THOMAS.) THE TENNESSEE DISTRICT. 583 



in the \iciiiity, varying in length from 24 to S feet. Occasionally a 

 mound is found the internal construction of which differs so materially 

 from the usual type as to he worthj' of notice. One of these anomalies 

 is a small, double mound within the inclosure at Savannah, Hardin 

 county, Tennessee. This contained three furnaces or trenches, with 

 rude arches thrown over them of irregular masses of hardened clay. 

 From these a number of small flues 8 or 10 inches in diameter went uj), 

 some of them directly toward the surface of the mound, others twisting 

 and winding about through it in all directions. Large logs completely 

 charred, in both upright and horizontal positions, the ends burned off 

 by iire, human bones, and ashes were found in it. 



Another type is the stratified mound built up of layers of different 

 materials, as sand, clay, ashes, stones, etc. Examples of this kind are 

 found in several localities in the central portions of Tennessee and 

 occasionally in Kentucky. One in Union county, Kentucky, was con- 

 structed in a peculiar manner, having a hard central core of sand, over 

 which the mound was built by depositing loads of earth of about half 

 a bushel each; these were distinctly marked in sections in the mottled 

 layers. A few stone cairns or rock piles are noticed throughout this 

 region, some of them covering ashes and charred bones. 



Sometimes the remains of wooden posts are found in the mounds in 

 such a position as to indicate that they upheld or formed part of a 

 building or structure of some kind, as those in one mound of the Leba- 

 non group, and remains of wooden vaults have also been discovered, 

 though they are rare. A mound already mentioned in Union county, 

 Kentucky, near Ealeigh, appeared to contain a vault or chamber of some 

 kind, from the presence of the remains of charred logs, both in an 

 upright and a horizontal position. A wooden structure was found in 

 the earth in the vicinity of an aboriginal cemetery in Williamson 

 county, Tennessee. It M^as traced about 10 feet in length and 5 in 

 width, but no graves were found in or under it. 



liUHIAL CAVKS. 



Cave burials occur in this district in the following counties: In 

 Grayson, Hart, Edmonson, Barren, Warren, and Fayette counties, 

 Kentucky ; Smith, White, Warren, Giles, Marion, and Fentress counties, 

 Tennessee, and Bartow county, Georgia. These localities lie mostly in 

 a belt extending in a north and south direction through the center of 

 the district. 



In most of these caves, both in Kentucky and Tennessee, the bodies 

 appear to have been laid on the floor of the cave, sometimes in beds of 

 ashes, sometimes on a pavement of flat stones. Tliere are, however, 

 some instances in which the bodies have been found incased in stone 

 slabs, and afterwards imbedded in clay or ashes. In Smith and War- 

 ren counties, Tennessee, and in Warren and Fayette counties, Ken- 

 tucky, the flesh of the bodies was preserved and the hair was yellow 



