36 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bt-LL.83 



Most of the skulls and other bones examined were readily recog- 

 nized as those of Indians, and the so-called "gasometer" -kull could 

 be referred to no other people. There were also a few morphologi- 

 cally insignificant fragments, the identity of which remained doubt- 

 ful, but there were, in addition, two crania which, on account of their 

 peculiar features, could not possibly be referred to the Delawares 

 (Lenape) or to any other known American aborigines. These were 

 the so-called Burlington County skull and another skull found on 

 the site of the Riverview cemetery. These specimens proved to be 

 of so much interest that the writer feels justified in repeating here 

 their full history and the results of his examination. 



THE BURLINGTON COUNTY SKULL 



This specimen was presented to the Peabody Museum, Cambridge, 

 in 1879, by Dr. Charles C. Abbott, of Trenton, who at that time was 

 actively interested in the archeology of the valley. The skull was 

 discovered accidentally in a field near a small settlement known as 

 Sykesville. It had rolled out of the bank of a brook running 

 through a field. The geology of the locality is cretaceous, and here 

 the green sand marls and stratified clay and sand are overlaid by 

 the " southern-drift," as the white pebbles and yellow sand are called. 

 Above is a rich alluvial deposit, but this is not a uniform covering, 

 the drift often being exposed over considerable areas. It was in this 

 drift, unassociated with other bones, that the skull lay. 



THE RrvERviEW CEMETERY SKULL 



This specimen, now also in the Peabody Museum, was procured in 

 1887 by Mr. Volk, whose account of the find is as follows: 



A man with whom I was acquainted, employed in digging graves in the 

 Riverview cemetery, told me of a skull he had found in a new plot in which 

 no burials had been made before. On my arrival at the cemetery he showed 

 me the place ; it was an elevated part of the ground, and now there is one grave 

 there. The man told me that when he dug that grave he struck with his 

 spade, at the depth of about 3 feet, a human skull. There were no other bones 

 there, but he noticed a few black lines in the soil. 



The workman gave the skull to Mr. Volk, who in turn gave it to 

 the Peabody Museum. On examining the deposits as disclosed in 

 the grave, Mr. Volk found from " 6 to 10 inches of black soil, about 

 18 inches of yellow drift, and then stratified sand and gravel. This 

 skull, according to the information of the man who found it, was 

 in the apparently undisturbed sand and gravel." 



See original publication in Bulletin of American Mtmevm of natural History, xvi. 

 23-62, 1902. See the same paper for bibliography. 



