412 ABORIGINAL SITES ON TENNESSEE RIVER. 
The third mound, which we selected for investigation, was 4 feet in height 
and 50 feet in diameter. It had been under cultivation for a long time. A hole 
12 feet square came upon traces of a skull, 6 inches down, and reached the base- 
line of the mound at a depth of 3 feet. 
Off toward one side of the hole were two burials which apparently had been 
laid on the original surface of the ground and the mound then had been built 
over them. These burials, which had been placed face to face in flexed positions, 
were traceable only through the presence of badly decayed bones of the legs 
and thighs in both instances, of the pelvis in one case, and of both skulls. No 
other bones were in evidence, and presumably they had decayed away. Near 
these mounds were remnants of several others almost plowed to the level of the 
field. 
MOUNDS NEAR Hoop's FERRY, RoANE COUNTY. 
On property of Mr. R. H. Alford, who lives on it, are four mounds and several 
remnants of mounds, in sight from Hood’s Ferry and from one another. These 
mounds, which have all been under cultivation, are: 10 feet high, 55 feet in 
diameter; 4 feet in height, 65 feet in diameter; 12.5 feet high and 50 by 75 feet 
in diameter; 6 feet 8 inches in height and 65 feet in diameter. 
The mound last mentioned was selected by us for investigation, with the feel- 
ing on our part that it was asdikely as any of the others to demonstrate how 
little of an imperishable nature was put with the dead by the aborigines of this 
region. The usual excavation, 12 feet square, was put down centrally in the 
mound and showed it to be composed of the brown clay mixed with sand, of 
the bottom-land on which it was, and proved also that the height taken from 
the outside, namely 6 feet 8 inches, was misleading, as the sloping ground on 
which the mound was reared had been exposed to wash which had hollowed out 
the ground immediately around it. A dark line marking the base was reached 
at a depth of 4 feet 8 inches. This line, however, was not apparent at one corner 
of the excavation, though careful digging failed to discover a pit. 
Lying on the base of the mound to one side of the center of the excavation, 
was a small deposit of calcined fragments of human bone. Above them the 
ground was soft to a height of about one foot, but no pit could be determined, 
as the material covering the bones was of the same color as that of the rest of 
the mound. 
About three-quarters of a mile back from the river, also on Mr. Alford’s 
property, are four other mounds near together, which were visited by our agent. 
We were informed that these mounds were about the same size as those already 
described on this place. 
MOUNDS ON THE GOODWIN PLACE, ROANE COUNTY. 
On property belonging to Mr. R. E. Ewing are three mounds, 9 feet, 6 feet, 
and 5 feet in height; and 50 feet, 40 feet, and 35 feet in diameter, respectively. 
Owing to a misunderstanding as to the nature of our expedition, permission to 
