ANTIQUITIES OF TENNESSEE. 277 



earth filliug the graves. The graves, or " cists," do not seem to be laid 

 out according to any regular plan, though many of them are side by 

 side and located close together. We found none, however, in which the 

 same slab was used as a partition between two burials, but those opened 

 were complete in themselves. Of two completely exhumed by us, lying 

 side by side, one had stone slabs lying on the bottom upon which the 

 body had been laid. The sides and ends of the grave were lined with 

 thin limestone slabs, making a complete stone cist, about six feet long 

 and just wide enough for the body to be placed within it, with the arms 

 pressed close to the side. The body had been placed on its back, but 

 the head had fallen a little to the right side, and the pressure of the 

 earth had caused a distortion of the base of the skull in the opposite 

 direction from the point on which the skull rested. Close to the left 

 shoulder a small earthen vase, holding about a gill, was found. It had 

 perforated ears for suspension, and was filled with some carbonized 

 matter. The skeleton of a child, of about two years (as we surmise 

 from the condition of the teeth), lay between or upon the legs of the 

 adult (probably a female), its head between the thighs, and the body 

 extended down along the legs. The earth inside the cist was very com- 

 pact, and mixed very thoroughly with periwinkle shells. I concluded, 

 from the compactness of the earth within the cist, that it had been 

 heaped up and the slabs laid ui)on the heap to allow for settling, as no 

 space existed between the covering slabs and the earth beneath. 



In the next grave there were no stones forming a bottom to the cist, 

 but the body lay upon the earth. In this case the head had not turned 

 at all, and the distortion by compression was a flattening of the rear of 

 the skull, so that the diameter from front to rear was less than the lat- 

 eral diameter. No ornaments, tools, or pottery were discovered in this 

 grave, but a flint arrow-head of the blunt pattern was found in the earth, 

 above the covering slabs. Another noticeable feature was the fact that 

 ])art of the covering had fallen in at one side. Had the stone been laid 

 upon the upright slabs forming the sides, it could hardly have fallen in 

 in that manner, but must have broken by the weight of the superin- 

 cumbent earth. The earth filling the grave, as in the other, was mixed 

 with shells. 



These graves are found everywhere about Nashville, and within the 

 city limits. On the ridges close to the Sulphur Spring, the stones in- 

 closing such graves may be seen protruding from the ground, where the 

 earth above has weathered oft'. Fragments of pottery abound, some of 

 the common sort, and others very thick — about one-half to three-fourths 

 inch — composed of a grayish clay, with large fragments of shells. The 

 vessels of which they were part must have been very large. Tradition- 

 ally, they are believed to have been used in evaporating salt from the 

 spring. A brief search resulted in finding numerous specimens on the 

 surface and protruding from the sides of the ridges near the surface. 



