8 8 Transa ct io n s. — Miscellaneous. 



buriul place, a large cooking oven was laid open, tlie stones of which had been 

 formed, lying upon the bed No. 2, thus proving that the bed No. 4 could only 

 have been of inconsiderable thickness when the oven was used. This oven 

 and the space near it had been tilled with some kitchen middens, consisting 

 almost entirely of large shells of Mesodesma cuneata (No. 4). 



I observed ah'eady that all the other skeletons were found in the bed No. 3, 

 confined to the lower portion of the slope, which was confirmed by our under- 

 taking, when the workmen had left, further excavations higher up, but without 

 the least result, only the upper bed (No. 4) with the kitchen middens of the 

 shell-fish eaters being met with, lying directly upon the slope deposit No. 2. 

 This bed (No. 3) is therefore of particular interest to us, as it was»used as a burial- 

 place, not less than six human skeletons having been found by the workmen, 

 either during my presence or according to the information received from them. 

 All these skeletons had been buried in a crouching position, each with several 

 (generally three) polished stone implements. They evidently had been placed in 

 the ground before the uppermost bed (No. 4) had been formed, the lower surface 

 of which being continuous and undisturbed; but at what period of the 

 deposition of the lower bed the bodies were placed there I was unable to 

 ascertain, as this latter was much disturbed above the graves, probably from a 

 subsidence during the decomposition of the bodies. The skeleton found on the 

 2nd October, together with three polished stone implements, was presented to 

 the Museum with two of these tools, by Mr. Thomas Sutton, one of the 

 workmen. He informed me that the skeleton was in a crouching position, 

 and that the three stone implements had been buried close to it. One of 

 them is a small adze of chert (very much resembling that rock, found in the 

 neighbourhood of Nelson), 4| inches long by IJ inches broad at the cutting 

 edge. The second is also an adze of considerable size, made from a black 

 siliceous schist, but which unfortunately I could not obtain; -whilst the third 

 is the lower portion of a still larger one of the same material, broken trans- 

 versely at the centre. Although there is an attempt made to polish the broken 

 surface of this tool, it is difficult to understand why it should have been 

 buried with the body, except that it was one of the possessions of the deceased, 

 and which he had just begun to shape into another tool. 



The bones l^elonging to this skeleton show, by their chemical condition, 

 that only a verv small amount of animal matter can remain in them, and that 

 it must have been buried for a long lapse of time; but as Dr. Powell will refer 

 fully to the osteological features of this skeleton and describe the skull in 

 detail, and Professor Bicjcerton will give us his examination as to the chemical 

 condition of the bones, I shall refrain from entering any further into the 

 subject. On the 5th October, during my presence, another skeleton was 



