Blonde Haired Mummy Discovered in a Tennessee Cave
Smithsonian Institutes Bureau of Ethnology, 1890-1891
Twelve miles below Carthage, and about a mile from the Cumberland River is a cave in which occurred human bones of all sizes. There is a burying ground near to the fortification, in which, fifteen years ago, were discovered many skeletons, and with them were deposited pipes and water vessels of earthenware. Near to this cemetery is a deep creek running into the river, and forming an acute angle with the latter. At some distance from the junction is a ditch running from the creek to the river, and the remains of a parapet. Opposite to the entrance way, and about six feet from it, is the appearance of a wall on the inside, so formed as to turn those entering to the right or left. In the interior were several mounds.
Captain Daniel Williams, a man of undoubted veracity, is said to have affirmed that, several years ago, in a cave five or six miles from Carthage, on the Cumberland River, workmen were collecting earth for saltpeter and that many human skeletons were found, one of which was a female in a good state of preservation with yellow hair, and shrivelled flesh. Around the waist was a silver girdle, with marks resembling letters. The body was replaced in the cave whence they had taken it.
