40 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [188H. 



On a supposed Human Implement from the Gravel at Phila- 

 delphia. — Professor H. Carvill Lewis stated that through the 

 kindness of Mr. John Sartain, the well-known engraver of this 

 citj', a supposed stone implement had come into his hands, which, 

 from the circumstances in which it was found, becomes of great 

 interest. In digging a pit below the cellar of the house No. 728 

 Sanson! Street, Philadelphia, after passing through regularly 

 stratified layers of gravel and sand, a loose, clean "water gravel" 

 was reached at a depth of 24 feet from the surface of the street. 

 The grade of the street is hei'e about 35 feet above the mean level 

 of the Delaware River, and the depth of the drift deposits, as 

 shown by an artesian-well boring at the Continental Hotel, a few 

 hundred feet distant, is 45 feet, gneiss rock being reached at that 

 depth. The drift deposits consist of the usual alternations of 

 sand and gravel with occasional streaks of clay, the whole being 

 horizontally stratified. 



The specimen was found at a de})th of 24 feet in a loose gravel, 

 whei'e water flowed freely, and lay beneath a series of horizontally 

 stratified layers of gravel and clay, which were entirely undis- 

 turbed, and were as originally deposited. Mr. Sartain saw the 

 specimen taken out and testifies as to the accuracy of the above 

 statement. 



The supposed implement is an oblong rectangle in shape, IQ^ 

 inches in length, nearly 4 inches in width, and in thickness varying 

 fi'om ^ inch at the edge to 1^ inches at the centre. It is ground 

 to a smooth cutting-edge at the two extremities. It is rectangular 

 in section, the sides forming right-angles with the faces. The 

 sides are parallel with each other, but the faces are undulating 

 surfaces, on one of which is a prominent longitudinal ridge, an 

 inch and a half in width. 



Each end of the implement appears to have been smoothly 

 ground to form a square, even cutting-edge, an equal amount 

 of grinding having been done on either side. Both extremities 

 are similar. The implement is as unusual in shape as it is in size. 

 It is double the length of ordinary celts, and was possibly a 

 lapstone of some kind. 



The late Professor Haldeman, who examined the specimen, 

 expressed great interest in it, and pronounced it undoubtedly of 

 human workmanship.^ 



' Mr. E. A. Barber, a well-known archaeologist, reports, after a close 

 examination of the implement, as follows : —"The peculiar marking 

 or pecJcing ahows it to he undoubtedly artificial. This pecking is chai-ac- 

 teristic of many pestles and other heavy stone implements found in 

 this part of the country. There are certain snvill surfaces (the sides and 

 part of the face) which have not been worked, but tlie greater part of the 

 implement has been artificially pecked, and the ends have been ground 

 down by abrasion, as may distinctly be seen. The character and use of the 

 implement are not indicated by its shape, but there is no doubt at all as to 

 its artificial workmanship." 



