EARTHWORKS ON HARPETH RIVERS. 85 



In another large cranium, which had an internal capacity of about 100 cubic 

 inches, the marks of occipital pressure and flattening were but slight, as may be 

 gathered from the following measurements: longitudinal diameter, 7.2 inches; 

 parietal diameter, 5.7 inches; frontal diameter, 4.6 inches; vertical diameter, 5.9 

 inches; intermastoid arch, 16 inches; intermastoid line, 4.6 inches; occipito-frontal 

 ' arch, 15.2 inches; horizontal periphery, 20.8 inches. 



One of the crania taken out of the small square grave which contained another 

 skeleton, and from which the black pot shaped like a frog was obtained, exhibited 

 marks of artificial pressure or moulding, the occiput being flattened, the parietal 

 diameter increased, and the lateral diameter diminished, as will be seen from the 

 following measurements: longitudinal diameter, 6.1 inches; parietal diameter, 5.5 

 inches; frontal diameter, 4.1 inches; vertical diameter, 4.5 inches; intermastoid 

 arch, 14 inches; occipito-frontal arch, 13.6 inches; horizontal periphery, 19 inches. 



The bones in this grave had evidently been deposited after the flesh had been 

 removed, and after the skeleton had been disjointed. This cranium had been 

 fractured before being placed in this grave, for the interior was filled with frag- 

 ments of bone, and a portion of a rib extended quite across the vault of the skull. 

 The fragments of bone within the skull were imbedded in a tenacious black clay. 

 The other cranium from this grave presented little or no flattening of the occiput. 



The bones of another cranium, from a stone grave on the banks of the river, 

 presented nodular swellings, and the long bones of the skeleton to which it belonged 

 gave unmistakable evidences of the ravages of syphilis, in the numerous nodes, 

 and in the almost complete obliteration of the medullary cavity in tlie tibia. TJiis 

 cranium was in a good state of preservation; the facial angle is 77°, and the 

 internal capacity, 84 cubic inches. 



The bones of another cranium, exhumed from a stone grave in a dry and sandy 

 soil, Avere remarkably delicate, white, and bleached; and we concluded that it had 

 belonged to a female, and that it was one of the most recently interred in this 

 aboriginal graveyard. This cranium was said to have been taken from a stone 

 grave in this inclosure by the late Dr. Freeman, and, with one exception, was the 

 only specimen not removed from the stone graves immediately under my supervision, 

 or by my own hands. Altliougli it is slightly flattened, the occiput and general 

 contour of the head were less altered than usual in this aboriginal race, as will be 

 seen by the following measurements : facial angle, 76° ; internal capacity, 68 cubic 

 inches ; longitudinal diameter, 6.4 inches ; parietal diameter, 4.9 inches ; frontal 

 diameter, 3.9 inches; vertical diameter, 5.5 inches; intermastoid arch, 13.9 inches; 

 intermastoid line, 4.5 inches ; occipito-frontal arch, 13.8 inches ; horizontal peri- 

 phery, 18.2 inches; diameter of face, 7.1 inches; zygomatic arch, 4.6 inches. This 

 skull is characterized by its lightness, by a considerable degree of symmetry, by a 

 comparatively regular contour or curA'e in the occipito-frontal arch, by the narrow 

 forehead (the frontal diameter being only 3.9 inches), by the slight compression 

 of the occiput, by the low fecial angle, which was only 76°, and by the j^^'ogna- 

 thoiis jaws. 



On the other hand, some of the crania were greatly flattened at the occiput, 

 resembling those already described, as well as the crania of the Natchez Indians, 



