98 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. // 



people and from its general facies Dr. Fewkes allies it with the lower 

 layer that has been recorded in Cuban and other West Indian Islands. 



Only in rare instances is the pottery of the upper stratum painted, 

 but almost every fragment is decorated with designs whose outlines 

 consist mostly of rows of pits, in rare instances accompanied with 

 relief decorations (fig. 108). Little resemblance appears in the designs 

 on the decorated pottery from Weeden Island to those on the pottery 

 of the Tainan inhabitants of the West Indies, but the likeness of 

 utensils from the lower layers on these islands and on the peninsula 

 of Florida is striking. 



Dr. Fewkes found no specimens of European provenience in the 

 Florida mound half excavated by him at St. Petersburg, which indi- 

 cates that the village sites were pre-Columbian. A food bowl of 

 coarse, undecorated black ware was found on top of the lower layer 

 and probably is a survival of the archaic population. 



From the designs depicted on the pottery in the upper layer at 

 Weeden Mound and comparison with that described from mounds 

 on the Chattahoochee and Flint rivers of Georgia and other Gulf 

 States, Dr. Fewkes regards this pottery as not only characteristic but 

 as belonging to the highest type of ceramics in the Muskhogean 

 culture area. 



WORK IN ALABAMA AND TENNESSEE 



When the Wilson dam over Tennessee River at Muscle Shoals, 

 northern Alabama, is finished, the back water of the river will 

 flood a considerable section of its banks, covering several prehistoric 

 mounds and permanently concealing them. In order to rescue a 

 typical collection from these mounds before their submergence, the 

 Bureau allotted to Mr. Gerard Fowke a small sum of money for the 

 excavation of a kitchen midden and sand mound at the mouth of 

 Town Creek, a few miles from Courtland. In the sand mound Mr, 

 Fowke found human burials and accompanying mortuary objects. 

 The most important discovery at this mound consisted of three rare 

 copper reel gorgets, only a few of which have thus far been found. 



On his trip to Muscle Shoals to inspect the work, Dr. Fewkes 

 found several typical mounds higher up on the river banks which 

 would well repay excavation. The largest of these (fig. no), which 

 is here called the Acropolis, was the foundation of a sun-fire temple. 

 It lies in full sight of the Florence- Shefifield road and has long been 

 a landmark, as it is probably one of the highest mounds in the Valley 

 of the Tennessee. The present owner of this mound is thoroughly 



