276 ANTIQUITIES OF TENNESSEE. 



India and China. The workmanship is rude, it is true, but faithful in 

 its details. The legs are only represented to the knees. There is an 

 attempt to show the hair, and at the back of the head there is a knot 

 of hair, with a loop for the suspension of ornaments. This figure does 

 not contain an opening like a pipe, and was evidently only intended as 

 a representation of a man. It was found lying in a grave by the side 

 of a huge skeleton, much taller than the present race of men. The 

 skeleton was in such a state of decay that it could n9t be preserved. 

 Another idol of sandstone of much ruder workmanship than the former 

 was found here. It weighs eight pounds, and was also taken from a 

 grave. Evidently art was in its earliest stages when this was executed, 

 and it is rather a caricature than a likeness of man. The arms folded 

 on the breast are only outlines traced in the stone, and the features are 

 made in a similar manner. The breasts are larger in proportion than 

 those of the former image, and from their prominence I am inclined to 

 think it was intended for a female. Another figure about the same size 

 and of the same material was found ; it unquestionably represents a 

 woman. The features are more distinct, and the arms, instead of being 

 ^crossed, rest upon the side, with the hands upon the knees. The breasts 

 are well developed, and the spinal column is marked along the entire 

 length of the back. The head-dress is peculiar, the hair being in folds, 

 and divided into three separate parts, with a knot on the top of the head. 

 All these images were taken from graves, though mounds were in their 

 immediate vicinity. I have many other relics of the mound-builders, 

 but these comprise the most important and interesting. 



ANTIQUITIES OF NASHVILLE, TENX. 



By E. S. KOBERTSON, of Fort Wayne, Ind. 



On the 27th of August, 1877, during the session of the American 

 Association for the Advancement of Science, in company with Mr. H. U. 

 Eust, of Chicago, and Mr. E. Curtis, of I^ashville, I visited a locality 

 famous for its stone graves, or " cist " burials. It is a vast cemetery, 

 situate on a hill-side, about two miles from the State House, beyond 

 risk University, the hill being crowned by Fort Zollicoffer, a Confed- 

 erate earth- work commanding the Cumberland River for a considerable 

 distance. Nearly all the hills and ridges in the viciuity are said to have 

 been occupied and used as cemeteries by the aborigines. A brief search 

 through a corn-field close at hand rewarded us with a number of perfect 

 and broken arrow-points and two pestles, one of which is peculiar from 

 having the upper end flattened like the " fleshers," or " skin-dressing 

 implements." The ground on the face of the hill, where denuded by 

 the action of the weather, is covered with periwinkle shells, and on 

 digging we found them everywhere mixed in large quantities with the 



