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68 THE MOUND BUILDERS OF TENNESSEE. 
turkey. These animals were buried with the children. 
Some of the burial mounds were evidently used also for 3 
sacred and religious purposes, and were held in high venera- 
tion as the resting place of royal families. Thus, in a small 
mound which I explored, about one hundred feet in diame- 
berland River, opposite the city of Nashville, and just across 
from the mouth of Lick Branch, at the foot of a large mound, 
which had been apparently used as a residence, I discovetetil 
the following interesting remains: 
In the centre of the mound, about three feet from its sur- 
face, I uncovered a large sacrificial vase, or altar, forty-three . 
inehes in diameter, composed of a mixture of clay and river 
shells. The rim of the vase was three inches in height. 
The entire vessel had been moulded in a large wicker basketi 
formed of split canes, and the leaves of the cane, the impres- 
sions of which were plainly visible upon the outer surface. 
The circle of the vase appeared to be almost mathematically 
correct. The surface of the altar was covered with a layer 
of ashes, about one inch in thickness, and these ashes had 
the appearance and composition of having been derived from 
the burning of animal matter. The umm and jaw bone of 
a deer were found resting upon the surface of the altar. The 
edges of the vase, shik had been broken off, apparently by 
accident during the performances of the religious ceremonies, 
were carefully. laid over the layer of ashes, and the whole 
covered with earth near three feet in thickness, and thus the 
ashes have been preserved to a remarkable extent from the 
action of the rains. 
Stone sarcophagi were ranged around the central altar with 
the heads of the dead to the centre, and the feet to the cir- 
S cumference, resembling the radii of a circle. The inner 
circle of graves was constructed with great care, and all the 
Indians buried around the altar were ornamented with beads | 
of various kinds, some of which had been cut out of large 
He, others out of bone, and others aguin, wore oon. 

ig 
ter and’ about ten feet high, on the eastern bank of the Cum- E 

