272 ABORIGINAL SITES ON TENNESSEE RIVER. 
body (Fig. 44). Though no interments were found near these vessels, it is 
probable they had been with human remains, as both were near the edge of the 
former digging. 
Throughout the rest of the mound, to the base, no burials were met, nor 
was any artifact encountered with the exception of part of a large axe, apparently 
of claystone, the posterior part of which was absent, and a rude knife of flint 
found on the base. No pit extending below the mound was discovered. 
Immediately adjacent to the mound was a small dwelling-site which, to 
some extent, had been eut away by the river that had left exposed parts of 
human skeletons in two places. Quantities of broken stones, quartzite and 
flint, lay along the shore, with which was an occasional arrowhead. On the 
surface of the site, which offered no indication in the way of a rise where digging 
might be successful, a few arrowheads were gathered, all with stems, some having 
barbs. Pottery of fairly good quality was either undecorated or bore a check 
or a cord-marked design. 
A limited amount of digging in this site soon came to a thickly-packed de- 
posit of shell where work progressed slowly, and it seemed hardly worth while, 
under such conditions, to devote a long period to finding, at most a few burials 
with which, in all probability, nothing had been deposited. 
MOUND NEAR LIMESTONE CREEK, LIMESTONE COUNTY, ALABAMA. 
In a cultivated field bordering Limestone creek and in sight from its bank, 
about 1.5 mile back from the union of the creek with the Tennessee, is a mound 
on the property of Mr. J. E. Penney, of Birmingham, Ala., who most cordially 
placed all his various properties along Tennessee river between Florence, Ala., 
and Chattanooga, Tenn., at the disposal of the Academy for investigation. 
The mound, about circular as to its base, had been somewhat spread by 
cultivation; its diameter was 55 feet. The height of the mound was hard to 
determine, as it was in part on the verge of, and partly on, a slope, so that its 
height depended largely on the point from which the measurement was made. 
From the level of the crest of the slope the mound had a height of 4 feet 8 inches, 
but later a measurement showed the base to have been slightly more than 6 feet 
below the summit of the mound. 
An excavation 16 feet square, which later was much enlarged in places, was 
put down, showing the composition of the mound to be of dark, midden soil, 
almost black as a rule, though near the surface in one part there seemed to be a 
mingling of clay somewhat lighter in shade. 
Thirty burials were encountered, all of which, with one exception, where a 
quantity of disconnected bones had been interred, were of the flexed form of 
burial or at full length, so far as could be determined. In the body of the mound 
especially there had been great disturbance, burials cutting through other burials, 
leaving parts of skeletons only. Single skulls were encountered also and were 
classed as burials. 
