DEPARTMENT OF PREHISTORIC ANTHROPOLOGY. 141 



From Mrs. B. I). Spencer, Brooklyn, 3S". V. (through Dr. H. T. Cresson, 

 of Philadelphia, forwarded by Prof. F. W. Putnam, of Peabody Museum) : 

 A pyrula shell with an engraving of a mastodon or grand pachyderm, 

 human and animal teeth, shell beads, bone implements, stone arrow 

 and spear heads, perforators and scrapers, and a piece of wood, show- 

 ing the cutting marks of a stone ax, from the peat and fallen forest 

 layer and neighboring locality near Holly Oak Station, Philadelphia, 

 Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad, Delaware. These objects were 

 discovered by Dr. 11. T. Cresson and M. Safault in 18G4. Seventy- 

 nine specimens. (Ace. U4G95.) 



From P. Forrer, Strasbnrg, Germany: Thirty-four pieces of pottery 

 (Saurian ware) of Roman manufacture, each one having a name stamped 

 upon it; and 25 pieces of Coptic cloth. (Purchased.) The name given 

 to these has been Coptic cloth, because they were made principally at 

 the city of Coptos, which was located about halfway between the cities 

 of Thebes and Panopolis. Thence this commerce was carried in every 

 direction both through Egypt and Ethiopia, and these and similar cloths 

 have been found as far north as Fayum. There are evidences of Greek, 

 Roman and Byzantine influences. Some of the fabrics were woven in 

 the loom with shuttles, but others were made as tapestries. They are 

 usually of flax, though wool is interwoven. Silk was known in that 

 day, but seemed to have been such a luxury that its use was uncommon. 

 Some of these cloths have been described by Herodotus and Strabo. 

 The use of this and similar fabrics made with the loom in Egypt dates 

 from high antiquity. Many of these are tapestries and woven in the 

 same manner as the Gobelins. They were all used as garments ami 

 were the burial dress of their owners, having been exhumed from the 

 graves of the neighborhood. They date from the first to the seventh 

 century, A. D. These objects will be described in a separate paper. 

 (Ace. 24690.) 



ROUTINE WORK, CLASSIFICATION AND ARRANGEMENT OP COLLECTION. 



This department of the Museum, consisting, as it does, of antiquated 

 bones, stones, and pottery, much of it in fragments, is not attractive to 

 the ignorant visitor. Its objects have been known throughout historic 

 times without exciting public interest. If they have been gathered, it 

 was from curiosity. All this has been changed by the discovery of pre- 

 historic man. Now the objects take their proper place as evidence of 

 the antiquity of man, and are regarded with proper interest and given 

 their true value. But this requires an understanding of the objects 

 and their relation — man and man's industry. This is explanatory of 

 the statement that in my department visitors frequently call upon me 

 for explanations, and ask my opinion upon objects, sometimes those in 

 the Museum, at other times those owned and brought by the visitors, 

 and this adds much to our routine labor. I approve this idea, and have 



