182 THE AMERICAX MCSEUM JOURNAL 



and more inches in diameter. The whole is stratified and shows in addition 

 to the Uxrge bonklers, a pecuHar feature much like a pit but which, from 

 my point of view, cannot be mistaken for an ordinary pit, being rather an 

 ice pit, a phice once occupied by a hirge cake of ice. This ice stranded 

 there and melting gradually, the while the stratum overlying it was being 

 laid down, finally disappeared altogether, and its place was taken up l)y 

 material from said stratum above. x\ll ice pits found ha\'e been near the 

 top in the last layer of sand. The deposit of the Trenton gravel is topped 

 by a i/cllow loam, varying in thickness from two to five feet and is a combi- 

 nation of loam, fine sand, clay and iron. On top of this yellow loam is the 

 so-called blaci: soil, the surface at the present day. This is chiefly the 

 accumulation of decayed vegetation and \aries in thickness from six to 

 thirty-six and more inches according to the adaptability of the location to 

 plant growth. 



The long search on this glacial terrace has In-ought traces of the presence 

 of early man, of which the black or top soil shows the following evidence: 

 numerous force-broken quartzite pebbles, chips and flakes of various min- 

 erals such as argillite, chert, hornstone, jasper, quartz and quartzite, de- 

 tached in the manufacture of implements; also the implements themselves, 

 whole and l^roken, and occasionally fragments of animal bone and small 

 fragments of pottery. This black soil has been disturbed by human agency 

 and penetrated downward into the underlying yellow loam in pits, postholes, 

 ashbeds, hearths and graves. 



The pits are of various depths from one to five feet and of a diameter 

 from six to sixty inches and contain charcoal, broken pottery, fragments 

 of animal bone, whole and broken implements, plant and fruit remains, 

 nutshells and whole and broken pebbles, of which many are burnt and fire- 

 fractured. The hearths contain single and double layers of pebbles, whole, 

 burnt and fire-broken. The ashbeds are generally the depth of the shallow 

 pits and contain a large amount of ashes with fragments of animal bone 

 among which are recognized the bones of \'irginia deer, of bear, wolf or 

 fox, beaver and opossum, wild turkey, wild goose or duck, of the sturgeon, 

 shad, catfish and turtl(\ These ashi)its ;ire clearly the e\idences of large 

 feasts. 



The graves were of three kinds according to (h^pth. Tlie shallow graves 

 were those where the body had evidently been laid ui)()n tl)(> suiface and the 

 ground or earth heaped over it forming a low mound which has generally 

 been disturbed by the farmer's plow. The medium graves had a. depth of 

 from eight to twenty inches Ix-Iow the surface and t\\v dvc]) gra\es from two 

 to three feet. The skeletons found show that bodies were buried in \arious 

 positions, on the side with knees drawn up toward the hoily pre\iiiling. In 

 some instances the body was straightened out on the 1 ack with arms at 

 the sifle. In one exceptional case the body had been placed in a sitting 



