348 MOUND EXPLORATIONS. '' 



BUNCOMBE AND HElVDEESON COUNTIES. 



Some mounds iu and aloiiR- tlic borders of these two counties were 

 explored which present some characteristics worthy of notice. 



MOCND ON LYTI.e's FARM. 



This mound is near Cane creek, Henderson county, in a field of bottom 

 land owned by ]VIr. A. Lytle. It measured 48 feet from east to west, 38 

 feet from north to south, and 8 feet hiph. The oval shape is possibly 

 due in part to the fact that it has long been plowed over in one direc- 

 tion. It was built of yellow sand throughout, showing no stratification 

 except a single layer of coal and ashes, 3 inches thick, just above the 

 original surface of the ground. 



THE Cf)NNER MOUND. 



This mound, located on the fann of Mrs. Eebecca Conner, 1 mile from 

 the jireceding, is 6 feet high, ii feet in diameter, round, and forms 



Fir. 226. — BofTu.s artn-Ie, Hiivwnoii conuty. North Carolina. 



a symmetrical cone. Small trees were growing on it. It was found to 

 contain what, to all appearances, were the remains f)f a charcoal pit. 

 In the center had been placed pine poles, as shown in Fig. 229, and 

 burned to charcoal and ashes. The diameter of the base of this conical 

 heap was 10 feet, the lieight nearly 6 feet, the sides sloping regularly to 

 the apex. The interior portion consisted of ashes and small coals, mixed 

 with earth, in which were found some burnt bones and two perforated 

 stones. 



All the mound, except the coal bed, consisted of red clay. It stood 

 on a ridge about half a mile from the creek, on hard, gravelly soil, which 

 bore no indications of having been disturbed before building the 

 mound.' 



'Attention is called here to a statement by Haywood (Nat. and Aborig. Hist. Tenn., p. 234). Speak- 

 ing of the inhabitants of lower East Tennessee he says: " The former inhabitants appeared to have 

 lived in houses which, on the outside, seemed to be the color of a blacksmith's coalpit. The houses 

 were made by setting up poles .and then digging out the dirt and covering the poles with it. They 

 were round and generally about 11) feet in diameter." 



