Homepage
Login
Profile
BookClubs
dmBox
Read Ebook: Illustrated Catalogue of a Portion of the Collections Made During the Field Season of 1881 Third Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution 1881-82 Government Printing Office Washington 1884 pages 427-510 by Holmes William Henry
Font size:
Background color:
Text color:
Add to tbrJar First Page Next Page Prev Page
Ebook has 1024 lines and 80078 words, and 21 pages
The incurved upper surface is often tastefully ornamented with patterns of incised or excavated lines which are arranged in groups, in vertical or oblique positions, or encircle the vessel parallel with the border. One specimen has a row of stamped circles, made by a reed or hollow bone.
Bowls of the ordinary shape are variously decorated. In one case we have on the outside of the rim, and projecting slightly above it, a rudely-modeled grotesque face. A notched fillet passes around the rim, near the lip, connecting with the sides of this head.
In another case a rude node is added to the rim. The only bowl having a flaring rim is without ornament.
We have only one fragment of a bowl in which the body has been marked with cords.
Another specimen is made of clay mixed with powdered shell. The bowl is cylindrical, being a little larger at the rim, which is ornamented with rows of punctures. The elbow is ornamented by a rosette of indented lines. The mouth piece has been broken away.
OBJECTS OF METAL.
OBJECTS OF SHELL.
While many of the specimens are well-preserved, we find that many are in an advanced stage of decay, and unless most carefully handled, crumble to powder.
Similar shell ornaments are found in mounds in other parts of Tennessee, as well as in neighboring States. These have been pretty fully described in the Second Annual Report.
In studying the design the attention is first attracted by an eye-like figure near the left border. This is formed of a series of concentric circles, and is partially inclosed by a looped band about one-eighth of an inch in width, which opens downward to the left. This band is occupied by a series of conical dots or depressions, the number of which varies in the different specimens. The part of the figure inclosed by this band represents the head and neck of the serpent. To the right of the eye we have the mouth, which is usually shown in profile, the upper jaw being turned upward exhibiting a double row of notches or teeth. The body encircles the head in a single coil, which appears from beneath the neck on the right, passes around the front of the head, and terminates at the back in a pointed tail armed with well-defined rattles. The spots and scales of the serpent are represented in a highly conventionalized manner.
The body of the serpent opposite the perforations for suspension is interrupted by a rather mysterious cross band, consisting of one broad and two narrow lines. As this is a feature common to many specimens, it probably had some important office or significance.
These objects are especially numerous in the mounds of Tennessee, but their range is quite wide, examples having been reported from Kentucky, Virginia, Illinois, Missouri, and Arkansas, and smaller ones of a somewhat different type from New York. In size they range from 2 to 10 inches in length, the width being considerably less. They are generally found associated with human remains in such a way as to suggest their use as ornaments for the head or neck. There are, however, no holes for suspension except those made to represent the eyes, and these, so far as I have observed, show no abrasion by a cord of suspension. Their shape suggests the idea that they may have been used as masks, after the manner of metal masks by some of the oriental nations.
The following genera and species are provisionally determined:
ANIMAL SUBSTANCES.
Three boxes of human bones .
FROM THE FIELDS AT SEVIERVILLE.
ARTICLES OF STONE.
The perforation is much enlarged at the ends, giving cup-like cavities. The walls are thin near the ends and quite thick near the middle, the passage being hardly more than one-quarter of an inch in diameter. The markings on the inside indicate that the excavation has been made by a gouging process, rather than by the use of a rotary perforator.
The trough-shaped excavation is more rounded in outline, and is three-fourths of an inch in depth. Perforations have been made near the ends of this trough; these seem to be somewhat abraded on the outside by a cord of suspension or attachment which has passed between them along a groove in the apex or angle of the keel.
ARTICLES OF CLAY.
A few specimens of potsherds were collected from the fields about Sevierville.
Most of these are identical in every way with the pottery of the mound, but three examples are of a totally different type. The material of these is a fine sandy clay, tempered with a large percentage of finely pulverized mica.
The forms of the vessels cannot be made out. The outer surfaces were ornamented by a stamped pattern of small square or lozenge-shaped figures, a number of these together were apparently formed by a single stamp.
Among the fragments we have half a dozen disks, from 1 to 2 inches in diameter, worked from ordinary potsherds. A small rudely modeled figure of a bird was also found with these fragments. There were also masses of indurated clay, which seem to have been used for chinking purposes.
COLLECTIONS FROM ROANE COUNTY, TENNESSEE.
MOUND AT TAYLOR'S BEND.
This mound is situated three hundred and fifty yards from the French Broad River, on the farm of Mr. William Harris.
It is 10 feet high and nearly 50 feet in circumference. Its summit has been cultivated for many years, and the height has doubtless been much reduced. Immediately under the surface soil a heavy bed of ashes and charcoal was reached, which at the border of the mound was only a few inches thick, but at the center was about 3 feet thick.
In this stratum were found a few implements, and fragments of pottery, and two very much decayed skeletons. A part of one cranium was preserved. The mound beneath this stratum was composed chiefly of loam, with some sand in the center, and contained nothing of interest.
ARTICLES OF STONE.
ARTICLES OF CLAY.
OBJECTS OF SHELL.
COLLECTIONS FROM THE FIELDS AT TAYLOR'S BEND.
ARTICLES OF STONE.
VICINITY OF KINGSTON.
On the farm of Mr. M. Biss, three miles from Kingston, on the Tennessee River, a mound was opened which was so located as to overlook the river, and at the same time guard the approach from two pieces of projecting wood. It was 11 feet high, 29 feet wide on the top, and 45 feet in diameter at the base. It was composed entirely of clay.
Three feet from the surface six very much decayed skeletons were found, no parts of which could be preserved. The bodies seem to have been deposited without definite order.
No objects of art were obtained.
Opposite Kingston, on the Clinch River, are three mounds, located on the farm of T. N. Clark. They are all small, and, with the exception of two much decayed skeletons and a single arrow point, contained nothing of interest.
On the farm of S. P. Evans, three miles below Kingston, are three groups of mounds. The first contains five mounds; the second, a little higher up, has the same number, while the third has but two. They are all built of clay, and seem to be without remains of any sort.
MOUND AT NILES' FERRY.
On the farm of J. W. Niles, at this point, is a large mound that has the appearance of a Creek or Cherokee ball-ground. It was flat on the top, and had an area of 1 3/4 acres. The height was 15 feet. In outline it was somewhat triangular. This mound was also constructed of clay, and contained nothing of interest. In the fields, near by, human bones, pottery, stone implements, beads, etc., are frequently plowed up. From this locality the following specimens were collected:
MOUNDS NEAR PAINT ROCK FERRY.
About three hundred yards from the Tennessee River, at Paint Rock Ferry, is a large mound 40 feet in height, and covering an area of about about two acres.
Permission could not be obtained to open the mound, on account of the crop of corn that covered it. Near its base, on opposite sides, were two smaller mounds. One of these was 5 feet high and 10 in diameter, and contained a stone grave. The body which it contained had been laid on the ground and covered a foot deep with earth. A flat rock had been laid upon this, and slabs of limestone set on edge all around. The inclosed space was 4 feet in width by 5 in length. Earth had been used to cover the cist and form the mound.
About this mound were scattered many slabs of stone which had been plowed up during previous years; and it is stated that human bones and various objects of art have, at different times, been brought to light.
A short distance from the large mound, and near the river bank, is another mound on which a barn has been built.
Several hundred yards from the river, in a meadow, is a third mound, less than half as large as that first mentioned. The owner would not allow it to be disturbed. Still another mound, near by, was oval in outline, 28 feet long, by 20 wide, and 12 high. It was composed of clay and contained nothing but a few pieces of pottery.
OBJECTS OF SHELL.
COLLECTIONS FROM JEFFERSON COUNTY.
MOUND ON FAIN'S ISLAND.
Add to tbrJar First Page Next Page Prev Page