NO. 6 SMITHSONIAN EXPLORATIONS, I92O II9 



of the child's head, the head showed not the faintest trace of the 

 action of fire. The graves of two infants were also found in the floor 

 of this house. 



At both the Gordon and the Fewkes groups every piece of bone 

 and every fragment of pottery was carefully saved and location 

 noted. These thousands of fragments will give a reliable record of 

 the food animals and practically a complete list of all the sizes, colors 

 and shapes of their domestic pottery. 



Both these sites, when explorations were completed, were accurately 

 restored to their original shape for the benefit of coming generations. 

 The interesting altars, fire-bowls, building post-holes, and vestiges of 

 domestic life were carefully preserved, and again covered up so as to 

 allow their future study. It is strongly urged by the citizens of 

 Tennessee that the Fewkes Group be made a national monument. 



Mr. Myer discovered a great Indian fortress on the long, narrow 

 point of land between the Harpeth and Cumberland rivers, at their 

 junction, in Cheatham County, Tennessee. This fortress consists of 

 a thin, double-faced bluff, about three-quarters of a mile in length, 

 and only from 10 to 250 feet wide along its tall and narrow summit. 

 It faces both rivers and has nearly perpendicular sides along its entire 

 length on both streams. It can be scaled with very great difficulty and 

 at only a few places. The Indians protected these few places of ascent 

 with breastworks or mounds. This was a central place of refuge for 

 a series of scattered Indian settlements extending about six miles up 

 and five miles down the Cumberland River and about five miles up 

 the Harpeth. 



The four pipes from this region are unlike any found elsewhere 

 in the valley, and probably the culture of the ancient people who used 

 this fort was different from any other known at present in the Cum- 

 berland Valley. 



On a recent visit Dr. Fewkes examined the great unexplored mound 

 group on Harpeth River at the mouth of Dog Creek, in Cheatham 

 County. This group is the remains of one of the important pre- 

 historic settlements east of the Mississippi. 



There is a great mound, with wide earthen platforms, capping a 

 hill in the up-stream end of this settlement. A portion of the hill 

 has been artificially shaped so as to give greater prominence to the 

 works on top of it. Surrounding these works on the summit are 

 the ruins of a large edifice and other important remains. This portion 

 of the settlement covers about 40 acres and is said to be connected by 

 an embankment with ihe remainder of the mounds in IMound Bottom, 



