416 ABORIGINAL SITES ON TENNESSEE RIVER. 
us that while the field had long been under cultivation, the mound had only 
recently been cleared of trees and, so far as he knew, it had not been dug into 
to any extent. This absence of wear and wash doubtless explains the symmetry 
of the mound, which, though 10.5 feet in height, was only about 60 feet in diam- 
eter, its shape being the usual blunt cone found in this region. 
A few feet from this mound is what the plow has left of another one, the height 
of this remnant being about 2 feet, the diameter about 45 feet. As this remainder 
had been dug into considerably before our visit, it was not investigated by us. 
On that part of the field which surrounds these mounds, considerable midden- 
debris, seemingly free from any objects of interest, is scattered. 
In the larger mound a hole 12 feet square was put down to and through the 
base, which, in the shape of a dark, irregular streak about one inch in thickness, 
was encountered at a depth of 12 feet. 
Throughout the digging human remains were ten times encountered at 
depths beween 16 inches and 10 feet 7 inches, the upper burials being in a far 
poorer eondition through decay than were the lower ones, presumably because 
the upper part of the mound (which was of clay from the bottom-land on which 
the mound stood) was damp, while the ultimate three or four feet were perfectly 
dry at the time of our visit. While it is likely that in the rainy season the whole 
mound may be affected by moisture, the lower part is dry for a much longer 
period each year than is the upper portion. 
The burials in order of depth were as follows: a bunched burial with bones 
belonging to at least four persons, having in association a canine tooth of a large 
carnivore, too much decayed to determine if it had been perforated or grooved 
for suspension, and parts of two columellze of conch-shells; a skull having the 
lower jaw much decayed; traces of a tibia and a femur; remains of a skull; 
remnants of bones of two legs flexed; fragments of a skull; a skeleton partly 
flexed on the left side; one partly flexed on the right side; one closely flexed on the 
right side, having with it a small quantity of ashes and charcoal; a skeleton at 
full length on the back, having near the skull a small, triangular arrowhead of 
flint, with the line of the base concave. 
No grave-pits were apparent in the body of the mound. 
In one corner of the excavation was a pit, roughly circular, about 33 inches 
in diameter, tapering considerably toward its base, which was 14 feet from the 
summit of the mound. This pit, which clearly cut through the dark line of the 
base of the mound and two feet beyond, was not determinable as to where it 
commenced in the mound. Probably it had been started from the original surface 
of the ground, and after it had been filled the mound was built over it. 
In the bottom of the pit and around the sides of the lower part were masses 
of very hard clay, or possibly claystone which had deteriorated since the time 
of its burial. Enclosed by these masses was granular soil easily removed with a 
trowel, while to loosen the clay in that part of the mound which surrounded the 
pit the use of a pick was necessary. This granular earth extended about 10 
