128 



ANTIQUITIES IN TENNESSEE. 



Fig. 6G. 



CHAPTER VII. 



RELICS FROM THE MOUNDS AND STONE GRAVES. 



It has been well said, that the fabrics of a people unlock their social history ; 

 they speak a language which is silent, but yet more eloquent tliau the written 

 page. As memorials of former times, they commune directly with the beholder, 

 opening the imwritten history of the period they represent, and clothing it with 

 perpetual freshness; however rude the age, or uncultivated the people from whose 

 hands they came, the products of human ingenuity are ever invested with a peculiar 

 and even solemn interest. 



Stone and Clay Images. 



That the aborigines of Tennessee were idolaters is manifest from the stone and 

 clay idols which have been found in various portions of the State ; some of which 

 were discovered in caves, and otliers upon the summits of high mounds. 



These idols are of various sizes, from the large stone images, two feet in height, 

 to the small clay figures, not more than two inches in length. 



They were carved from various materials, such as limestone, sandstone, fluor- 

 spar, and steatite. 



That, in some instances at least, they were 

 fashioned on the spot wliere they are now found, 

 is manifest from the position in which the stone 

 image shown in figure 66 was discovered. 



This remarkable idol was discovered in a cave, 

 on the banks of the Holston River, near Straw- 

 berry Plains, in Knox County, Tennessee. The 

 cave appeared to have been used by the Indians 

 for purposes of worship. The image is com- 

 posed of yellow crystalline limestone, similar in 

 all respects to the stalagmites, stalactites, and 

 incrustations of the walls of the cave. In fact, 

 it appears to have been fashioned from a large 

 stalactite, and the point at which the back of 

 the head was attached to the walls of the cave 

 is represented in the profile view. 



It will be conceded tliat this image bears, in 

 its features, a general resemblance to the char- 

 acteristic physiognomy of the North American 

 Indians of the present day. This resemblance 

 is seen in the narrow retreating forehead, heavy superciliary ridge, prominent 

 angular nose, full cheeks, and broad, square chin. As far as we can gather from 



Front and side view of a Stone Idol from 

 Knox County, Tennessee. Height 20 inche.s. 



