46 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [b0ll. 71 



found in the lai'oe graves along with the bones of human adults." 

 (Op. cit., pp. 7-9.) 



It may be difficult to determine the explanation of this strange 

 custom, but similar discoveries have been made elsewhere in the 

 southern country. Westward, across the Mississippi in Crittenden 

 and Mississippi Counties, Arkansas, Moore encountered bones of 

 birds in graves associated with human remains. Bones identified 

 belonged to the swan, goose, and turkey. And, as wdll be shown 

 later, the Creeks within historic times buried various animals with 

 or near the dead, and this may have been the survival of a more 

 ancient custom. 



In addition to the extensive cemeteries, similar graves were ar- 

 ranged above the original surface and a mass of earth reared over 

 them. A most interesting example of such a mound was described 

 by Jones. It stood on the bank of a small stream about 10 miles 

 from Nashville, and measures some 55 feet in diameter and 12 feet in 

 height, and " contained perhaps one hundred skeletons, the stone 

 graves, especially towards the center of the mound, were placed one 

 upon the other, forming in the highest part of the mound three or 

 four ranges. The oldest and lowest graves were of the small square 

 variety, whilst those near or u})on the summit, were of the natural 

 length and width of the skeletons within. In this mound as in other 

 burial places, in the small square stone graves, the bones were fre- 

 quently found broken, and whilst some graves contained only a por- 

 tion of an entire skeleton others contained fragments of two or more 

 skeletons mingled together. The small mound now under considera- 

 tion, Avliich was one of the most perfect in its construction, and the 

 lids of the upper graves so arranged as to form an even, round, shelv- 

 ing rock surface, was situated upon the western slope of a beauti- 

 ful hill, covered with the magnificent growth of the native forest. 

 The remains of an old Indian fortification were still evident, sur- 

 rounding an extensive encampment, and several other mounds. The 

 graves of the mausoleum which chiefly engaged my attention were 

 of all sizes, arranged in various directions, with no special reference 

 to the points of the compass. In a large and carefully constructed 

 stone tomb, the lid of which was formed of a flat rock over seven 

 feet in length and three feet in width, I exhumed the bones of what 

 was supposed to be an ancient Indian chief, who had passed his 

 hundred summers. The skeleton was about seven feet in length and 

 the huge jaw had lost every vestige of a tooth, the alveolar processes 

 being entirely absorbed. From another sarcophagus near the base of 

 the mound, were exhumed the bones of an Indian of gigantic stature 

 and powerful frame, who died apparently in middle life." (Jones, 

 Joseph. (2).) 



