Evening star., 1936-03-01

approximately 100000 was spent
from the relief funds of those States
in salaries and other expenses, keep
ing the 1000 employed for six months.
Now. these tremendous investigations
are completed-one of the many and
various social-economic projects spon-
sored by the T. v. A. At present.
while the eventual fate of many of
these activities hangs in the balance,
and water gradually rises over the
scene Of lone of my biggest years"
the major is back in Lexington, ad-
ministering his departments in the
University of Kentucky.
Traces Prehistoric Men.
But his week ends are spent poring
over the records of the % supervisors,
studying photographs and drawings,
shreds of pottery, bits Of copper.
Others he spends comparing sites in
Florida, Alabama and various other
spots in the southeast with those of
his findings, comparing notes with
fellow archeologists. Cautiously he
ventures the opinion that these new
prehistoric Norris Valley men may
belong to the Yuchi, one of the In
dian linguistic stocks.
But we couldn't find their ceme-
teries!" he exclaims. 1.-TWO or three
burials, evidently accidental. in the
whole of the town house country, were
the only skeletons we found"
What did these people do with their
dead? Nobody knows. Perhaps, like
their successors, the Cherokees, they
threw their dead into the river. Per-
haps they ascended ramp of logs to
the top of the town house and scat
tered crematory ashes to the four
winds. Perhaps the dead were placed
in trees, to remain there till they were
disintegrated by the elements. One
thing is certain-they left no bones
behind.
All this may not seem so startling
until it is realized that the whole
eastern half of the United States is
one vast graveyard of the mound
builders, those prehistoric Indians
HIiOSC CdI GlAWO1 dl0 Jul ldlS 41dtC
astonished scholars for the last half
century.
Somewhat like villages of inverted
baskets were the sapling town sites in
the Norris Valley. The houses varied
in size, averaging about IL by is feet,
and were thatched with cane. But
the town house, in addition to thatch-
ing, was also covered with earth.
One corner was the door, which
must have been similar->to the door,
ways of the round Cherokee council
houses. For these people, according
to all the evidence, must have had a
civilization similar to that of the
Cherokees, although they probably
antedated that nation and were GER
tainly gone before the appearance of
Europeans.
So this doorway, then, was merely
an aperture between the smallest sap
lings.
Then the thatching with grass and
cane. After that the piling on of earth.
Inside, the imprint of cane mating
was found bordering the floor along
the walls, dehcately exposed with
trowel and whisk broom by the relief
Psychologists.
Also on the inside was raised seat
made of clay, in different color from
that of the ground, and in the center
was the raised clay altar containing
one central basin and four corner fire
basins. For what purpose? No one
knows. But whatever the color of the
floor, the seat and altar were of a
lighter hue. Black floor, let us say, red
seat and altar. Red floor, white or
light yellow seat and altar.
Outside-although this may not al
ways have been the Casa ramp of
logs ascended to the roof, which was
fattened on top, and from which It'd
ings were broadcast or evil spirits dis
PEELED as in the similar Cherokee prac-
tice. The imprints of the logs that
formed the ramp were found on the
earthen ramps in the remains of these
prehistoric Cherokee neighbors.
First Actual Prehistoric Date.
But the rains in the Winter and age
itself caused the town houses to get
wobbly. Ancient charred cedar logs,
propped against the walls to remedy
the situation, were found in place.
From one of these student of tree
ages, DR.. Florence Hawley of the Uni
versity of New Mexico, will soon be
able to report the first actual pre-
historic date Of the eastern part OF
the United States.
But the earth on the roof has been
responsible for the remarkable data
concerning the town houses.
II the Clinch River men had writ
ten in English exactly how these town
houses were made, they could not
have left . clearer record for the
T. v. A. archeologists. For when the
town houses were burned, the volatile
gases passed on, but the indesrucd.
BILE charcoal remained In the earth.
Around the town houses were the