THOMAS. ] BURIALS IN EAST TENNESSEE. el 
Mr. Emmert says he learned that there was a tradition of the neigh- 
borhood that the Indians once fought a great battle at this place, and 
that one party buried some of their dead in mound No. 2, and the other 
party buried their dead on the opposite side of the river, where there 
is alarge pile or mound of “river roek.” 
He opened one of the rock mounds occurring in this region half a 
mile from the river and near the foot of the mountain. <A large tree 
had grown up through it, the stump of which was yet standing, or the 
mound had been built around it. After removing the rock and dig- 
ging up the stump, he found, at the depth of 4 feet and directly under 
the stump, two stone axes, a large number of arrow-heads, two pol- 
ished celts, and some pieces of mica. 
Another mound on the Holston River, 2 miles above the two hereto- 
fore described, was examined. This was 60 feet in diameter and 45 feet 
high. The original surface of the earth had been first covered over 
about 3 inches thick with charcoal, then the bodies or skeletons laid on 
it, and each walled up separately with river rock. These were then 
covered with black earth, over which was cast a layer of sand about 
the same thickness, the remainder being top soil. 
Mr. Emmert, who opened this, commenced cutting a ditch 4 feet 
wide, proceeding until he struck the bed of charcoal; then followed 
around the outer edge of it, finally removing all the dirt inside the cir- 
cle. One side of the circle had six skeletons in it, all walled up, as 
before stated, separately, but so thoroughly decayed that only one skull 
could be saved. 
The other side of the mound had nothing in it except a fine pipe 
which he found on the bed of coals, some 10 or 12 feet from the nearest 
skeleton; some beautiful arrow-heads, shell beads, a polished celt, and 
two small stones with holes in them were also discovered. 
In addition to the foregoing descriptions from the reports of my 
assistants, I present the following, from accounts of earlier explora- 
tions in this region: ; 
A burial mound situated on the left bank of the Tennessee River, 
about 1 mile from Chattanooga, was opened by Mr. M. O. Read in 1865. 
This was oval in form and flat on top, the diameters of the base 155 
and 120 feet, and those of the top 82 and 44 feet; height, 19 feet. Mr. 
Read says :' 
For the purpose of examination, a tunnel was excavated into the mound from 
the east, a little one side of the center and on a level with the natural surface of 
the ground. When the point directly under the outer edge of the top of the mound 
was reached, holes were found containing fragments of rotted wood showing that 
stakes or palisades had been erected here when the mound was commenced. The 
sound of the pick indicating a cavity or different material below, the excavation 
was carried downward about 2 feet, when two skeletons were uncovered, fragments 
of which preserved are marked No. 1. The bones were packed in a small space, as 
though the bodies were crowded down, without much regard to pesition of hands, 

1 Smithsonian Report 1807, p. 401. 
