EAtJ.) NORTH AMERICAN CUPPED BOULDERS. 53 



When Mr. McCook became cognizant of the existence of the block, it 

 had been only five years in its present position. For several generations 

 it had formed part of the foundation of a wall, and when the wall was 

 removed, it was found almost imbedded in the soil. At that time he did 

 not notice the peculiar markings upon it; but from the location of the moss 

 which covers all below the dotted line ah c in the sketch, and is entirely 

 absent upon what is now the upper surface, he concluded that the stone 

 was overset in the removal. Not far from this boulder are several others, 

 one of them weighing many tons, and nicely poised upon the very edge of 

 the rocky cliff. Yet he searched in vain for any marks upon them, bearing 

 the slightest resemblance to those upon the subject of his sketch. His atten- 

 tion was first drawn to these peculiar marks five or six years ago, while 

 visiting the neighboring beach, the path leading there passing close by the 

 cupped boulder. His first theory in regard to them was, that they might 

 be the work of the Niantic Indians, a small tribe, extinct since 1870, to 

 whom all the land in the immediate neighborhood of Niantic once be- 

 longed. But from the beginning he was at a loss to understand for what 

 purpose they could have made these cup-shaped cavities. He thought they 

 were too small to have served as mortars, and too symmetrical in their 

 arrangement to have been used for grinding down the ends of pestles. In 

 the meantime, however, Mr. McCook read in the "Journal de Geneve" a 

 review of some publications on cup-stones, and hence it occurred to him 

 that the boulder under notice " might be one of that system of marked 

 stones which are found all over the world, and are thought to have some 

 relation to the religious life of primitive man." 



The cups belonging to the central group, II, III, IV, and V, are strik- 

 ingly regular and smooth. Nr. I is much less regular, and Nr. VI is so 

 shallow and irregular that Mr. i\IcCook discovered it only on close exam- 

 ination, and, indeed, is doubtful whether it deserves to be indicated as 

 belonging to the same class with the rest. The dimensions of the cups are 

 as follows : — 



I. Diameter, 2| inches. Depth, ^ inch. 



II. Diameter, 3^ inches. Depth, ^ inch. 



III. Diameter, 3^ inches. Depth, ^ inch. 



