A Collection of Indian Relics from Watchogue^ 



Alanson Skinner 



For many years Mr. Peter B. Decker, of Watchogue, has 

 assisted the writer in his work of collecting and tabulating the 

 different types of Indian remains found on Staten Island and, in 

 the first three or four seasons during my absence at college and in 

 the field, Mr. Decker accumulated quite a collection, which, at the 

 writer's suggestion, was purchased and donated to the Association 

 by Mr. William T. Davis. 



Of chipped implements the collection contains over one hun- 

 dred arrowpoints, drills and knives, and some splendid scrapers, 

 several of the latter of unique form. Of pecked stone articles 

 there are two good axes, one notched, the other grooved, a quan- 

 tity of hammerstones, mullers, notched and grooved net sinkers, 

 an arrowshaft smoother and a sinew stone. Of polished stone 

 articles there is a broken bannerstone, showing boring with a 

 tubular drill, a square stone bead, and an interesting engraved 

 object of unknown use. Pottery is represented by a number of 

 sherds, some decorated, and two fragments of clay pipes. A 

 brass arrowpoint is also included. 



Besides the Indian material Mr. Decker had in the collection 

 two "trade" (?) pipes, several gun flints, a leaden bullet and a 

 brass spur from Watchogue, and a revolutionary bayonet, found 

 by his brother in an excavation on John Street, Mariner's Harbor. 



Among the most interesting of the Indian specimens are the 

 brass arrowpoint and a fragment of a clay pipe bowl moulded in 

 the form of a bird, which was found with some fragments of 

 Iroquoian pottery on a sand hammock at Watchogue. At the 

 same place, within an area of a few hundred feet, the writer had 

 previously found a brass arrowpoint and Iroquoian pottery, while 



1 Presented at the meeting of the Association, March 15, 1913. 



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