T1IK ARCHEOLOGICAL HISTORY OF NEW YORK 177 



in diameter. In depth the ossuary was 16 inches, or from the top 

 of the ground to the bottom, 27 inches. 



Burial 6. This grave was discovered at 37 feet outside of trench 

 I, on the west side. It was 36 inches deep, 36 inches wide and 55 

 inches long. 



This grave, unlike the others, seems to have been an original 

 burial, that is to say, the earth had not been overturned more than 

 once. The other graves seem to have been used several times, the 

 bones being removed for ossuary burial or other disposition, and 

 a new body interred therein. 



The skeleton was that of an adult male of mature years (about 

 60). A heron's lower mandible was found at the forehead as if it 

 had been used as a hairpin. The earth had packed about the limbs 

 and neck and left in the clay-mixed sand a cast of the body. A 

 black phosphate surrounded the bones, the remains of the animal 

 tissue and burial wrappings. 



Measurements of position gave the following data: knee to back, 

 17 inches; atlas to os innominata 2 feet 5 inches; atlas to end of 

 tarsus, 3 feet 2 inches. Orientation: head east; face, south; left 

 side flexed. Bones in good condition except those of the two lower 

 arms. 



Burial 7. Another grave was opened at 44 feet on the west side. 

 It was 30 inches deep and contained only a few decayed vertebrae 

 and a deposit of grave dirt. The larger bones had probably been 

 removed for ossuary burial. 



Burial 8. At 49 feet on the west side, grave 8 was found. It 

 was 19 inches deep and contained a few decayed bones, part of a 

 femur and the crushed remains of a child's skull. Over this grave 

 was a layer of thin slabs. At the south end of the grave was a 

 boulder 12 inches in diameter. It was 18 inches below the surface. 

 The skull lay with the top east. A large piece of shale lay directly 

 beneath the pelvis. Between this grave and the next was an ash 

 bed 7 inches deep. 



Burial 9. At 50 feet in trench i touching the line on the east side, 

 20 inches below the surface, the top of another ossuary was un- 

 covered. Excavation disclosed a bone pile 48 inches from north to 

 south and 33 inches from east to west. 



Unlike burial 5, the first ossuary, this was a promiscuous heap 

 of bones cast without order upon a group of twenty skulls arranged 

 in an oval. Four inferior maxillae, six broken femora, five humeri, 

 a number of ulnae, radii, vertebrae, an astragalus, tarsus, ribs and 

 pelvis were found in the heap over the skulls. Of the twenty skulls, 



