544 PREHISTORIC VILLAGES IN TENNESSEE [ETH. ANN. 41 
Who was this man buried in such an unusual manner? Why had 
the leg bones been broken? Why were important bones missing? 
Our southern Indians and many others believed that when a 
warrior was slain in battle his soul wandered in disquiet until some 
enemy was slain in reparation or until some captive was adopted in 
his place. A captive so adopted took the place of the slain warrior 
in the family and received the care and affection which was the due 
of the deceased. A captive, on reaching the village of his captors, 
might be put to death with the cruelest torture, or he might be 
adopted into a place of honor and affection in the tribe. 
Was this man, whose bones we found, a captive from some other 
tribe, adopted in place of some dead warrior into the family occupying 
circle No. 842 Had his bones been buried just underneath the floor 
after the manner of his former tribe instead of that of his adoption? 
Is there any significance in the fact that no children were found 
buried under the floor of this dwelling wherein we discovered the 
bones of this adult male? His skeleton resembles those of the 
remainder of Gordon town. 
PREPARATION OF Foop 
We came upon the remains of the food department at C, D, E, F, 
G, H, K, in Figure 154. Cis a stone slab, 9 inches long and 4 inches 
in width by 2 inches in thickness. Stone D is 6 by 6 inches, by 6 
inches thick; stone £ is 6 by 8 inches, by 4 inches thick. C showed 
some very slight traces of having been used as a metate, but it is so 
small that such use must be regarded as doubtful. is the charred 
remains of a small wooden mortar 9 inches in diameter and 3 inches 
in depth, inside measurement. This mortar was 514 inches in height. 
Underneath 0, D, E, and K was a layer of black soil containing 
decayed mussel (unio) shells. This layer was 214 feet in diameter 
and about 3 inches in thickness. JH is a pile of kitchen refuse. In 
this refuse was a circular stone-pot cover, 31% inches in diameter and 
one-fourth inch thick, shown in Plate 120, 6. 
The broken muller, /, was found near the slab, #. This muller 
can be seen in situ in Plate 121, a. 
The women of circle 84 were the most slovenly housekeepers in 
the town. No such untidy layers of refuse were found in any of 
the other circles excavated. : 
The floor of the west and northwest sides of the wigwam was 6 
inches higher than the remainder of the floor in the central part of 
the circle. This is shown in Plate 121, a. 
The spaces L, M, O, P, Figure 154, were left unexcavated for the 
benefit of future explorers. 
