Giant Skeleton of Indian Dug Up in West End

From the March 26, 1910, Nashville Tennessean  

Excavation For Sidewalk on 25th Avenue Uncovers Ancient Graveyard.   

Valuable from an ethnological standpoint and interesting in itself was the finding of the skeletons of five Indians yesterday morning by Contractor John T. Southgate in grading for a concrete sidewalk on Twenty-fifth avenue, near Broadway [West End].

The skeletons were within a foot of the top of the ground, and the rocks of the stone coffins in which they were enclosed have been projecting above the surface for a long time. The hurrying feet of thousands have all but planted themselves on the grim remnants of a vanished race, and but for rude but strong caskets protecting the remains they would have been crushed by the impact from above.  

And the find is the more striking when it is stated that one of the skeletons measured exactly six feet nine inches from crown to toe, showing that one of the giants of the Indian tribe which chose this place for a burying ground had been laid to rest there.

Enclosing the giant’s skeleton was a rock casket of thin stones, neatly joined, and forming a perfect protection on all sides. By the side of this giant was found the skeleton of an Indian woman, presumably his squaw, and the bones of a child, the papoose. The other skeletons were in a poorer state of preservation.

Students of Vanderbilt University who saw the giant’s skeleton asked that it be given them. This was done, except that Mr. Southgate retained the head as a relic of the find.  

Arrow Heads and Pottery.  

In the grave with the giant was found a broken cup of pottery and a few small arrow heads. The box and the provisions for his trip to the happy hunting ground had long since moldered into dust. 

One remarkable feature of the discovery was that the skeletons were lying exactly north and south, the feet to north. 

Though no effort was made to continue the search, it is regarded as more than likely that other skeletons could be found in the yard of Dr. W. R. Lambuth, alongside which the grading was being done. 

Due to its protection, the skeleton of the giant was lying in exactly the same position in which the body was place more than a hundred years ago. Owing to the softening of the bones the frame could not be lifted entire, but was borne away in sections by the students. 

Camped Around Springs.

The history of the habits of the red man is that around springs they often camped and left their dead not far away. Cockrill springs was doubtless known far and wide to the tribes which roamed this part of the country, and when death came to the giant he was laid away within a few hundred yards of the spring, the bodies of his squaw and papoose being later laid beside him.

Attracted by the discoveries, a large number of people hung about the spot yesterday from 11 o’clock in the morning until afternoon. As the grading proceeded bones were dug up in pieces. Projecting rocks on the adjoining lot led to the belief that there are other graves nearby. Only one of the skeletons found was enclosed entirely by rock, the top being open over the other bones, a piece of wood possibly having done service for a covering when the interment took place.

To students of Indian life the find will be of special interest. Further investigation, it is probably, might lend to more extended discoveries which will be of historical value, as well as of ethnological worth.  

(Proquest)

Editor’s note: In the 1911 Social Directory, the address for Dr. W.R. Lambuth is listed as 2501 West End Ave., which is the southwestern corner at 25th Avenue North, today the location of Vanderbilt Bookstore (formerly Barnes & Noble). See the detail of the 1908 map on this page. 

The Nashville Banner reported on the same day as the above article: “The theory that the skeletons unearthed yesterday on Twenty-fifth Avenue, near West End, were those of Indians seems to be exploded by the fact that the bodies were buried north and south, which fact leads those who have studied the manners and customs of the Mound Builders, to the theory that the bones were those of this pre-historic people.…” To learn more about the Mound Builders, see Paul Clements’ article “Prehistory: Early Life and Death in the Cumberland River Region” in the July 2012 issue of The Nashville Retrospect.