526 PREHISTORIC VILLAGES IN TENNESSEE [eTH. ANN. 41 
vessels found by Mr. Bushnell is shown in Plate 108.1° In order to 
show the method of using such large, thin, easily broken, bowl-like 
vessels which had no handles, we quote from Mr. Bushnell’s text, 
which accompanied this plate.” q 
In the main excavation more than 8,000 square feet of the original clay surface 
were exposed to view. On this surface were discovered four large earthen pans 
placed as they had been when last used, fragments of four similar pans, probably 
broken while in use, and 28 fire beds. 
* * * The pan designated as II is 2514 inches in diameter, 9 inches deep, 
and less than three-quarters of an inch thick. It was set in the clay, allowing 
the rim to extend less than 2 inches above the surface. To make this pan more 
substantial, large fragments of a similar vessel had been placed under the bottom 
and around it at a distance varying from a half to 11% inches, the intervening 
space having been filled with blue clay from the bed of the creek. 
The next example, III, is the smallest of the four. * * * It was set in the 
clay, the rim extending about 2 inches above the surface. Fragments of pottery 
and a mass of blue clay surrounded it, similar to II. A photograph of this vessel 
before it was removed from the clay is reproduced, Plate B. The fragments of 
Fic. 140.—Large vessel from interior of circle No. 3 
pottery surrounding the pan are visible. The largest pan discovered (I) was 
not set in the yellow clay as were all the others but rested upon a mass of ashes 
and earth a few inches above the clay surface—probably it had never been used. 
The dimensions of this large vessel are: diameter 31 inches, depth 12 inches. 
This, although of the greatest capacity, is the thinnest of the four; in many 
places it is not more than half an inch in thickness. Pan IV was set into the 
clay with its rim extending 2 inches above the surface. Dimensions: diameter, 
24inches; depth, 9inches. Although neither the blue clay nor sherds surrounded 
this vessel, it was found to be in an excellent state of preservation. A photo- 
graph of this plate as it was discovered is shown in Plate B. All were made of 
clay, to which a large quantity of pulverized shell was added. The surfaces, 
both inside and outside, are smooth and without decoration of any sort. 
The fire beds, 28 in number, averaged more than 2 feet in diameter, and 
beneath many the heat had reddened the clay to a depth of from 6 to 9 inches, 
while, of course, the surfaces had become quite hard. In pan II a piece of stone 
about 8 inches in diameter was found which showed the effect of fire; similar 
stones were discovered either near or resting upon different fire beds, all showing 
unmistakable evidence of having been heated. And so we may conclude that 
the stones were heated and placed in the pan containing the water from the 
spring, the water would soon evaporate, leaving the salt in the bottom of the 
vessel. 
The Gordon site people had no salt water. The closest source of 
salt water was the salt and sulphur spring in Sulphur Spring Bottom, 
on the present site of Nashville, about 8 miles to the north. Boiling 
16 Primitive salt-making in the Mississippi Valley. Man, No. 13, 1907. Pl. B. 
17 Ibid., pp. 17-19. 
