NO. 12 TRIBAL MIGRATIONS — BUSHNELL 3 



the Iroquoian peoples had arrived in the regions south of the St. 

 Lawrence, some tribes of the Algonquian stock appear to have pene- 

 trated far south along the mountains into Tennessee or beyond, while 

 others pushed onward into the piedmont sections of the present Vir- 

 ginia and of the Carolinas. Certain stone implements or weapons 

 found in these regions reveal great age and are readily distinguished 

 from others that were undoubtedly made and used by the later historic 

 tribes of the same regions. These older specimens were evidently made 

 during the early period of occupancy, during which time the nu- 

 merous soapstone quarries were probably opened and worked. 



The explorations conducted by M. R. Harrington in Loudon 

 County, Tenn., during the summer and autumn of 1919, resulted 

 in the discovery of evidence of very early tribes in the upper valley 

 of the Tennessee. Traces of three distinct periods of occupancy were 

 recognized. The earliest was termed that of the " Round Grave 

 people " by reason of the characteristic form of burial encountered. 

 The objects of stone and types of pottery vessels attriljuted to this 

 early period resemble similar material found from New England 

 southward to Virginia. The extensive use of soapstone in the same 

 localities is another important similarity. " It thus seems logical to 

 state that our ' Round Grave people ' were either Algonkians closely 

 related to those of the Middle Atlantic slope, or had at least been pro- 

 foundly influenced by them."'' Possibly one or more of the proto- 

 Muskhogean tribes followed the " Round Grave people ", and these 

 in turn may have been succeeded by the Cherokee, who continued to 

 occupy the region in historic times. 



The earlier 'wave of Algonquian tribes into the south probably 

 receded before the approach of the Siouan and other peoples coming 

 from the west or southwest. The connection between these early 

 tribes and the inhabitants of tidewater Virginia at the beginning of 

 the seventeenth century may have been very slight. 



Although the Algonquian tribes came from the northwest, all other 

 native peoples encountered east of the Mississippi are generally thought 

 to have migrated from the west or southwest. These coming from 

 their earlier habitat arrived on the right bank of the Mississippi, prob- 

 ably southward from the vitinity of the mouth of the Arkansas River ; 

 thence, having crossed to the eastern side, they became widely dis- 

 persed throughout the river valleys, pinelands, and mountain ranges. 



The first movements of the native peoples into the country east- 

 ward from the Mississippi, those from whom some of the historic 



^ Harrington, M. R., Cherokee and earlier remains on Upper Tennessee 

 River, p. 167. Museum of the American Indian, New York, 1922. 



