438 



NEW YORK STATE ML'SEUM 



Skeletal remains. When Indian graves are found, especially 

 those that appear to be precolonial,^care should be taken to preserve 

 the bones from wanton or careless destruction. An experienced 

 investigator will carefully expose the skeleton in its entirety and will 

 not pull out each bone as it comes to view, and thus dismember it and 

 break the brittle bones. With the skeleton scientifically exposed the 

 entire grave may be studied and the relative position of the accom- 

 panying objects noted. In this way nothing will be lost in the back 

 dirt. When the general situation has been noted and recorded and 

 drawings or photographs taken, the bones should be carefully removed 

 and wrapped in some absorbent material. Great care should be 

 taken to preserve the skull and to prevent the dropping out of the 

 teeth. Skeletal remains are always of interest to the larger sc'entific 

 museums, and should not be sent to historical societies. If there is 

 scanty facility for taking all the bones, the skull should be taken 

 together with any of the larger bones that exhibit any interesting 

 features, as fractures, diseases or morphological characteristics. The 

 investigator should look for evidences of platycnemia, platymeria 

 and the perforated olecranon, illustrated in plates 137-142. If an 

 investigation of the grave and the removal of its cultural contents 

 alone is possible, common decency directs the respectful redeposit of 

 the bones and their reburial. Only those of defective sensibilities 

 will smash and scatter the bones as they root after relics. Such 

 persons indeed are grave robbers of a very cowardly sort and have 

 no understanding of either the purposes or the ethics of science. 



Spearheads, flint. Spearheads are points designed to be placed 

 on the end of shafts or handles and are used for piercing the bodies 

 of human or beast enemies or game. A chipped stone or flint spear- 

 head was tied to its shaft and probably also secured by a slot into 

 which it fitted. 



Stone spearheads are of varied shapes and sizes. Aianv so-called 

 arrowheads in reality are spearheads or knife blades. \\^hile it is 

 not always easy to judge the difference between a large arrow jx^int 

 and a small spearhead, a good general rule is to study the specimen 

 as to its adaptability to the several probable purposes to which it 

 could be applied. A heavy head takes the power of flight from an 

 arrow. Arrow points are therefore relativclx' small, as all specimens 

 found in shafts will show. Heavy, thick-stemmed points would not 

 fit into shafts of arrows. Thick, broad stems therefore must have 

 been employed for other ])ur])oses. If they would fit into a larger 

 shaft, say an inch in diameter, the jioint may be a spear po-nt or pos- 

 siblv the spike of a war club. Some sjiecimens, however, are plainly 

 spears of some sort. It nuist be remembered that there were several 



