MvER] THE FEWKES GROUP 595 
and 10 inches in depth. Both its exterior and interior were light 
gray, with mottlings of black near the rim. The bottom was fire- 
smoked. 
The portion of a very rare vessel of unknown design, shown in 
Plate 134, b, comprises all its fragments left within the building. It 
is to be regretted that the ancient inhabitants did not leave enough 
to enable its original form to be determined with reasonable certainty. 
The shape of two vessels with somewhat similar flat bottoms and 
full rounded bodies, shown in Plate V, Thruston’s Antiquities of 
Tennessee, gives some faint reason for the shape of the rim in the 
restoration. Thruston’s two vessels were found in a village of 
related culture, about 10 miles from Fewkes group. 
One portion of the bottom and its adjoining body bulge of this 
vessel in Plate 134, 6, shows far more effects of prolonged fire action 
than the other side. It has the appearance of not haying been sus- 
pended, but of having rested on its bottom, with the fire placed 
against only one side. This further tends to show it probably had 
no handles for suspension. 
The paste of this is different from that of the usual domestic vessel 
found in the Fewkes group. It is of a fine buff-colored clay mingled 
with sand containing a very few finely pulverized fragments of shell. 
The building in which it was found does not appear to have been a 
dwelling and was probably used for sacred ceremonial purposes. 
These two fine, unusual vessels, shown in Figure 199 and Plate 
134, b, were probably ceremonial and of a material not allowed in 
domestic vessels. The paste in that shown in Plate 134, b, resembles 
the buff-colored clay and sand material used in making the altar in 
this building, the only difference being the admixture of the small 
amount of finely powdered shell. 
The fine altar was not disturbed. The interior of this circle was 
again filled with earth and left for future investigators. 
STONE-SLAB Box 
The stone-slab box near the north corner of the altar was 9 by 14 
inches and 12 inches in depth. It was dug in the floor of the wigwam 
and had no stone cover or bottom. This box was filled with loose 
black earth very similar to the accumulated black loam which filled 
the remainder of the interior of the house circle. It possibly was 
slightly more fluffy and powdery. Through this soil in the stone 
box were found scattered a very few minute fragments of charcoal. 
It contained no ashes, broken bones, or pottery fragments, and 
showed no action of fire. This box was carefully made and may 
have been a receptacle for some sacred ceremonial object. Its use, 
however, is problematical. 
