a — —— 
ABORIGINAL SITES ON TENNESSEE RIVER. 323 
Three feet from the surface was a placement consisting-of masses and slabs 
of moderate size, having the outline of an irregular, horizontal triangle with 
an altitude of 6.5 feet and a base of 5 feet 8 inches. These stones and slabs, 
contiguous as a rule, were arranged, however, so that several spaces of moderate 
size were left uncovered. Below this layer was an occasional mass of stone, 
but not in sufficient number to be considered a second layer. No trace of bones 
lay above or below this assemblage of masses. 
In one corner of one of the smaller excavations in this mound, extending 
16 inehes below the base, was a cireular pit 30 inches in diameter, filled with 
ashes and fragments of rock. 
Apart from human remains in this mound were found separately a number 
of implements of bone, some in excellent condi- 
tion; a celt of indurated shale, 5.6 inches in length; 
a cireular mass of sandstone about the size of a 
fist, having on two opposite sides a pit probably 
to aid in eracking nuts; many portions of antler Fic. 65.—Ear-plug of antler. 
partly wrought; arrow flakers of antler, whose Mound A, Widow’s Creek, Ala. 
handles, however, were not found; an ear-orna- Кш.) 
ment of antler, having below the head a groove showing polish through wear 
(Fig. 65). 
MOUND В. 
Mound B, 80 feet by 60 feet in diameters of base, had a height of 3.5 feet, 
measured from the exterior, though the distance from its summit to undisturbed, 
alluvial soil was 2 feet greater This mound, long plowed over and much ex- 
tended, was composed of musselshells in a way similar to Mound A. 
Three burials near the surface had been plowed away in places. Burial 
No. 4, a child, and Burials Nos. 5 and 6, all superficial, were closely flexed on 
the left. 
Burial No. 7, a skeleton lying on the right side, almost at full length, the 
thighs, however, slightly flexed, forming an obtuse angle with the trunk, the 
legs continuing down in a line parallel to the long axis of the trunk. The right 
humerus was in front of the face, the forearm under the upper part of the cranium. 
The left humerus formed a right angle with the trunk, the forearm flexed, bringing 
the hand to the forehead. The skull, of a yellow color, was crushed into small 
fragments and flat, resembling a squash that has been trampled upon. 
This burial was covered by a placement of stones and slabs in double thickness, 
8 feet long, 3 feet 9 inches at one end and 2 feet 9 inches at the other, much 
similar to the arrangement described in connection with Burial No. 5, Mound A, 
at this place, though the one in Mound B showed more irregularity. Its upper 
parts lay 1.5 foot below the surface. 
This burial had been a dual one. Between the two layers of slabs and masses 
that covered Burial No. 7 there lay at the head end of the grave, in complete 
disorder, a flattened mingling of the bones of an adult skeleton. 
