EARTHWORKS ON THE BIG HARPETH RIVER. 61 



curved Hues, and the human figure. Unfortunately a large portion of this speci- 

 men has been worn away by the action of the soil, and it is possible to reproduce 

 only a small fragment of this curious record, which may have related to the history 

 of the tribe which once inhabited this ancient town. 



The lines of the carvings were copied by laying on the surface of the slicll a 

 transparent paper, and then tracing them carefully with India ink. The tracings 

 thus obtained are represented in Fig. 30 about the natural size. 



A small image rested on the left elbow of the child, facing the cranium. The 

 general form of this specimen is similar to that of the female image which I dis- 

 covered in the sacrificial and burial mound on the banks of the Cumberland, op- 

 posite Nashville. It is hollow, with a horizontal opening in the back part of the 

 head. From the appearance of the light-colored clay and river shells of which it is 

 composed, it had evidently been exposed to the action of fire. The vertebrse are 

 prominent, and one of the largest is perforated, so as to admit the passage of the 

 thong or string by which it was most probably suspended around the neck of the 

 owner or in the temple house. 



This image, four and a half inches in height, represents a pregnant woman in the 

 crouching or kneeling posture, commonly assumed by the North American Indians; 

 the body resting on the knees and on the feet doubled under the buttocks. 



A well-made and gracefully formed water vessel, capable of holding about three 

 pints, rested on the right side of the skull; its height is 8.5 inches, and its circum- 

 ference 18 inches. A long polished bone needle or piercing instrument, 14 inches 

 in length, lay across the breast of the child. It had been fashioned with great care 

 from the tibia of the American deer, and was probably used for piercing leather. 



The grave containing the relics just described was two and a half feet in length, 

 and the long bones of the leg and thigh occupied a position as if the knees had 

 been bent and the legs thrown back. The grave by the side of the one last men- 

 tioned was about six feet in length, and contained the skeleton of an adult male, 

 the bones of which were extensively diseased as if by syphilis. The long bones 

 of the arms, thighs, and legs were disfigured by nodes and erosions. A large 

 conch shell carefully fashioned into a drinking vessel, and a beautiful light-red 

 vase, similar in form, material, and painting to the one discovered in the burial 

 mound on the banks of the Cumberland opposite Nashville, were obtained from 

 this stone grave. 



The next grave east of this, and towards the flanks of the mound, was about four 

 and a half feet long, and contained the skeleton of an adult, the long bones of the 

 thigh and leg being flexed on each other and on the trunk. At the right side of 

 the head lay an oval black pot with four protuberances on the rim, somewhat 

 resembling a terrapin in shape; heiglit 3.2 inches, circumference 18.1 inches. A 

 medium-sized black pot (the body of which was 5 inches in diameter, the height 

 4.4 inches, and the circumference 16 inches) was found resting at the foot of the 

 grave on a pile of stone chisels or polishing instruments, and fragments of silex. 

 Two fragments of beautiful semi-transparent jasper rested on each side of the head 

 in contact with the temporal bones. 



The next "-rave, passing around the mound towards the east, lay a little nearer 



