566 PREHISTORIC VILLAGES IN TENNESSEE (ETH. ANN. 41 
vidual stones were unusually rectangular for stone-age man. They 
showed no signs of having been shaped by man and evidently had 
been selected with care. Both of these piles of stone rested on the 
same bed of gray ashes. The ashes also were mingled through the 
bottom layer of the stones. They contained no fragments of pottery 
or bones and showed no signs of being used for domestic purposes. 
The soil under one of the piles of stones was burned red, showing 
strong action of fire; the soil under the other showed no effect of 
fire. None of the stones in either pile showed any signs of strong 
heat. These two piles appear to have been placed in position after 
the fire had been discontinued at these points but before the ash bed 
had been removed. They were probably used in some of the sacred 
rites. Their location on the floor and their general appearance 
suggest their being portions of an ancient shrine. 
Maize AND Maize Mar 
Immediately south of the piles of stones was found what was 
probably the remains of a store of maize and maize meal, shown in 
Plate 126, 6. There was about one peck of this material. It was 
found upon an earthen platform about 30 inches above the floor. 
The maize had been shelled. The grains were well preserved on 
account of having been charred. This ancient maize was submitted 
to Dr. W. E. Safford, who reported: 
This maize owes its preservation to the fact that it is charred and, like charcoal, 
will last indefinitely. The grains have been removed from the cob, but they 
are so well preserved that their size and shape can easily be seen, showing that 
the variety to which they belong is that known as the many-rowed tropical flint, 
about halfway between a true flint and a popcorn. Corn of this variety occurs 
in the West Indies. * * * Associated with it were pieces of charred wood 
and lumps of a substance, evidently of organic origin, which may possibly have 
been finely ground maize made into a kind of mush. 
Maize and maize meal are intimately connected with many of the 
rites of our Indians. 
A photograph of some of the grains of this corn is shown in Plate 
127. Through the courtesy of Dr. W. E. Safford there is reproduced 
alongside this ancient corn a typical ear of its nearest modern kin, 
the many-rowed tropical flint corn from Cuba. This ear of Cuban 
corn is 6% inches long and 11% inches in largest diameter. The 
grains of the Fewkes corn are somewhat similar both in size and tex- 
ture to those of the Cuban corn. An ear of this ancient corn would 
probably yield about one-third as much as an average modern ear. 
The Cuban corn is yellow. The ear shown in the illustration has 
four red-tinged purple grains scattered over it. 
While sacred corn might vary from tribe to tribe, each tribe com- 
monly had some one variety which they held for sacred uses only. 
This was planted so as to be in proper condition for use when the 
