MISCELLANEOUS.
Art. XXI. An Account of several Ancient Mounds, and of two Caves, in East Tennessee.
Art. XXI. An Account of several Ancient Mounds, and of two Caves, in East Tennessee, by Mr. John Henry Kain, of Knoxville.
(Communicated for the American Journal of Science, &c.)
Mounds.
On the plantation of Mr. John Kain of Knox county, near the north bank of the Holston River, 5 miles above its junction with the French Broad, is a curious collection of mounds of earth, evidently the work of art, but of an almost antediluvian antiquity, if we may form any conjecture of their age, from that of the forest which grows around and upon them. They are about half a dozen in number, and arise on about half an acre of level ground without any seeming regularity. They are pyramidal in their shape, or rather sections of pyramids, whose bases are from 10 to 30 paces in diameter. The largest one in this group rises about 10 feet above the level ground, and is remarkably regular in its figure. A perpendicular section of this mound was made about a year since, but no important discovery was made. It was found to consist of the surface thrown up, and contained a good deal of ashes and charcoal.