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ACCOUNT OF ABORIGINAL RUINS ON THE WILLIAMS FARM, IN HARDIN COUNTY, TENNESSEE, TWO MILES BELOW Savannah, tenNESSEE.

By J. PARISH STELLE.

These ruins occupy a set of ridges running toward the bottom lands of the Tennessee River, about two miles below Savannah. The fronts of the ridges terminate in steep bluffs rising fifty feet above the level of the bottom. Along the foot of the bluffs there is a series of springs, spreading and forming swampy lands, and through these lands, also at the foot of the bluffs, runs a line of earthworks, made precisely on the plan of the earthworks in the Savannah ruins, with the exception that there is but one line traceable instead of two. It seems to have been located in the swampy grounds where the springs came out, with a view to having the ditch always full of water, which must have been its condition. The redoubts are about eighty yards apart. Most of the work is traceable; the points at which it is not clearly so I have indicated on the diagram by dotted lines.

No other line of earthworks save this at the foot of the bluffs is to be seen; hence we must infer that the defenses on other sides of the town were stockades, or something of the kind. The regular line of mounds back (A, P, V, W,) would lead to the conclusion that there had been other defenses, and that these mounds were erected for the purpose of overlooking them.

All the mounds of the group were carefully opened; the markings on the diagram show the shape and position of the excavations made.

A. This is a round-shaped mound, twenty yards across and five feet high in the center. Upon its side is a dead white oak, (Quercus alba,) over three feet in diameter. Went to the bottom in the center, but found nothing. Composition yellow clay without gravel, showing that the material had been taken from the surface of the ridge, as gravel occurs a short distance beneath.

B.-Ten yards across and four feet high in center. Same character as A. Cut entirely through it, but found nothing.

C.-Ten yards across and four feet high in center. Same character as B; opened it with same result.

D.-About same size, and precisely same character as C. Opened it, but found nothing.

E. Ten yards across and six feet high. At eighteen inches down we came upon a human skeleton lying with its head toward the southeast. The bones were very badly decayed. There were a few shells with the bones. Nothing more was found. Upon the side of this mound there is a white oak stump over three feet in diameter.

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F.-Five yards across and two feet high. Contained nothing. G.-Fifteen yards across and four feet high. White oak tree over two feet in diameter growing upon it. At two feet down came upon a few fragments of decayed bones, so far decayed that we could make nothing of them.

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H.-Twelve yards across and three feet high. On removing the sur

face, we found the mound to be nothing more nor less than a great shell. heap. Gave it a thorough turning, but found nothing save such things as are usually met with in these shell beds.

I.-Ten yards across and three feet high. Another mound composed partially of shells, though not entirely, as was the case with H. The shells were intermingled with yellow clay. At one foot down found a stone implement-probably a plow or hoe. You will observe that the large end of the implement is much worn, the probable result of working in the earth. There was nothing more.

J.-Ten yards wide and three feet high. Contained nothing. K.-Twenty yards across and six feet high. Contained nothing. L.-Ten yards across and two feet high. Contained nothing. M.-Ten yards across and two feet high. At the bottom found a small stone implement lying alone in the yellow earth, apparently lost there when the mound was being made. There was nothing more.

N.-Twenty-five yards across and eight feet high. At two feet down came upon shells and fragments of pottery in considerable abundance. At three feet down, fragments of charcoal were to be seen, and the earth had a red appearance, indicating that it had been intensely heated. At six feet down we found an imperfect stone implement. There was nothing of further interest.

O.-Ten yards wide and three feet high. Contained nothing of interest.

P.-Twenty yards wide and five feet high. Contained nothing.

Q.-Eighteen yards wide and three feet high. A few scattering shells were found, but nothing of additional interest..

R.-Fifteen yards across and four feet high. Found one large arrow or spear-head, but nothing further.

S. Twenty yards across and six feet high.

Contained nothing. T.-Ten yards across and two feet high. Nothing of interest.

U. Twenty-five yards across and six feet high. A few small flint implements were found scattered here and there, as if lost at the time of building. Nothing more.

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V. Twenty yards wide and five feet high. Contained nothing. W.-Twenty-two yards wide and six feet high. There were some traces of bones a few inches below the surface, but they were so much decayed that nothing could be made of them.

X.-Twenty-three yards wide and five feet high. Three feet down there was a deposit of black matter, looking as if some perishable substance, as a log of wood, had decayed. There was no sign of bones or anything else of interest.

Y.-Sixty yards across and seven feet high. Composed of black alluvial soil, evidently brought up the bluff from the river bottom. Examined it carefully, but found nothing.

Z.-One hundred yards across and ten feet high. Composed of black soil from the river bottom, the same as Y. Found traces of bones, evidently human, immediately on the solid earth, but the character of the soil making up the mound had caused them to decay so badly that but little could be made of them. There was nothing further of interest. &.-Thirty yards across and twelve feet high. This mound has three arms running out from it, as shown in the diagram. They were evidently for the purpose of affording an easy ascent to the summit-the sides were, probably, too steep to be ascended with ease. Three feet down we came upon some badly decayed human bones, and with them some black substance which seems to have been matting. At seven feet

we found fragments of charcoal and red burned earth one foot thick, and four or five feet in diameter. At nine feet we found another stone implement, evidently used in working the earth. It has been broken, and on that account may possibly have been thrown away by the workmen engaged on the mound. There was nothing further worthy of note.

CHARACTER OF THE MOUNDS.

All the mounds of this group, with the exception of Y and Z, are composed of yellow clay, evidently taken from the surface of the ridges; and all, with the exception of &, are rounded on top and reasonably regular in outline. In general character, they seem to differ somewhat from the Savannah group, for none of them appear to have been places of deposit; in fact, I do not think there is a burial mound in the association. I am of the opinion that the few bones taken out are not those of the mound builders, but that they are the remains of more recent Indians, buried in the mounds by mere chance, or because their elevation above the common level gave them attractions as burial places.

The arrangement of this "Williams Farm" group has quite strongly impressed me with the belief that the mounds were made for two special purposes-one set, as A, P, V,W, and perhaps others, to stand as watchtowers, from which to overlook the defenses, and the other set, as A, C, F, O, S, U, W, X, to act as the lamp-posts of the town; that is, erected for illuminating purposes. I am led to this latter conclusion by their situation at the heads of the valleys. Fires kindled upon them even now, (and they must have been much taller originally,) would light every foot of valley making up into the town site. Add to these a few that might be selected upon the interior of the ridges, and the illumination of the entire site might be made complete. I found the same arrangement in the Savannah group. In fact, I have found it so in all the groups that I have visited.

SHELL BEDS.

There are a number of shell beds in connection with these ruins, but since they do not differ in any particular from the shell beds of the Savannah group, I have thought it best not to go into any particular exploration of them, or to trouble you with specimens.

FOSSIL WOOD.

In the same box with this I send you some specimens of fossil wood, taken from "Chalk Bluffs" on Tennessee River, in Hardin County, Tennessee. The "Bluffs" are caving banks, about three hundred feet high, washed at the base by the river.

I. The piece marked thus will explain itself. It is a sample of what I wrote you about as being part wood and part stone.

II. Fragments broken from the trunk of a tree six feet in diameter. Eight feet of what appears to be the butt end of this specimen is exposed, the remainder (no one knows how much) runs into the bluff.

III. Broken from a specimen seven feet long and four feet in diameter. IV. Bark. Is washed out of the bluff in considerable quantities. V. Specimens broken from the end of a log three feet in diameter, sticking squarely out of the bluff, embedded in the center of a sevenfoot stratum of yellow sandstone. Bounding the stratum above and

below are thick bands of iron ore.

VI. Sample of the yellow sandstone mentioned above.

VII. Sample of the deposit in which most of the fossils are found. VIII. Specimens picked up at random about the bluffs.

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