MYER] GORDON TOWN SITE 557 
Randolph County.—Mill tract; De Frenne place; Bluff Ferry, 1 mile below 
Rockwood; Rockwood and several points in its immediate vicinity; Sparta. 
Jackson County.—On Big Muddy River in sec. 22, T. 108., R. 3 W. 
Alexander County.—Hale’s place. 
Union County.—Linn’s place: NW. 14 sec. 16, T. 13, R. 2 W.; NW. 14 sec. 16, 
T.10S., R.2W 
They also appear to have lived at several points along the Illinois 
River and elsewhere in Illinois and adjoining States. The remains 
left by the ancient Gordon peoples in their long wanderings through 
the southern United States mark the highest degree of culture reached 
by stone age man east of the Mississippi River and south of the Ohio. 
DATE OF DESERTION OF GORDON SITE 
All the facts indicate that the Gordon people came into the Central 
Basin of Tennessee at some unknown time prior to A. D. 1000 and 
that their arrival may have been hundreds or even a thousand or 
more years before A. D. 1000. They probably arrived in different 
bands at widely separated intervals. Their settlement of the region 
was probably gradual. They appear to have built many important 
towns and small settlements. Somewhere in nearly every rich bot- 
tom of the Cumberland River in middle Tennessee traces of one or 
more of their homes can be found. They probably remained in the 
Central Basin of Tennessee for at least 450 years. 
It is impossible to state what peoples lived in middle Tennessee 
before the Gordon people. Beyond question many wandering bands 
of savages drifted into this region before the Gordons, and these 
bands gradually went out or were forced out later. The Gordon 
people appear to have built some of the larger towns in middle Ten- 
nessee. Probably one-third of the known Indian remains in this 
region of Tennessee belongs to the Gordon kin. 
The Gordon site furnishes some facts which will throw additional 
light on the probable date of its desertion. These facts are as follows: 
There is an accumulation of from 14 to 20 inches of black loam 
covering the floors of the ruins. It will average about 16 inches. 
The present depth of rich black loam on top of the original clay 
subsoil on this site, on the exterior of the house circles, immediately 
under the following letters on map (pl. 95), is: 
Inches 
Under ©, betweenvciroles#Nos. and'S_-. === eee 31 
Under D, between: circles) Noa:3;, 5,’and 6.2... =) eee ee ek 2414 
Under F, to the éast; obcirdlewNo; 24-2 2 5S ee ee 22 
Wnuder'H, between, circles" Woswdi7-nndile 2s = eee oe. 58. 21 
There are a number of very large trees standing on top of these 
ruins. 
