NO. lO SMITHSONIAN EXPLORATIONS, I923 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 ]\Iuseum the report of this important discovery will be 

 published by the Bureau of American Ethnology and a collection of 

 duplicates of objects ol^tained will Ije 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. 



ARCIIEOLOGICAL FIFXD-WORK IN TENNESSEE 



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

 can Ethnology, spent ]\Iay and June, 1923. exploring the remains of a 

 great prehistoric Indian town in Cheatham County, Tennessee. These 

 remains are known as the Great Mound Group on account of the 

 great central mound. Some interesting scientific ])roblems 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 eft'orts of Lieutenant Norman ^IcEwen, of tlie 136th 

 Air Squadron, Tennessee National Guard, aeroplane photographs 

 were secured. 



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

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

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

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

 ]ierpendicular blufl:'s and the remainder of palisaded walls. 



GREAT MOLND UI\IS[0N OF THE GROUP 



In the upstream Ijend of the (ireat Mound division of the town he 

 found a bold projecting hill which had been artificially shaped from 

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

 a great plaza or public square, about 1,000 feet in length and 500 feet 

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

 1 10 and III. At the northeast corner of this plaza, at the brow of the 

 tall terraced hill and overlooking the adjoining region for several 

 miles, the Great ]\Iound had been erected. It is denoted by M on 

 figures no and 1 1 1. Along the eastern edge of this plaza two smaller 

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



