392 ARCILEOLOGY. 



INSTRUCTIONS 



FOR 



ARCILEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS IN THE U. STATES. 



PREPARED FOR THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION BY GEORGE GIBBS. 



The Smithsonian Institution being desirous of adding to its collec- 

 tions in archasology all such material as bears upon the physical type, 

 the arts and manufactures of the original inhabitants of America, 

 solicits the co-operation of officers of the army and navy, mission- 

 aries, superintendents, and agents of the Indian department, resi- 

 dents in the Indian country, and travellers to that end. 



CRANIA. 



Among the first of these desiderata is a full series of the skulls of 

 American Indians. 



The jealousy with which they guard the remains of their friends 

 renders such a collection in most cases a difficult task, but there are 

 others in which these objects can be procured without impropriety. 

 Numerous tribes have become extinct, or have removed from their 

 former seats; the victims of war are often left where they fall; and 

 the bones^ of the friendless and of slaves are neglected. Where, 

 without offence to the living, acquisitions of this kind can be 

 made, they will be gladly received as an important contribution to 

 our knowledge of the race. 



Various methods of disposing of the dead have obtained among 

 different tribes, as burning, burial, deposit in caves, in lodges, beneath 

 piles of stone, and in wooden sepulchres erected above ground, pla- 

 cing on scaffolds or in canoes, and attaching to the trunks, of trees. 

 In many instances the bones, after a season, are collected together 

 and brought into common cemeteries. Where the first mentioned 

 form, that of burning, is followed, we must, of course, look to chance 

 for the preservation of the remains. This method is, however, more 

 rare than the others. 



It is requisite, for the purpose of arriving at particular results, 

 that the most positive determination be made of the nation or tribe 

 to which a skull belongs. In extensive prairie countries, hunted over 

 or traversed by various tribes, or where, as on the Pacific coast, 

 several tribes and even stocks inhabit a district of limited extent, 

 this is often difficult, or even impossible. Unless, therefore, infor- 

 mation of a direct nature is obtained, the collector should be guarded 

 in assigning absolute nationalty to his specimens. It will be better 

 to state accurately the locality whence they are derived, and the 

 owners or frequenters of the neighborhood, to one of which it is 



