J36 ANTIQUITIES IN TENNESSEE. 



the same veneration as did the Greeks, who consecrated the organ of generation 

 in their mysteries. The phallus and steis were exposed in the sanctuaries of 

 Eleusis. The Egyptians consecrated the phallus, in the mysteries of Osiris and 

 Isis, and Father Kircher mentions, on the authority of Cortes, that this worship 

 was established in America.^ 



The general features of these images, as represented in the drawings of Dr. Troost, 

 resemble those of the idols previously figured in this work, and, moreover, the 

 hair is represented in a similar manner, as rising up in a roll upon the head from 

 the forehead. 



Some of the Tennessee idols resemble, in their general physiognomy, the carvings 

 on the pyramids and stone structures of Central America, figured by Mr. John L. 

 Stephens ;" but they are apparently the work of a more ancient and primitive 

 people, being almost always nvide, and without the garments, the profuse orna- 

 ments, and the rich head-dress of the Central American figures. 



In their bold outlines and rude simplicity, they resemble more nearly the idols 

 and statues discovered and figured by Mr. E. G. Squier.' 



The idols discovered at Memotombita and Zapatero by Mr. Squier resemble, in a 

 marked manner, the stone idols of Tennessee ; and the resemblance is so striking 

 as to warrant the belief, that the people who fashioned these images in distant 

 portions of the continent must have had a common origin. 



It is a question whether the greater simplicity of the Tennessee images should 

 not lead the archa?ologist to assign to them a higher antiquity than the more 

 elaborately carved statues and temples of Central America. 



Shell, Pearl, and Copper Ornaments. 



The shell ornament discovered on the breast of the skeleton in the burial and 

 sacrificial mound on the banks of the Cumberland River, opposite Nashville, and 

 which was carved from a large flat sea-shell, resembling the Pecten Mortoni, 

 appears to have been sacred, ornamental, and symbolic. 



Similar ornamental patterns have been found in various portions of Middle and 

 West Tennessee, in the aboriginal mounds and stone graves. 



The construction of the ornaments from large flat sea-shells {Pecten Mortoni, 

 Pecten ehoreus, Pecten compa7-itis, and Pecten perdeensis) ; the reproduction of 

 the same figures ; the position in which they were worn, namely, upon the breast ; 

 their comparative rarity, not more tlian two having been found in any one burial 

 mound; and tlieir final deposit in carefully constructed graves near the centre of 

 the burial and sacrificial mounds, apparently with distinguished personages, sustain 

 the view which we have advanced, that these ornaments were of a sacred and 

 symbolic character. 



^ Transactions of the American Ethnological Society, vol. i, pp. 300-304. 



' Incidents of Travel in Central America and Yucatan, 18-41, vol. ii ; Incidents of Travel in 

 Yucatan, 1848, vol. ii. 



' Nicaragua, its People, Scenery, etc., vol. i, pp. 301-313; vol. ii, pp. 52-00. 



