H0LMB8.1 PINS FROM TENNESSEE. 



215 



Two illustrations are glveu in Plate XXX. Fig. 1 represents a fine 

 example, six and a quarter inches in length. The head is deeply grooved, 

 and is apparently cut from the middle part of the columella, the shaft 

 being formed from the spine-like basal point. The spiral canal, which 

 is clearly defined, makes but one revolution in the entire length of the 

 pin. In Fig. 5 a somewhat similar specimen is represented. Two fine 

 specimens come from a mound on Fain's Island, Tennessee River. The 

 larger one is made from the columella of some heavy shell, probably the 

 Strombus gigas. The head is cylindrical, and the shaft large, but imper- 

 fect. The smaller is a little more than two inches in length, the head 

 being small and conical, and the point more than usually blunt. Another 

 specimen was obtained from a mound at Taylor's Bend, near Dandridge, 

 Tenn. The head is almost spherical, and the point broken off; the 

 whole surface is new looking and highly polished. A number of bone 

 pins pointed at both ends were obtained from Fain's Island, besides 

 mauy perforators and other well-made implements of bone. 



Prof. C. 0. Jones describes' a number of shell pins without mention- 

 ing localities, stating, however, that such pins have been obtained from 

 a mound on the Chattahoochie Eiver, below Columbus, Ga. He pub- 

 lishes illustrations of two varieties. One, of the ordinary type, is five and 

 a half inches in length, one inch of that distance being occupied by the 

 head, which is an inch and a quarter in diameter. The shank is an 

 inch and a half in circumference, and, while tapering somewhat, is quite 

 blunt at the point. The other is of somewhat rare occurrence, being 

 pointed at both ends. An example of this variety is given in Fig. 4, 

 Plate XXX. They are usually small and short, seldom exceeding three 

 inches in length. 



In the national collection there are ten fine pins, obtained by C. L. 

 Stratton from a mound on the French Broad Eiver, fifteen miles above 

 Knoxville, Tenn. Four only are made from the Busycon perversum. 

 The largest specimen has a very large, cylindrical head, with an ex- 

 tremely deep groove. The shaft has been at least five inches long, and 

 is nearly one-half an inch in diameter. Another fine specimen is five 

 inches long, very slender, and nearly symmetrical. A small, almost 

 headless pin, not quite one and a half inches in length, is peculiar in 

 having a longitudinal perforation. It has probably been strung as a 

 bead. A fourth specimen is five and three-quarters inches in length. 

 The head is well rounded itbove, and the shaft tapers gradually to a slen- 

 der symmetrical point. The other specimens from the same locality are 

 in an advanced stage of decay, the points being entirely destroyed. 



The Peabody Museum contains a large number of very fine specimens 

 of this class. The most important of these were obtained from the 

 Brakebill, Lick Creek, and Turner mounds of Tennessee, by the Rev, 

 E. O. Dunning. The largest of these is upward of six inches in length. 

 An unusually symmetrical and well-preserved specimen from the Lick 

 'Jones: Antiquities of the Southern Indians, pp. 234, 518. 



