THOMAS] TENNESSEE. 365 



The locality was visited immediately after this occurreuce. The dark 

 soil had all been washed away, leaving the hard yellow sand exposed. 

 On the highest point of the rise could be seen a large niiniber of skele- 

 tons, some still resting in their graves, bnt more washed ont and scat- 

 tered over the surface, or the bones drifted here and there in heaps. 

 Several days were spent in examining this interesting spot and exca- 

 vating the graves from which the skeletons had not been removed or 

 washed out. All that could be determined was that they had been 

 buried horizontally in comparatively shallow graves dug in the original 

 soil for their reception. There was no regularity as to direction, some 

 heads being east, some west, some north, and others south. The area 

 covered was about 2 acres. Scattered over this were small broken 

 stones, arrowheads, flint chips, fragments of potteiy, etc. 



Mound Xo. 1, about 55 feet in diameter and 3i feet high, stood on a 

 slight elevation about one-fourth of a mile from the river, but some- 

 what nearer the creek. It had been plowed over for many years, bring- 

 ing to the surface human bones, some of which were lying on the top 

 when examined. 



The entire mound was removed, revealing some large flat stones 

 near the surface. The earth about these was dark and loose, while the 

 remainder consisted of hard red clay. Nothing further of interest was 

 observed. It is apparent, therefore, that the skeletons which were 

 plowed up must have been near the top of the mound, which could not 

 have been more than 6 or 7 feet high. 



Between mound No. 1 and mound No. 2, there is quite a depression, 

 so much so that water fiequently stands here. As this mound (No. 2) 

 had never been plowed or disturbed, it retained its full proportions, 

 being CO feet in diameter, 10 feet high, and conical in form. At the 

 depth of 2 J feet was a layer of rather large, flat limestone rocks, extend- 

 ing horizontally in all directions to the margin of the mound. Imme- 

 diately beneath these stones lay twenty-five skeletons so close to them 

 that several of the skulls and other bones were crushed by them. Some 

 of the stones were quite large, but all of them about 4 or 5 inches thick 

 and some with the edges nicely squared, probabl j' by the natural fracture, 

 as there were no traces of tool marks on them. The entire m(mnd con- 

 sisted of red clay, but that portion above the stone platform was loose 

 and easily worked. About a foot above the bottom another bed of 

 similar stones was reached, but this covered an area only 7 feet in 

 diameter. Immediately under it, lying upon the original surface of the 

 ground, were five skeletons, slightly covered with earth, over which the 

 stones were laid. It is possible that after the first burial a small mound 

 may have been thrown up and that a considerable interval elapsed 

 before the second burial. That all the skeletons in a layer were depos- 

 ited at one time can not be doubted. The clay between the upper and 

 lower layers was so hard that it required the use of picks to break it 

 up. The skeletons in the lower layer were much decayed and crushed 



