HAWKES AND LINTON A PRE-LENAPE SITE IN NEW JERSEY 55 



"PREDECESSORS OF THE DELAWARE INDIANS" 



"The Lenni Lenape, although found here by the first 

 white settlers, were not the oldest inhabitants of the region. 

 Beneath the immediate surface, darkened by the refuse from 

 Indian habitations, chipped implements of argillite have been 

 found in the undisturbed yellow soil under conditions that 

 suggest considerable historical antiquity. No pottery or 

 implements other than large rough argillite points, blades and 

 the like occur, whereas the Lenape layer above is rife with 

 pottery, implements of all kinds, and materials. In the valley 

 of the Delaware this phenomenon has been amply observed 

 and investigated by Dr. C. C. Abbot, Dr. Ernest Volk, and 

 others. Mr. Lockwood is said to have noted it at Keyport, 

 in the shell heaps, and Messrs. Edmund Shimp and R. W. 

 Emerson, of Bridgeton, have recorded the presence of at least 

 one site, on Cohansey Creek, where crude argillite tools alone 

 occur. Mr. Schrabisch, in his work on New Jersey rock shelters, 

 Mr. Gregor in Pennsylvania, and Mr. Harrington in New 

 York, report the presence of a non-pottery using people as 

 shown by the bottom, hence the oldest, layers in the debris of 

 the caves." 1 This would indicate that the area occupied by 

 the argillite users has yet to be definitely outlined, although 

 the center appears to have been the lower Delaware Valley. 



Mr. Skinner concludes: "Possibly there was an argillite 

 culture here before the Delaware or Lenape Indian that our 

 ancestors knew, but to say that these people were of different 

 race, a race that could be called pre-Indian, is too much, 

 although they may be called pre- Delaware with some cer- 

 tainty." Our conclusions agree with the latter part of Mr. 

 Skinner's statement, that the argillite culture represents a 

 people which may be called pre-Delaware, although it may 

 not be pre-Indian. The authenticity of the argillite culture 

 itself we believe is proven beyond a doubt. 



Archaeological Survey of the State of New Jersey. Alanson Skinner and Max 

 Schrabisch. Geological Survey of New Jersey. Trenton, 1913. 



