26 THE PROBLEM OF THE OHIO MOUNDS. 



exaiiiiiicd tliciu has failed to note tlieir strong- reseinblauce to the Eu- 

 ropean mode of burial. Even Dr. Joseph Jones, who attributes them 

 to some "ancient race," was forcibly reminded of this resembhmce, as 

 he remarks: 



In looking at the rude stoue coftius of Teuucssee, I have again and again been im- 

 pressed with the idea»that in some former age this ancient race ninst have come in 

 contact with Europeans and derived this mode of l)urial from them.' 



The presence of stoue graves of the type uuder consideration in the 

 vicinity of the site of some of the " over hill towns" of the Cherokees 

 on theLittIo Tennessee River, presented ;i difficulty in the way of the 

 theory here advanced, as it is well known that the Cherokees and Shaw- 

 nees were inveterate enemies from time immemorial. But by referring 

 to Schoolcraft's History of the Indians tlu3 following statement solves 

 the riddle and confirms the theory: 



A discontented portion of tlie Shawnee trilie I'rom Virginia lirolce off from tlio 

 nation, whicli removect to tlie Scioto country, in Ohio, about tlie year 17;>(), and 

 formed a town known by the nanu^ of Lulhegrud, in what is now Chirk County 

 [ Kentucky], about 30 miles east of tliis place [Lexington]. This tribe left this coun- 

 try about 1750 and went to East Tennessee, to the Clierokee Nation.- 



Some years ago Mr. George E. Sellers discovered near the salt spring 

 iu Gallatin County, 111., on the Saline River, fragments of clay vessels 

 of unusually large size, which excited much interest in the minds of 

 antiquarians, not only because of the size of the vessels indicated by 

 the fragments, but because they appeared to have been used by some 

 ])rehistoric people in the manufacture of salt and because they bore im- 

 pressions made by some textile fabric. In the same immediate locality 

 were also discovered a number of box-shaped stone graves. That the 

 latter were the work of the i)eople who made the pottery Mr. Sellers 

 demonstrated by finding that uniuy of the graves were lined at the 

 bottom with fragments of these large clay "salt pans."^ 



Mention of this pottery had b een made long previousl>^3y J. M. Peck 

 in his "Gazetteer of Illinois,"^ 



He remarks that " about the Gallatin and Rig Muddy Salines large 

 fragments of earthenware are very frequently found under the surlace 

 of the earth. They appear to have been portions of large kettles used, 

 probably, by the natives for obtaining salt." 



The settlement of the Shawnees at Shawneetowu, on the Ohio River^ 

 in Gallatin Countj', in comparatively modern times, js attested not 

 only by history but by the name by which the town is still known. 

 There is evidence on record that there was an older Shawneetowu 

 located at the very point where this "salt-kettle" pottery and these 

 stone graves were found. This is mentioned in the American State 

 Papers^ in the report relating to the famous claim of the Illinois and 



'Aboriginal Remains of Tennessee, pp. 34,:55. 



2 V(d. 1, p. SOL 



•■•Popular Science Monthly, vol. 11, 1877, pp. r)73-584. 



■• 1H34, 1). 52. 



'■•Public Lauds, Class VIII, vol. 2, p. KK!, Oalcs and Seaton od. 



