364 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 118 



on the cave floor. The physical characteristics of this material seem 

 to indicate that this site is unique among those of the area con- 

 sidered, and probably represents the hasty burial of a small and 

 perhaps transient group in the Norris Basin. Since no other skeletal 

 material of similar kind has been found in this survey under like 

 conditions, it seems reasonable to conclude that the people repre- 

 sented by the skeletons from this site exerted very little influence 

 on the archaeologv of this region. 



While evidence of occupation was very slight in Sites Nos. 14 

 and 23, it was much more important in Sites Nos. 3, 12, and 13. Cer- 

 tainly it may be concluded that a rather primitive people once occu- 

 pied the caves of this region. The occupancy does not necessarily 

 indicate great numbers, and may at any one site have been an inter- 

 mittent one. Perhaps not all caves in the region were occupied at 

 the same time, but at one time or another most of them were used 

 as shelters for some period. These people buried their dead on the 

 cave floors, under and in midden debris deposited by their occupancy. 

 Bodies were usually fully flexed, without artifacts. Bone and shell 

 were extensively used to make simple artifacts. Burial of partially 

 cremated remains of a few persons seemed customary, the cremation 

 having taken place elsewhere. 



As has been pointed out, these sites seem quite similar to sites in 

 eastern Kentucky, which have been attributed to some members of 

 the Algonquian family. At least the occupancy of caves of this 

 region by a people of quite primitive type seems demonstrated. It 

 is assumed that this occupancy antedated that of the village-building 

 people, since the cave dwellers had rather crude artifacts charac- 

 teristic of their cultural level, and later evidences of development are 

 not found in the caves. In order to evaluate the extent of the rela- 

 tion of these Tennessee sites to similar Kentucky sites, an analysis 

 is presented of the relation of Site No. 3 to Sites Nos. 12 and 13 of 

 Norris Basin, and a comparison of the cultural traits of Site No. 3 

 with three Kentucky cave sites, designated as W (Wilson x ), D (De- 

 hart 2 ), and S (Stamper 3 ). 



It is also to be observed that the cultural traits at all of these cave 

 sites is noticeably similar to one of the later components of the 

 Stallings Island 4 complex, as shown in the tabulation which follows. 



1 Funkhouser and Webb, 1929, p. 58. 



2 Funkhouser and Webb, 1930, p. 283. 

 8 Funkhouser and Webb, 1930, p. 266. 

 *Claflin, 1934. 



