wbbb] ARCHAEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF NORRIS BASIN g3 



have remained. There seems to have been no attempt by the potter 

 here to rub out the impression after removal of the cloth, as is so 

 often the case. 



In plate 46, &, is shown one plain sherd from which the tempering 

 material has leached out, leaving numerous pits. This is the usual 

 type here. The other sherds in this figure show types very rare on 

 this site and, while present, they represent a very insignificant por- 

 tion of the whole. They do, however, suggest contact with sites 

 where these types were common. A few sherds (pi. 46, h) showed 

 grass-paddle and cord-paddle marks. This ware, small in quantity, 

 seemed harder and better preserved than the plain sherds on this 

 site. A few steatite sherds were found. 



Artefacts 



Since no excavations were conducted in the village site which may 

 have surrounded these two mounds, the artifacts found were limited 

 to chance inclusions in the mounds as they were constructed. Plate 

 45, h, shows a representative group. A larger number of perforated 

 mussel shells were found throughout the mounds. Their broken 

 distal ends show wear as if they had been used as scrapers or hoes. 

 The large number of shell hoes (58 perfect specimens) suggests 

 the method by which the hard red clay composing these mounds 

 was dug. The mounds appeared to have been built from clean 

 red and yellow clay, and to have contained a minimum of village 

 midden. This fact accounts for the scarcity of artifacts and pottery 

 from this site. 



Conclusions 



Site No. 9 seems clearly related to Sites Nos. 2, 5, and 6. It is per- 

 haps the best example of the successive superposition of earth-cov- 

 ered town houses, of the "small-log type of construction. It seems 

 highly probable that the surrounding region would have shown evi- 

 dence of a village site if excavation had been permitted. 



Site No. 10.— AUSMUS FAKM MOUNDS 



This site is on the farm of John Ausmus, near Speedwell, Clai- 

 borne County, Tenn. The farm is on the south side of Tennessee 

 Highway No. 63, from La Follette to Middlesboro, and some 16 miles 

 northeast of La Follette. The site is on the south side of Davis 

 Creek in a large northward bend of this creek. Within this bend 

 there is a plateau sloping gently to the creek in all directions. On 

 the highest portion of this plateau are the remains of two mounds. 

 These low earth mounds seem to be all that remains of what was 



