﻿ND. lO SMITHSOiXIAN EXPLORATIONS, 1 923 IO9 



Several hundred human skeletons and a valuable collection of 

 mortuary and other objects were found, among which was a fragment 

 of a canoe made of soapstone, stone utensils and implements, mortars, 

 pestles, beads, daggers, pottery, and other articles. By arrangement 

 with the Heye Museum the report of this important discoverv will be 

 pulilished by the Bureau of American Ethnology and a collection of 

 duplicates of objects obtained will be deposited in the U. S. National 

 Museum. The collection is the finest illustrating the culture of the 

 Santa Barbara Indians that has been made in many years. 



ARCHEOLOGICAL FIELD-WORK IN TENNESSEE 



Mr. William Edward Myer. special archeologist. Bureau of Ameri- 

 can Ethnology, spent Alay and June, 1923. exploring the remains of a 

 great prehistoric Indian town in Cheatham County, Tennessee. These 

 remains are known as the Great Mound Grouj) on account of the 

 great central mound. Some interesting scientific problems were re- 

 vealed by his excavations at this old town on the Harpeth River near 

 Kingston Springs. Through the kindness of Mr. Wilbur Nelson. 

 State Geologist of Tennessee. Mr. Crawford C. Anderson made a 

 survey of the group. His maps are shown in figures 108 and 109. 

 Through the efforts of Lieutenant Norman McEwen. of the 136th 

 Air Squadron.. Tennessee National (iuard. aeroplane photographs 

 were secured. 



The remains of this ancient town or towns are found in two adjoin- 

 ing bends of the Harpeth, aljout a mile apart, and cover about 500 

 acres. The two sections of the town or two separate towns had each 

 been protected Ijy its own line of defenses, consisting in part of 

 perpendicular bluffs and the remainder of palisaded walls. 



GREAT MOUND DIN'ISION OF THE GROUP 



In the upstream bend of the Great Mound division f)f the town he 

 found a bold projecting hill which had been artificially shaped from 

 base to summit. The original rounded summit had lieen leveled until 

 a great plaza or ]niblic square, about i.ooo feet in length and 500 feet 

 in breadth, had been formed. This plaza is indicated by P on figures 

 no and in. xAt the northeast corner of this plaza, at the brow of the 

 tall terraced hill and overlooking the adjoining region for several 

 miles, the Great Mound had been erected. It is denoted by M on 

 figures no and in. Along the eastern edge of this plaza two smaller 

 mounds had been built. Three wide terraces had been formed along: 



