54 



ANTIQUITIES IN TENNESSEE. 



Fig. 23. 



Black v.ist) from au aborigi- 

 nal cemfitery, nine miles from 

 Nashville. 



does not appear that the potter's wheel was used in its construction. It had 

 evidently been subjected to the action of fire. 



This specimen, which was called by the farmers in the vicinity where it was 

 found an " Indian canteen" is represented greatly reduced in Fig. 22. 



It is probable that this vessel, as well as others to be 

 described hereafter, had some symbolical significance rela- 

 tive to the tribal name, or to certain religious rites. It is 

 well known that the tribes of certain Indian nations, as 

 those of the Creeks and Iroquois, adopted some animal, as 

 the bear, fox, or panther, or some bird, as its tribal repre- 

 sentative. As far as my exploitations extended, these vases, 

 fashioned in the similitude of animals, were not common, 

 not more than one or two being found in each burial 

 mound. 



The stone grave from which the vase just described 

 Avas taken was of large dimensions, and contained the 

 bones of two individuals. One of the crania was in a 

 pretty good state of preservation, the other was destroyed 

 during its extraction. This cranium is pyramidal in form, 

 with a flat occiput, with a broad elevated forehead find long parietal diameter, 

 and resembles very closely the skull of the Natchez, described and figured by 

 Dr. Morton.^ The marked flattening of the occiput, and the square pyramidal 

 form of tlie craniinn, could only have resulted from artificial pressure during the 

 plastic state of the bones in early childhood. The effects of occipital compression 

 in this pyramidal cranium will be rendered evident by the following measure- 

 ments : facial angle, 80°; internal capacity, 78 cubic inches; longitudinal diame- 

 ter, 6 inches; parietal diameter, 5.6 inches; frontal diameter, 4.4 inches; vertical 

 diameter, 5.4 inches; intermastoid arch, 14.6 inches; intermastoid line, 5.1 inches; 

 occipito-frontal arch, 13.2 inches; horizontal periphery, 18.9 inches; diameter of 

 head and face, 7.2 inches; zygomatic diameter, 5.2 inches. The absence of teeth 

 from the superior maxilla may have rendered the facial angle greater than it 

 actually was before the loss of the teeth ; the error, however, cannot be considered 

 as very great. In this cranium there is a vacant space at the junction of the 

 occipital and parietal bones which was formerly occupied by a small intercalated 

 bone, referable to the occipital. This peculiarity is so common in the skulls of 

 this ancient race as to constitute a marked characteristic. 



On the high hill which rises above the stone grave cemetery on the farm of 

 Mr. Dixon, we observed a number of large circular depressions which had evidently 

 been the sites of aboriginal habitations or wigwams, and there were also some 

 traces on the crest of the hill of an ancient earth-work. About one mile beyond 

 the high hill is a noble spring, which has been noted for its unfailing supply of 

 pure, cold water ever since the settlement of this country by the Anglo-Americans. 



' Crania Americana, pp. 15T-162, Plates XX and XXI. 



