HOLMES] STONE DISKS. 277 



tciior iiiul posterior surfaces, au(l in additiou to tliis the paint is worn 

 oil' from the circular s]nice bounded below by the two holes." ' 



Fig. 2 represents the back or convex side of the disk, the long; curved 

 lines indicate the laminations of the shell, and the three narrow cres- 

 cent-shai)ed fij;urcs near the centei- are ]>erforati()ns resultinj;' from the 

 deep engraving of the three lines of the volute on the concave side. 

 The stone grave in whic'li this ornament was found occnipied the sum- 

 mit of a mound on the banks of the Cumberland IJiver opi)osite I^Tash- 

 ville, Tennessee. Professor Jones, also represents in the same work, 

 page 109, a large fragment of a similar ornament which has a])])arently 

 had seven circlets in the dotted zone and thirteen marginal bosses. 

 This specimen, which is three and one half inches in diameter, was ex- 

 humed by Dr. Grant, from "a small rock mound" near Pulaski, Giles 

 County, Tennessee. 



Prof. C. C. Jones describes a number of stone disks containing 

 designs which evidently belong to the class under consideration. De 

 inclines to the ojiinion that they were designed for some sacred otHce, 

 and suggests that tliey were used as i)lates to offer food to the sun god. 

 The specimen of which I present an outline in Fig. 3, Plate LVII, is fig- 

 ured by Mr. Jones, and his description is as follows : It is " circular in 

 form, eleven inches and a half in diameter, an inch and a quarter in 

 thickness, and weighing nearly seven pounds. It is made of a close- 

 grained, sea-green slate, and bears upon its surface the stains of centu- 

 ries. Between the rim, which is scalloped, and the central portion, arc 

 two circular depressed rings, running parallel with the circumference 

 and incised to the depth of a teuth of an inch. This circular basin, 

 nearly eight inches in diameter, is surrounded by a margin or rim a lit- 

 tle less than two inches in width, traversed by the incised rings and 

 beveled from the center toward the edge. The lower surface or bot- 

 tom of the plate is flat, beveled upward, however, as it a])proaches the 

 scalloped edge, which is not more than a quarter of an inch in thick- 

 ness. * » * The nse of these plates from the Etowah Valley may, 

 Ave think, be conjectured with at least some degree of probability. It 

 is not likely that they were employed for domestic or culinary pui'poses. 

 Their weight, variety, the care evidenced in their construction, and the 

 amount of time and labor necessarily expended in their manufacture, 

 forbid the belief that they were intended as ordinary dishes from which 

 the daily meal was ro be eaten, and suggest the impression that they 

 were designed to fulfill a more unusual aud important oflice. The com- 

 mon vessels from which the natives of this region ate their prepared 

 food were bowls and pans fashioned of wood and baked clay, cala- 

 bashes, pieces of bark, aud large shells. Flat platters, made of an ad- 

 mixture of clay and pounded shells, well kneaded and burnt, were 

 ordinarily employed for baking corn-cakes and frying meat; but it does 



•Jones ; Aboriginal Remains of Tennessee, pp. 42-3. 



