218 ABORIGINAL SITES ON TENNESSEE RIVER. 
'The smaller mound on Swallow Bluff Island, measured from the northern side 
on the general level of the field, is 9 feet 6 inches in height. It is about square, 
with a diameter of 90 feet; the summit-plateau is about 30 feet across. "The 
sides and corners of the mound exhibit no orientation evidencing a purpose. 
Fie. 19.—Burial No. 20. Stone box-grave of an infant, 23 inches by 17 inches, over all. Swallow 
Bluff Island, Tenn. 
As the soil of the summit-plateau did not lend itself to the use of the sounding- 
rod, recourse was had to trial-holes, which were put down throughout almost all 
the available space on the plateau. At a depth of somewhat more than 4 feet 
through dark clay with some admixture of loam, hard yellow material was reached 
which was not indicative of the presence of graves. 
The following burials were encountered in the dark layer above the yellow. 
Burial No. 1. Sixteen inches from the surface was a symmetrical, elliptical 
fireplace 14 inches by 16 inches and about 5 inches deep, having the sides, which 
were not sloping, but vertical, burnt red, and the base hardened by fire but con- 
taining no ashes or charcoal. 
Near this fireplace, but perhaps having no connection with it, was a stone 
grave consisting of limestone slabs arranged in a single thickness on another 
fireplace, the hardened clay of which served as a floor for the grave, but as the 
