  But that's in general - there were a lot of them & the mound builders had different cultures.

I think I was hoping the answer would be something surprising, like "comic books."  Or "board games."  Or "escape tunnels & hidden doors."

You know, like the mounds were built by my imagination when I was seven years old.