EARTHWORKS ON THE BIG HARPETH RIVER. 



59 



the stone hammers, battle-axes, spear and arrow-heads, fashioned by the aborigmes 

 of Tennessee, were, as a general rule, superior in workmanship and beauty of shape 

 to those which I saw in Europe. 



An eartlieuware vessel about seven inches high, composed of clay and crushed 

 shells, rested on its base, near the pelvic bones, on the left side of the skeleton, in 

 the central hexagonal grave, as if the left hand of the deceased had been placed 

 around its neck. Two large sea-shells, one of which was much decayed, lay 

 on the right side of the skeleton. The interior surface of these shells liad been 

 painted red, and the exterior had been marked with three large circular spots. 



Around this central octagonal grave were ranged nine other stone graves. In 

 one constructed like a coffin, about seven feet in Icngtli, extending directly from 

 the head of the central grave, four copper crosses, or rather copper plates with a 

 cross stamped on each of them, were exhumed, resting on the cranium of an indi- 

 vidual, who appeared, from the worn condition of the teeth and the alveoli of the 

 upper and the lower jaw-bone, to have died at an advanced age. The copper, 

 during its slow oxidation, had stained the bones of the cranium to a deep green 

 color. In their general outlines two of these copper plates, re- 

 sembled the human figure. Small holes in the ends of the 

 plates seemed to indicate that they had been worn suspended 

 from the ears, or around the neck. At the time of tlie destruc- 

 tion of my dwelling by fire, in Nashville, in 1867, I had the 

 misfortune to lose three of these relics. The remaining one 

 now in my possession is shown in Fig. 25. 



These copper plates were evidently too thin and delicate to 

 be used for any other purpose than as ornaments. 



This grave also contained a remarkable vase (Figs. 26 and 27) gi-avein aburiai mound 



?,,,,, 1 '^ on the Big Harpeth 



made of a light yellow clay and crushed river shells, on the sides River, 21 miles .above 

 of Avhich were painted in dark brown, almost black piorment, FrankUn, Tennessee, 



,.,,. . ^,.?- one-h.alf the natural 



three crosses, each inclosed in a circle, outside of which is a size. 



circular band, and beyond this a ring consisting of ten scallops. 



The body of the vase was accurately divided by three circular bands of black 



Fig. 25. 



Copper plate with a 

 cross stamped in the 

 centre, from a stone 



Fig. 26. 



Fig. 27. 



Fig. 26. Yellow clay vase with powdered shell degraissant, from a stone grave in a burial mound within the 

 ancient inclosure on the Big Harpeth River, two and a half miles above Franklin, Tennessee. One-fifth size. 



Fig. 27. Bottom of the vase represented in the preceding, Figure 20, showing the continuation of the black 

 pigment circles on the body of the siiecimen. About one-fourth the natural size. 



