Indian Camp or Village Sites in the Southern Part of Staten 

 Island and Adjacent Parts of New Jersey^ 



Alanson Skinner 



I. Sites at Rossville, Kreischerville and Tottenville, 

 Staten Island 



Beginning at Rossville, and running along the shore to Totten- 

 ville,. are a series of interesting camp or village sites and shell 

 heaps, mostly prehistoric, which may safely be attributed to the 

 Raritan Indians. 



On June lo, 1907, a cursory examination of these sites was 

 made, and enough material gathered and examined to prove them 

 very closely connected with the sites at Morgan's Station, etc., on 

 the neighboring mainland. 



The nature of the ground is quite different from that of the 

 sites thus far examined on the opposite side of Raritan Bay and 

 Staten Island Sound. Instead of the fine white sand so charac- 

 teristic of the New Jersey localities the soil is mostly a coarser 

 red or yellow sand, broken frequently by layers of hard, indurated 

 red sand or clay. Throughout Staten Island, with very few ex- 

 ceptions, aboriginal sites are confined entirely to the sandy spots. 



In the vicinity of the Rossville post office, where explorations 

 were begun, are sandy fields, containing relics, but few shells, 

 which have been frequently " surfaced " by local collectors. One 

 high sand hill to the north of the post office is known locally as 

 " Hammerstone Hill," from the numbers of pitted hammerstones 

 once found there. 



On the opposite side of the main road from the post office are 

 two small but interesting shell heaps. The first begins about 

 seventy or one hundred feet back from the road, and is covered 



1 Presented at the meeting of the Section of Biology, December 11, 1912. 



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