Over the period of several years, Putnam collected artifacts in Middle Tennessee to bolster the archaeological collections at Harvard’s Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology. Curtiss collected several prehistoric artifacts at the mound site, which was subsequently named the Glass Mounds Archaeological Site in honor of the property owner.8 Between 1878 and 1884, Curtiss and Putnam employed George Woods (1842–1912), an African American laborer from Nashville believed to have been formerly enslaved, and his brother Joe Woods, to serve as field technicians for their archaeological excavations, including work in Williamson County. George and Joe Woods are the earliest documented African American archaeological technicians in Tennessee.9 In the early twentieth century, William Glass Polk (1912–1975), the grandson of Samuel F. Glass Jr., conducted archaeological excavations at prehistoric sites throughout Middle Tennessee. During this period, he also prepared additional documentation for the Glass Mounds site and brought attention to the region’s prehistoric sites, including Glass Mounds, through an exhibition as a student at Duke University in 1933.10 DEGRAFFENREID ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE The earliest known archaeological excavations within present-day Franklin occurred in 1823 when John Haywood (1762–1826) investigated a 32-acre prehistoric village site along the Big Harpeth River. The mounds were on a farm owned by Gen. Matthew Fontaine DeGraffenreid (1797–1869), an early settler and veteran of the War of 1812, and were later named in his honor. An attorney and member of the Tennessee Supreme Court, Haywood is best known for his comprehensive and groundbreaking histories of Tennessee from prehistoric times to statehood in 1796. He also served as president of the state’s first historical society.11 8 Johnston 2014:18; Smith and Deter-Wolf, 2020:90–92. 9 Moore and Smith 2009; Moore et al. 2010:327; Vidoli 2020. 10 Smith and Deter-Wolf, 2020:92. 11 Haywood 1823:129; Irwin 2018; Smith 1994:91–113. In the late 1860s, Dr. Joseph Jones explored the riverside mounds and recorded them with a sketch plan (Figure 1). At the time of his investigation, nine mounds remained, four of which were identified as burial mounds.12 In 1919, William Edward Myer (1862–1923), an archaeologist with the U.S. Bureau of American Ethnology, visited the site, noting that all traces of the small mounds had already disappeared.13 A native of Carthage, Myer is credited as Tennessee’s first professional archaeologist, transforming archaeology from a casual hobby to a professional science in Tennessee. Myer completed investigations at numerous prehistoric sites in Middle Tennessee, including the Fewkes Site in Williamson County. By 1969, all physical evidence of the DeGraffenreid Site had been destroyed.14 12 Jones 1876:56–57. 13 Smith 2018. 14Crutchfield and Holladay 1999:11–14; Smith 1994:91–113; Smith 2018. Sketch of the DeGraffenreid Archaeological Site (Jones 1876:56). 61
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