Illustrated Catalogue of a Portion of the Collections Made During the Field Season of 1881Third Ann | Page 9

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.
[Illustration: Fig. 127.--Shell gorget with engraving of a curious human figure.]
62846. Engraved shell, Fig. 127. This very interesting object has been fully described in the Second Annual Report of the Bureau. The figure is so obscure that considerable study is necessary in making it out.
62930. Engraved shell, Fig. 128. This remarkable specimen has already been described in the Second Annual Report of the Bureau. The engraved design is certainly of a very high order of merit, and suggests the work of the ancient Mexicans.
62816-62822, 62824, 62826, 62828, 62829. Shell beads discoidal and cylindrical in form, made chiefly from the columell? and walls of marine univalves.
62825. Shell bead made by grinding off the apex of a large Oliva biplicata. (?)
62827. Beads made from Marginella (?) shells.
62825, 62827, 62850-62857, 62782. Species of shell found in the mound, some with the skeletons, others near the surface.
[Illustration: Fig. 128.--Shell gorget with engraved design representing two fighting figures.]
The following genera and species are provisionally determined:
Unio multiplicatus. Uhio ovatus. Unio crassidens. Unio victorum. Marginella (?). Oliva (?). Io spinosa. Trypanostoma anthonyi. Anculosa subglobosa. Busycon perversum.
62823. A tooth-shaped fresh-water pearl, found with the skeletons.
ANIMAL SUBSTANCES.
62861. Fragments of deer-horn found near the surface of the mound.
62858. An implement of unusual form, made from a flat piece of bone, found with the skeletons in the mound.
62859, 62860. Bone implements, needles and perforators, some of which are well preserved and retain the original polish; others are in a very advanced stage of decay.
Three boxes of human bones (not numbered).
FROM THE FIELDS AT SEVIERVILLE.
ARTICLES OF STONE.
62770. A small grooved ax, formed of a coarse textured stone, resembling diorite. It is 4? inches in length and 2? in width. The head is rounded and the cutting edge much battered. The groove is wide and shallow, and the bordering ridges prominent. The blade thins out quite abruptly. Presented by J. B. Emert.
62772. A celt 6? inches long, 2? inches wide, and 1 inch thick. The material is a compact, blue-gray, banded slate. The sides are straight and a transverse section is somewhat rectangular. Both edges are sharpened, and are very neatly beveled and polished. Presented by W. P. Mitchell.
62771. A small celt of compact greenish slate; one face is flat, the other convex. It is neatly made and perfectly preserved, the broader end being oblique and sharp. It is 3-1/8 inches in length.
62777. A rude, much-battered celt of coarse sandstone or diorite. It is 4 inches in length by 2 in width near the cutting edge. The top is somewhat conical.
62774. A large unsymmetrical celt made of coarse yellowish sandstone; one side is much battered. The cutting edge is round and dull. It is 9 inches in length by 5 in width near the broad end and is 1? inches thick.
62785. A knife-blade-shaped object, apparently a fragment of a winged ceremonial stone. The whole surface is smooth and shows no evidence of use. It is made of fine-grained gray slate. It is 2 inches in length by five-eighths in width.
62775. A bell-shaped pestle made of yellowish gray quartzite. The surface has been evenly roughened by picking, but has become slightly polished on parts most exposed when in use. The base part is subrectangular in section, and the bottom is slightly but evenly convex. The upper part, which has been shaped for convenient grasping by the hand, is evenly rounded at the top. Height, 4? inches; width, of base, 3? inches.
62766. A well-formed globe of gritty sandstone. The surface is roughened or granular. It is 2? inches in diameter.
62789. Portion of an oblong hammer stone, 4 inches in length by 3 in diameter in the middle part. One end has been much reduced by use. It is made of some dark, much decomposed, crystalline rock.
62768. Asymmetrical sandstone ring, 2 inches in diameter and three-fourths of an inch in thickness. The perforation is about five-eighths of an inch in diameter. The surface is roughened by picking.
[Illustration: Fig. 129.]
62767. A symmetrical, neatly finished disk of light gray quartzite. It is 4? inches in diameter and 1?