THOMAS.] 



TENNESSEE. 



395 



soil to tlie> depth of 4 feet. At the bottom of this were the bones of a 

 child lying in a bed of wet ashes 4 or 5 inches thick. The rest of the 

 pit above this bed was iilled with very dark, loose earth, similar to that 

 produced by decayed vegetable substance. Scattered through this 

 dark earth were lumps of some greeu substance which crumbled to 

 dust on exjjosure to the air. 



Mound 2 was 32 feet in diameter and only 2 feet high, and consisted 

 throughout of light colored earth, similar to the surrounding soil. 

 Small bits of charcoal were scattered through it, but uo indications of 

 burial. Beneath it, at the center, was a pit in the native soil similar 

 to that in No. 1, but only 3 feet deep. This was filled with very dark 

 eartli. 



Mound 3 was similar in size and every other respect to No. 2. 



Mound 4 was 35 feet in diameter and 4 feet high. Around it were 

 depressions from which it is evident tlie earth was obtained to build it. 

 Bits of charcoal were scattered all 

 through the red clay of which it was 

 composed. In the center, at the 

 depth of 2 feet, was a single i>rostrate 

 skeleton with the head to the north- 

 east. Near the head were a line 

 steatite pipe, some flint chips, a flint 

 drill, and a small celt. There was, 

 as usual in this group, a circular pit 

 in the native soil about 4 feet across 

 and 3 feet deep, in the bottom of 

 which lay a folded adult skeleton, 

 surrounded by charcoal and ashes 

 and a few fragments of steatite ves- 

 sels. 



A short distance from this group, 

 at the upper end of Jackson's island, there are seven shell heai)S, some 

 of which are GO feet in diameter, though rising but little above the gen- 

 eral surface of the ground, yet by digging into them they were found 

 to extend downward to the depth of from 3 to 4 feet. In these were 

 several stone pestles, chipped flints, and other refuse material. 



Fig. 274 — Mounds on John Jackson's farm, 

 Loudon county, Tennessee. 



M(>VXI>S ox THE JACKSOX FAHM. 



About the mouth of the Little Tennessee is a series of mound groups, 

 mostly of the ordinary conical form, and of comparatively small size. 

 The first of tlie series represented in Fig. 274 is on the upper end of the 

 Jackson farm, 4 miles from Lenoir's station, and is No. 10, PI. xxv. 



The river at this point is deep and sluggish. A small creek enters 

 it from the east side, flowing through a narrow bottom between high 

 parallel ridges. Mound No. 2 is in the bottom, close to the creek and 

 about half a mile from the river. It measured GO feet in diameter and 



