ABORIGINAL SITES ON TENNESSEE RIVER. 321 
rested on masses that had been placed here and there as supports at the sides, 
but which were far from continuous. As none of the covering stones resting 
on the supports was of a size sufficient to span the grave and hence lay diagonally, 
while others had been placed without side support, the upper surface of the 
placement was very irregular. 
From the top of this stone grave to the surface of the mound was 5 feet 4 
inches. That the grave had not been dug down from any part of the mound 
above was clearly shown by the presence of unbroken strata to the surface. 
Here ends the record of the burials from the central excavation in Mound 
On each side of this excavation, in the line of the longer axis of the mound, 
a hole 10 feet square was dug to the alluvial soil, resulting in the discovery of 
burials as follows: 
Burial No. 6. Beneath a slab of claystone, 2 feet by 1.5 foot, that lay 10 
inches below the surface, were the bones of a child, 2 inches of shell material 
lying between them and the slab. 
Burial No. 7. Six feet from the surface, in what seemed to have been a pit, 
though its beginning could not be determined, the strata in the side excavations 
not being so clearly defined as they were in the central one, though the pit was 
distinetly marked at its base, lay a skeleton at full length on the back, the grave 
there averaging 6 feet 8 inches long and 2.5 feet wide. 
On and around this skeleton was a placement of stones and slabs, as follows: 
A slab 35 inches long by 23 inches wide lay immediately over the trunk and skull 
of the skeleton. Placed diagonally, so that it slanted over that part of the 
great slab which covered the skull, was a thick mass of stone. Beginning some- 
what above the shoulder, on the right side, there continued along the skeleton, 
in line to the knee, a slab, three small masses, and another slab, in the order 
named, the two slabs being placed on edge and projecting above the burial, the 
three masses simply being at its level. Beginning on a line with the top of the 
skull on the left side and continuing down almost to the pelvis was a long slab 
on edge rising above the burial, and a number of small masses of stone in line, 
all resting on the great slab that lay above the skull and the trunk of the skeleton. 
Above these masses, but not in contact with them, were other small masses 
in the shells. 
In a rude semicircle around the feet and ankles, four masses of rock had been 
arranged. One of these, of sandstone, 16 inches by 12 inches, by 7 inches in 
thickness, flat on two opposite sides, had been used on both of them as a mortar, 
and also probably to crack nuts upon, as on one side the depression was accom- 
panied by seven small pits and on the other by ten of them. This interesting 
stone has been placed on exhibition at The Academy of Natural Sciences. 
From the pelvis down the skeleton was not covered. 
Burial No. 8, a skeleton partly flexed on the right, 3 feet from the surface. 
Burial No. 9. At full length on the back, 4 feet down, lay a skeleton having 
31 JOURN. A. М. 8. PHILA., VOL. XVI. 
