CHARACTERISTICS PERTAINIXG TO ANCIENT MAN. 2oi 



111 here piesentin<»' some illnstniti-oiis of the nrtifieiall.v-ixnfoMm'd 

 skulls, of \vlii(;h I y,tive an account in my pai)ei' on "The Ancient Men 

 of the Great Lakes," and from which a notice was jninted in the "Anieji- 

 can Naturalist" for August, l<S7r), I shall not scmple to avail myself of 

 a part of the material there used, adding- such further inlbrmation as 

 lias since come to my knowledge. 



This artificial perforation of the top of the craninm, made after death, 

 seems to me to betoken a singular ])ractice connected with the burial- 

 ceremonies of the aboriginal inhabitants of this country, and of which 

 I can find nothing on record in the books, notwithstanding the remark- 

 able nature of the custom and the indubitable marks which would 

 remain to testify in instances where it had been adhered to. 



The circular aperture, evidently made by boring with a rude (probably 

 stone) implement, varies in size, in some skulls having a diatneter of one- 

 third, in others one-half or three-quarters of an inch or more, and 

 beveled or flaring at the surface. It is invariably placed in a cettial 

 position at the vertex of the skull. 



The first instance of its being brought to my knowledge was in the 

 year 18G9, when I took from the Great Mound on the liouge River two 

 fragments of crania, each of which exhibited this iierforaiion. A skull 

 recently presented to the museum of our scientific association by Mr. 

 A. C. Davis, and which was exhumed from a mound on Sable Uiver, 



Fig. 3. 



Perforated skull from niouiul at Sable River, Michigan, (Lake Iluion,) one-fourth size. 



Lake Huron, ]\Iicbigan, also has this mark. From ten to fifteen skulls 

 were taken from this same mound, all being similarly i)erforated, and 

 there being, as I am intbrmed, no other remains interred with them. 



JJuring last summer (1874) in some further excavations made in the 

 Great Mound at the Eouge liiver, ^Michigan, among other relics exhumed' 

 were eight crania, two of which had this aperture. Of the remaining 

 bones i)ertaining to the two skulls in question, I specially noticed that 

 many were wanting, and that those present were heai)ed oi was.sc and 

 not in the usual manner of burial, seeming to imply that they were 



