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.
[ 62939, 62940, 62945.] Fragments of pottery from the mounds at Paint Rock Ferry.
[ OBJECTS OF SHELL.]
62935, 62937. Shell beads, buttons, and pendants, made from marine shells. A neatly made pendant is 1 inch in diameter and one-sixth of an inch thick. Near the edge are two small perforations for suspension, and at the center is a conical pit, encircled by a shallow incised line. Beside this, there are a number of buttons of similar shape, which have single perforations at the center. Some of the smaller beads seem to have been painted red. Figs. [136], [137], and [138].
