316 ABORIGINAL SITES ON TENNESSEE RIVER. 
Burial No. 23, partly flexed to the left, head NW.; depth 14 inches. On the 
thorax lay a gorget of shell, the surface much decayed away in places, which 
had borne a conventionalized design of the rattlesnake. Gorgets better pre- 
served than this one and likewise having the design of the rattlesnake, will be 
shown in connection with Burials Nos. 41 and 56. 
Lying immediately on the gorget was a ceremonial axe of porphyry, 5 inches 
in length, of the “ hoe-shaped ” variety." These axes, which have been extensively 
figured by others as well as by ourselves, often show where the handle has been 
placed on them. We found, moreover, at Moundville, Ala., a shell ornament 
showing one of these axes set in its handle. 
The ceremonial axe, including the South American type, has been inter- 
estingly discussed in the superb work of Verneau and Rivet.? 
Near these, but some little distance from the skeleton, were two undecorated 
shell gorgets which had perhaps belonged to a much-disturbed burial, parts of 
which were nearby. To the left of the pelvis, grouped together, were a small 
chisel of iron or of steel (see our description of Burial No. 9); a flat pebble of 
flint, 3 inches by 2 inches, much chipped at one end as by use; six small arrow- 
heads, three leaf-shaped implements and two triangular, all of flint, ranging 
between 2.3 inches and 3.5 inches in length; also many flint fragments and 
chips. 
Burial No. 24, partly flexed to the left, head NW., rested on Burial No. 23. 
On the lower part of the thorax was a celt which was given to Mr. Gardenhire. 
Burial No. 26, partly flexed on the right, head SSE., both forearms closely 
flexed against the upper arms; depth, 2 feet 7 inches. Immediately on this 
burial were two slabs of cedar, each nearly 4 feet long and about 5 inches in 
width, which had been rudely split, not dressed like planks. On the left shoulder 
and extending down over the body were fragments of bones of lower animals. 
These fragments did not show decay and evidently had been broken intentionally. 
The following animals were represented, according to the identification of Dr. 
F. A. Lucas: raccoon, part of jaw; black bear, a large animal, parts of humerus 
and femur; Virginia deer, parts of vertebra, foot-bones, shoulder-blade, ete.; 
wild turkey, upper part of tarsus; loon (Urinator imber) femur; soft-shelled turtle 
(Aspidonectes spinifer) cranium and shoulder-blade; Mississippi catfish CAmiurus 
lacustris) a big fellow, 75 to 100 pounds in weight, back of cranium. 
On each side of the head was a shell ear-plug of the pin-shape variety, one of 
which had been moved slightly from the skull through some cause or another. 
Two similar ornaments lay side by side on the upper part of the thorax, the 
1 C. B. Moore, “The so-called ‘Hoe-shaped’ Implement," American Anthropologist, July-Sept., 
1903. 
? " Moundville Revisited," Journ. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., Vol. XIII, Fig. 99. 
* К. Verneau et P. Rivet. Ministère de l'Instruction Publique. Mission du Service Géog- 
raphique de l'Armée pour la Mesure d'un Are de Méridien Equatorial en Amérique du Sud, le sous 
Contrôle scientifique de l'Académie des Sciences, 1899-1906. Tome 6, “Ethnographie Ancienne 
delEquateur." Premier fascicule. Paris, 1912. 
