98 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [ BULL. 69 
most interesting groups stands on McKee Island, in the Tennessee 
River, a short distance above Guntersville, Marshall County, Ala- 
bama. A ridge extends the length of the island, and— 
“ Along the middle part of the ridge are various sites once occupied 
by wigwams, all circular so far as we could determine, except one 
which was square. The sites were marked by depressions and had 
been surrounded by small embankments, but as the ground had been 
under cultivation in the past, exact measurements were not obtain- 
able. . . One of our circular depressions, 32 feet in diameter, was 11 
inches below the surrounding level, which perhaps included part of 
the original embankment. Digging in this site disclosed a fireplace, 
about centrally situated, made up of three layers of burnt clay, show- 
ing that the level of the fireplace had been raised from time to 
time. . . . The largest site, 52 feet square, was 1 foot 8 inches below 
the level around it.’’ (Moore, (2), p. 282.) 
As the area occupied by this ancient village site had been under 
cultivation the small embankments must necessarily have become 
somewhat spread, therefore the measurements given must be greater 
than the size of the circles and square at the time they were made. 
A group of small circles in Wilson County, Tennessee, was exam- 
ined and the interesting discovery was made that within some were 
stone-lined graves. This corresponds with the known custom of 
some Muskhogean tribes of depositing the remains of the dead in 
graves beneath the floor of their dwelling, which they continued to 
occupy. Such was the habit among the Chickasaw, within whose 
territory the present county of Wilson may have been included, and 
this group may mark the site of an early village of this tribe. 
Quite similar to the site on McKee Island was another discovered 
on the summit of a bluff some 60 feet in height, overlooking Barren 
- River, in Barren County, Kentucky. Here 16 lodge sites could be 
traced, ‘“‘partly raised on the outer rim and depressed in the center. 
In the center of each, a foot beneath the surface, were found coales, 
the grain of the wood being easily distinguished as oak and poplar. 
The diameters of these rings average about.18 feet in diameter.” 
(Evans, (1), p. 609.) 
These had evidently not been touched by the plow, and therefore 
remained nearly in their original condition, although the cavity 
within the circle had been partly filled through natural causes. This 
group bears a very strong resemblance to those existing in the upper 
Missouri Valley. 
Other groups of circles have been discovered north of the Ohio, 
one being on the bank of Clear Creek, Union County, Ulinois. Here 
the village site, as indicated by the circles, is | surrounded by an 
embankment. 
