Ancient Cherokee Stone Cist Graves of Kentucky

W. J. Owsley, of Fort Hall, Idaho, furnishes the writer with a description of the cist graves of Kentucky, which differ somewhat from other accounts, inasmuch as the graves appeared to be isolated. Early historians say that the Cherokee were part of the Hopewell mound builders www.nephilimgiants.net : Early Historians Identify the Ohio Hopewell as Dakota Sioux and Cherokee

I remember that when a schoolboy in Kentucky, some twenty-five years ago, of seeing what was called “Indian graves,” and those that I examined were close to small streams of water and were buried in a sitting or squatting posture and enclosed by rough, flat stones, and were then buried from 1 to 4 feet from the surface. Those graves which I examined, which examination was not very minute, seemed to be isolated, no two being found in the same locality. When the burials took place, I could hardly conjecture, but it must have been, from appearances, from fifty to one hundred years. The bones that I took out on first appearance seemed tolerably perfect, but on short exposure to the atmosphere crumbled, and I was unable to save a specimen. No implements or relics were observed in those examined by me, but I have heard of others who have found such. In that State, Kentucky, there are a number of places 
where the Indians buried their dead and left mounds of earth over the graves, but I have not examined them myself.