MYER] THE FEWKES GROUP 587 
The bodies buried in this mound were those of some of the first 
inhabitants of the site. They are the ones who raised the mounds 
of the Fewkes group. These first inhabitants have been designated 
the flexed-burial people because of their unusual method of burial. 
The two graves re- 
maining in mound No. 
3 were very different 
from the usual rectan- 
gular stone-slab graves 
of middle Tennessee, in 
which the bodies were 
buried on the back, 
extended full length. 
The graves in mound 
No. 3 were either hex- 
agonal or octagonal or 
nearly round. The 
stone-slab coffins were about 32 inches in diameter and about 18 
inches in depth. The bodies were closely flexed. They had appar- 
ently been buried on the back, with the limbs very closely flexed, as 
shown in Figure 192. The graves had been more or less disturbed by 
relic hunters. 
Fic. 191.—Horizontal pole method of suspension 
GRAVE F 
Grave F was the first opened in this mound. If it ever had a top 
it had already been removed and the bones slightly disturbed. The 
stone-slab coffin was shaped as shown in Figure 193, with a floor of 
limestone slabs, and was 32 inches in diameter and 18 inches in depth. 
As near as could be determined, the 
body had been buried on the back, 
with limbs closely flexed, as shown in 
Figure 192. Around the lower end of 
the humerus the five large shell beads 
shown in Plate 132, a, were found. 
The pot shown in Plate 132, b, was 
found upright at the left of the head. 
Fic. 192.—Skeleton showing flexed burial The photograph correctly portrays its 
aoe Riven” pi) Stes 9m Te2 unsymmetrical shape when found in 
the grave. It is now impossible to 
determine whether this arose from some pressure from aboye, while 
it was in the grave, which had no stone-slab top, or whether it got 
into this shape while being fired. The pot was filled with earth, 
which was examined by Dr. W. E. Safford, but the leaching of the 
years had removed all trace of its original contents. It was 6 inches 
across the rim and 6 inches in depth. 
