SCIE 



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THE CHEEOKEES IN PRE-COLUMBIAN TIMES.' 

 II. 



Having thus followed back the chaiu by the lig-ht of his- 

 tory and tradition, we turn next to the evidence derived from 

 the mounds. 



Altbough it cannot be stated positively that no tribe ex- 

 cept the Cherokees occupied this Appalachian region between 

 1540 and 1690, still the evidence and indications leading to 

 that conclusion are so strong as to justify us in assuming 

 that it is cori-ect. It is possible that clans or small parties 

 from oth,er tribes may have taken up their abode temporarily 



One of the ancient burial-places in Caldwell County, 

 N.C, explored by the agents of the United States Bureau of 

 Ethnology, is described as being a burial-pit in the form of 

 a triangle, the two long sides 48 feet each, and the southern 

 base 32 feet, in which the bodies and accompanying articles 

 were deposited and then covered over, but not so as to raise 

 any distinct mound above the natural surface of the ground, 

 or, if so, it had settled to the level of the latter. The depth 

 of the original excavation, the sides of which could be dis- 

 tinctly traced, varied from two and a half to three feet. In 

 this pit were twenty-seven skeletons arranged as follows: 

 nine lying horizontally on their backs on the bottom of the 

 pit, with nothing over them except the dirt (these were 

 buried separately) ; four were in a sitting posture, and over 

 each a small beehive-shaped vault of cobblestones; four 

 buried two and two in vaults, but lying horizontally at full 

 length; and ten or more in one group, which, from their 

 arrangement in regard to each other, the explorers believed 

 must have been interred at one time, the skeleton of the 

 principal personage of the group resting horizontally on his 

 face on the bottom of the pit. Under the head of this skele- 

 ton was a large engraved shell gorget shown in the figure 

 (Fig. 1). Aroand the neck were a number of large-sized 

 shell beads, probably the remains of a necklace; at the sides 

 of the head, near the ears, five elongate copper beads, or 

 rather small cylinders, varying • in length from one and a 

 half to four inches, part of the leather thong on which the 

 smaller ones were strung yet remaining in them. These 

 beads were made of thin copper cut into strips, and then 

 rolled up so as to bring the edges together on one side in a 



with these mountain Indians; but, so far as history informs 

 us and the remains indicate, a single instance of the kind 

 only is known. It is therefore a fair presumption that such 

 mounds or other works of this area, not constructed by the 

 whites, which indicate contact with European civilization, if 

 there be any, are to be attributed to the Cherokees. 



* Continued from Science of May 10, p. 300. 



Straight line. The plate out of which they were made was 

 as smooth and even as though it had been rolled. Under 

 the breast of the same skeleton was also a piece of copper. 

 The arms were partially extended, the hands resting about a 

 foot from the head. About each wrist were the remains of 

 a bracelet composed of alternate beads of copper and shell. 

 At his right hand were four iron specimens much corroded, 



