ABORIGINAL SITES ON TENNESSEE RIVER. 223 
noted at the time of our visit, which were: height, 4.5 feet; diameter of circular 
base, 80 feet. 
The mound, of material mainly clay dark in color, was riddled with explora- 
tory holes by us except in the outer parts where preliminary digging indicated 
no burials were to be found. 
In addition, a hole 10 feet by 9 feet was sunk centrally in the summit to a 
depth of 6 feet, with four smaller excavations from its base, each about 18 inches 
in depth. Five feet 6 inches down a base line seemed to be reached, but this 
was not decisive, clay of much the same color as the mound continuing as far 
as the digging went, and a fragment of worked flint coming from the greatest 
depth. Presumably the mound had been built on the made-ground of the 
dwelling-site. 
Immediately below the surface scattered fragments of human bones were 
found, evidently indicating disturbances by the plow. With one of these dis- 
turbed burials had been three vessels of earthenware, undecorated and common- 
place in form, whose fragments were mixed with the bones. 
Five burials in all were encountered, none deeper than 2 feet, two of which 
had cut through fireplaces in the mound. 
Burial No. 1, a skeleton extended on the back, the head E. Lying trans- 
versely on the thorax was a graceful celt of slate, 5.3 inches in length. At the 
right shoulder was a small, undecorated bottle having a globular body with an 
angular base. Near the skull was a small bowl with a rude animal head on one 
side and a conventional tail on the opposite side. 
Burials Nos. 2 and 3 were each partly flexed to the right, the head to the E. 
Over the feet of one was a mixture of bones of another skeleton, including the 
skull. 
Burial No. 4 lay extended on the back, the head directed E. by N. At the 
skull was a small, undecorated pot having two loop handles, and a large fragment 
of a coarse cooking vessel lay on the trunk. An asymmetrical bottle of yellow 
ware, undecorated, having a neck in the form of a truncated cone, was at the 
right shoulder. 
Burial No. 5, a mixture of bones 15 inches down, seemed rather too deep to 
have been a disturbance through cultivation, and may have been an aboriginal 
one. All the bones in this mound were badly decayed and fell to pieces on 
removal. 
In a nearby dwelling-site holes came upon a skeleton extended on the back, 
the skull, plowed away in all likelihood, being absent. Its direction would have 
been E. by N.—easterly like those in the mound. Part of the skull of a child 
also was found just below the surface. 
MOUNDS NEAR PITTSBURG LANDING, HARDIN County, TENNESSEE. 
At Pittsburg Landing, immediately overlooking the river, is the United 
States National Cemetery where lie many of those killed on the Union side in 
