Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1874-05-09
An INDIAN BURYING GROUND.
Relies of Long Ago.

Relies of Long Ago.
Situated on the south bank of Cum
berland river, at a point about tel
miles above this city, by the river ant
five by land, are the remains of an Indi
an graveyard of evidently very ancien
date. When the first white settler,
came to that section, which was many
many, years ago, the Indians who were
! then there knew nothing of the race
who were buried there. The field il
which this burying grounds is situated
has been in cultivation for long time
and occasionally, for number of years
past, the point ola pillow would Drag up
a grave stone or a human bone, but
nothing has ever been discovered by
which it could be accurately ascertain.
ed who or what the race were who are
buried here.
The graves are not more than hun
dred yards from the bank of the river
and IN light sandy soil The late rise
of the river and The strong current
which broke over the bank just above
this point have completed the work
which was begun by high water long
ago, and have opened the graves, and
exposed the bones of these long buried
people. In many instances the grave
stones are scattered and the bones have
been carried entirely away, but in other
and deeper graves still rest the bones of
those who in former years were the
lords of the soil.
That this was the burying ground of
a village is evident from the care taken
in preparing the graves and from the
fact that the bones and graves of
children are found there. The graves
are of different lengths, but each seems
to be about twenty inches or two feet
wide, and all are made of stone,
layer of stone being placed at the bot
tom, the sides and ends formed of fat
rocks placed upright, and the whole
being covered with fiat rocks. These
rocks we're evidently brought some dis.
lance, as the nearest rock formation is
the bluff not less than half. mile dis
tant.
These graves are very irregularly
placed, some running north and south,
while others are directly east and west,
and the skeletons being placed in
them with the heads either way.
In one place is group which seem to
have been buried in circle, the heads
being near together and the bodies
running out like the spokes in a wheel.
The bones taken from these graves
and submitted to the inspection of
scientific gentlemen. and especially the
skulls and jaw bones, have been pro-
nounced by them to be Indian remains,
and much larger and heavier than the
same bones of men of the present day,
though the most of the arm and leg
bones would indicate that they were
rather shorter. The skulls are all fat
tened in the back, which is said by the
same gentlemen to have been the rarest
form of fattening ever met with in In
dian skulls. Almost all the bones are
in a remarkable state of preservation
considering the length Of time which
must have elapsed since they were
buried. #t
Still another evidence that village
must have been located near this points
found in the fact that almost innumer-
able flintarrowheads, spearheads, rude
knives and hatchets, with PARTICLES of
flint Clipped off in making them, to-
gether with pieces of burnt clay, and
some broken pieces Of pottery, as we'll
as traces of pit in which this clay
was baked are here.
That they had at some time
met their natural enemies, the white
men, is supposed from fattened lead
en- bullet covered with bony forma-
ton found among the shoulder bones
of a skeleton in one of the graves.
Amid the constant changes going on,
buta few more years will have elapsed
when these few relics of a race that
has long since passed from earth will
be numbered with the things that were