THOMAS.) THE TENNEISSEE DISTRICT. 577 



Located on a laap, tliey form a series exteuding iu a northeast and 

 southwest direction through the central portions of Kentucky and 

 Tennessee. They occur most frequently, however, along the Big Har- 

 peth river and its branches, but are scattered in an irregular line 

 through the eastern and southern counties surrounding Davidson and 

 Williamson, with a few outlying posts to the northwest and southwest, 

 reaching in the former direction as far as Union county iu Illinois and 

 in the latter to the soutliern border of Tennessee. Thougli aboriginal 

 remains, as mounds, stone graves, hut rings, cemeteries, etc., are prob- 

 ably more abundant in Davidson county in and around Nasliville than 

 in any other section of the district, there is a noticeable absence of any- 

 thing like fortifications in that immediate vicinity. Dr. Joseph Jones 

 mentions traces of an ancient earthwork in connection with stone graves 

 and hut rings on a hill 9 miles to the north of Nashville, and remains 

 of a similar character about the same distance to the south of that city, 

 near Brentwood, in Williamson couiity. 



The works of this kind bear a general resemblance to each other, 

 though there are some minor points of difference and a few strongly 

 marlced exceptions to the usual type. The inclosures are generally 

 more or less circular or seuucircular in form, and situated on a bluff or 

 steep bank of a stream or river. In many instances this bluff, where 

 very steep, forms the protection for one side of the inclosure, the ends 

 of the wall terminating on the edge of the bluff. They are almost 

 invariably accompanied by stone graves, hut rings, and ditches, the 

 latter generally inside, following the line of the inclosing wall. The 

 mounds are mostly of the conical type, but each inclosure contains one 

 and sometimes two that are decidedly larger than the others, and usu- 

 ally pyramidal and flat-topped, though not generally symmetrical in 

 form, most of them being oblong. Occasionally a round one is found, 

 but as a general rule they are truncated. The smaller mounds and 

 hut rings are scattered irregularly over the inclosed area, and not 

 infrequently are found outside the wall. The works near Saudersville, 

 iu Sumner county, those near Lebanon in Wilson county, the De Graf 

 fenried works near Franklin, in Williamson county, and others on the 

 Big and West Harpeth rivers, are good types of this class of works. In 

 Jackson county near Floyd's lick, and in Henry county in the vicinity 

 of Paris, similar inclosures have beeii discovered. There are a few 

 instances, as in the iiorther]i districts, where the embankment is merely 

 a straight or slightly curving wail thrown across a spur or ridge of laud 

 at the junction of two streams wliere the banks are of sufiicient height 

 to prevent surprise from that quarter, and the wall is thrown across to 

 guard the iaudward or more easily accessible side. A work of this 

 kind was found about 12 miles below Carthage, on the Cumberland 

 river, in Smith county. The wall was accompanied by an interior ditch, 

 and liad an entrance way, opposite which, and about feet from it, on 

 the inside, were the remains of a wall so placed as to form a rear guard. 

 12 ETii 37 



