374 ABORIGINAL SITES ON TENNESSEE RIVER. 
mined by submitting one of the celts to Harry F. Keller, Ph.D. (whose tests, 
. especially in the ease of copper, have aided us to such an extent in the past), 
with the request that an examination of the celt be made with a view of deter- 
mining the possible presence of diamonds and nickel. Dr. Keller reports as 
follows: 
“The iron blade shows no distinct crystalline structure when etched with 
dilute nitric acid or with iodine, and careful chemical tests show that the metal 
is free from foreign metals such as nickel, cobalt, and copper. <A solution ob- 
tained from several grams of the metal, after precipitating the iron, did not 
respond to that most delicate of reactions for nickel: the dimethylglyoxime test. 
There can be no doubt, therefore, that this iron is not of meteoric origin." 
Here, then, we find the aborigines possessed of a number of blades of iron 
manufactured by the whites, and yet apparently having almost no other objects 
of European provenance. 
Burial No. 10, in a grave 35 inches deep, was a skeleton partly flexed on the 
right, the head SE. At each side of the skull was an ear-plug of the pin-shape 
variety, about 6 inches in length. At the right of the cranium were the remains 
of a rattle consisting of the shell of a turtle or a tortoise, enclosing pebbles, and 
one valve of a large cockle (Cardium robustum), a marine shell. At the outer 
side of the left shoulder, grouped together, were: fragments of the shell of a 
turtle or a tortoise, with a number of small pebbles, mingled with which were 
some of the throat teeth of the fresh-water drum-fish (Aplodinotus grunniens),' 
which no doubt made an excellent substitute for pebbles; the penis-bone of some 
animal;? a bone piercing implement; nine musselshells (Lampsilis anodontoides). 
On the upper part of the thorax was a gorget of shell with scalloped margin, 
much resembling one shown by Thruston? and by Holmes,‘ which has incised 
centrally a triskele. With the gorget was a shell bead .75 inch in length. In 
the space between the femora (which the reader may recall were drawn up) 
and the trunk was a bowl of earthenware, 6.5 inches in diameter, undecorated 
save for six small lugs projecting from the margin of the opening. 
Burial No. 11. This skeleton, 22 inches down, heading SSE., lay on the 
back, the right thigh extended in line with the trunk, the left thigh slightly 
bent toward the right one. Both legs were flexed to an acute angle with the 
thighs; the left forearm was flexed closely on the humerus. 
Burial No. 12. In a grave 3 feet deep lay a skeleton partly flexed to the 
right, the head NW. At each side of the cranium was an ear-plug of the pin- 
shape variety; small shell beads were at the neck and at the right wrist. At 
the right hand was an earthenware pipe eae crushed, which has since been 
restored (Fig. 87). 
1 This variety of drum-fish frequents the Mississippi and its tributaries. 
? This bone ps astray when submitted for identification. 
3 Ор. cit., Fig. 
AFL in ia. of he Ancient Americans,” Pl. LVI. 
