ETHNOLOGY. O • 1 



ANTIQUITIES OF TENNESSEE. 



By Dr. Daniel F. Wuight, of Clauksville, Tenn. 



The locality iu which the relics sent to the Smithsonian Institution 

 have been collected, has been known as the "Indian grave-yard" as far 

 back as any of the present inhabitants can remember, and has been 

 more or less noticed according to the condition of the superincumbent 

 soil as affected by successive inundations of the Cumberland. Thus, for 

 many years i)rior to the present date, the graves from which these relics 

 have been taken have been buried some eight or ten feet deep by the 

 fluvial deposit, and have been forgotten by the present generation ; but 

 since the inundation of last spring, through some change in the current, 

 the receding waters have produced a contrary effect, and washed the 

 graves completely bare, leaving the skeletons only covered with the stone 

 slabs placed over them at the time of burial. The location is about fifty 

 yards from the left bank of the river, and about three miles above Clarks^ 

 ville. 



The following considerations will, I think, be deemed conclusive as; 

 evidences of its having been a permanent and rather populous settle- 

 ment of some tribe : 



1st. TJie nature of the graves. — These are elaborately constructed. It 

 is impossible to say how deep they were at the time of excavation, on: 

 account of the shifting character of the soil above described ; but every 

 grave has a slab of shale-stone at the bottom ; upon this the body lies,, 

 and additional slabs are placed at the head and feet, and on each side,, 

 all rising to the same level, which is rather more than high enough to. 

 cover the body. Finallj", on the top of the inclosure so formed a large' 

 horizontal slab is placed, completely covering the whole; the earth is 

 then thrown in, and the body thus left inclosed not only in a well-pro- 

 tected grave, but iu a complete stone cofifin. In one place (and only one). 

 a peculiar arrangement of the graves is noticed. Five or six graves 

 are so placed together that all the heads are nearly in contact, while 

 the feet radiate outward so as to mark out the circumference of a cir- 

 cle something over twelve feet in diameter. On the whole, I suppose 

 that more than forty skeletons, each in its separate grave, have been, 

 taken up since tlie last overflow. 



2d. The evidences of manufactures hahitually,folloiced. — These are flint, 

 weapons and implements and pottery. Where the greater part of the- 

 flint-implements were found innumerable chips and flakes of flint were 

 also observed, such as are struck off' in the manufacture of flint articles; 

 these are found in great abundance. In reference to the potter^-, still 

 stronger evidence of its being manufactured on the spot was dis- 

 covered. We found an excavation of a circular form about six or 

 eight feet in diameter, and four or five feet deep, which had been 

 loosely filled with sand that was easily removed ; and in shoveling it 



