The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-08-06
PREHISTORIC TRUMPET FOUND.
Supposed to Have Been Used by An
Ancient Race of Giants.

From the Baltimore American.
Tracy City, Tenn, July H.-The relics
of some prehistoric race recently un-
earthed in Hawkins county, in this state,
have awakened a great deal of interest
and speculation among nearly all classes
Of the community, except, of course, the
densely ignorant and unintellgent
j. o. Blantol, who Is sone Of theVbest
informed antiquarians IN the county, in
referring to the subject. recalled the fact
that early in this century there was dug
up in this same county a curious trumpet
made of what appeared to be hard soap
stone This instrument, when blown
through, could be heard at a distance of
three miles. 1t was very smooth on the
outside, but the interior of 1t was exceed
ingly rough
It was probably used, Mr.. Blanton
thought, by the giants to convene their
assemblies, regulate the movements Of
their army and on festive occasions to
aid in their rude musical programmes
1t serves to give an idea of the immense
antiquity of the people to which 1t be-
longed, for the trumpet did not come
into use until about the year COO of the
Christian era.
When Darius, the Mede, in the year 514
B. c., crossed the Danube and invaded the
Scythians he had no trumpets. When
Xerxes invaded Greece, AS b. c., no
trumpet was there used, the signal for
battle being given by torch-bearers. Soon
after the invasion of Greece by the Per-
slams the trumpet was used for many
purposes The Greeks, probably, learned
1t from the Phoenicians. The dispersed
Israelites of the Assyrian or Chaldean cap
tiVity impaired the knowledge of it to the
people from whom IL came to the American
giants.
There are several things about
this trumpet from which the
following deductions can be made:
lar
hollow horns in the country which could
have been used for the same purpose. If
the makers of the trumpet knew the use
of metals, they did not have the time or
material to make trumpets. The Mound
Builders did not make this trumpet, or
they would have made it with metal
There was contemporaneously with the
giants of Tennessee a race Of people of
small stature. These people We're the pig
mics of the giants, and were captured BY
them somewhere In the northeastern part
of America and used as slaves. In 1920 a
large number of their skeletons were dis
covered in White county.
These bones were examined by the med
ical fraternity at Nashville, and it was
their opinion that the skeletons belonged
to adult persons. The hight of this peopIe
was from two and half to three feet and
they buried, after the fashion OF the
giants, with rocks set up around the body
with head to the east and face to the
west. That this people were addicted TO
strong superstitions is evident In the
graves mentioned were found conch-ghelis:
also mussel and taper shells They were
no doubt, worshippers of Vishu.
In ancient times the worshipers Of the
sun from the confines Of China and Thi-
bet emigrated to Sarmatia. thence to Ger
many, and then to Finland, and the coun-
try of the Samviedes, who so much resem-
bic the Esquimaux The latter, with the
Greenlanders, were sun worshipers. and
brought to America the most ancient re-
ligion OF Asia.
In other places in this state there ara
found the remains of this diminutive race
of people. That they existed is asserted
by Homer and Heroditus. They are mon
toned by Pliny, Strabo and Meia as ey
listing in India and Ethiopia. But JoviIs
locates them In the extremes Of the north
ern regions, The best opinion upon the
subject seems to be that these peopie
came from Northeastern America. and
were brought by the giants when they
emigrated to this country.