MOUNDS, FORTIFICATIONS, AND EARTHWORKS. 



43 



formed was evidently derived from a large flat sea-shell; no fresh-water mussel in 

 any part of the waters of Tennessee and of the surrounding States could furnish a 

 uniform thickness of flat shell equal to tliis; and the regularity of its convex and 

 concave surfaces, as well as the perfection of all its parts, and the uniformity of its 

 thickness (about ^7 of an inch) are proofs that it must have been derived from a 

 large shell from the sea-coast. 



The form of the circles or " suns" carved upon the concave surface, is similar 

 to that of the paintings on the high rocky clifl's on the banks of the Cumberland 

 and Harpeth. 



Figs. 7 and 8 represent the carvings on this shell ornament. 



Kie. 7. 



Kig. 8. 



Figs. 7 ami 8. Shell ornament from the breast of a skeleton, lying in a carefully constructed stone coffin, in the 

 silDimit of a mound on the banks of the Cunilierland Eiver, opposite Nashville, Tennessee. Figure 7 represents 

 the concave, carved, and painted surface, and figure 8, the convex surface. 



This ornament, when found, lay upon the breast bone, with the concave surface 

 uppermost, as if it had been worn in tliis position, suspended around the neck, 

 as the two holes for the thong or string were in that portion of the border which 

 pointed directly to the chin or central portion of tlie lower jaw of the skeleton. 

 The marks of the thong by which it was suspended are manifest upon both the 

 anterior and posterior surfaces, and in addition to this the paint is worn ofl' from 

 the circular space bounded below by the two holes. 



This skeleton had around the neck, arms, waist, and ankles, numerous beads of 

 various kinds. The smaller beads were all formed of small sea-shells, represented 

 in figure 6. This form of bead was but rarely found in the stone graves ; the 

 majority of the graves containing either no beads at all, or only the small round and 

 oblong kinds carved out of bone and shell. About one pint of these small perfo- 

 rated sea-shells were found with this skeleton, and the greatest number lay around 

 the waist, as if the body had been encircled with a belt ornamented with these 

 shells. 



This stone grave, which was about two feet beneath the surface (that is, the lid 

 of the coffin was covered with this thickness of earth), had been constructed with 

 such care that little or no earth had fallen in, and the skeleton rested as it were 

 in a perfect vault. 



