THE ARCIIEOLOGICAL HISTORY OF NEW YORK 677 



in the older part of the graveyard, skeletons were found in unmarked 

 graves, with which implements were discovered. As these skeletons 

 were said to have been flexed in the usual Indian fashion, possibly 

 the succeeding whites selected the same spot for their graveyard 

 that the Indians had used, as has often happened. It is improbable 

 that Indians and white settlers used the same burial ground simul- 

 taneously; although there has been a cemetery here for many years. 

 The objects said to have been found were stone axes and the like, 

 while Indians at the time of the settlers would undoubtedly have 

 had the iron tomahawk and usual trade articles. It is to be regretted 

 that no one versed in archeology was present at the discovery of 

 these Indian graves, if such they were. At Mariner's Harbor, be- 

 ginning about one-half of a mile south of the station and running 

 north to Bowman's point, in every field are traces of prolonged 

 occupation, fire-cracked stones, flint chips, potsherds and the like. 

 Two spots, however, are deserving of special mention. 



3 On South avenue, just opposite the Arlington station of the 

 Staten Island Rapid Transit Railroad is what remains of a once 

 much larger low sandy knoll most of which has been dug away. In 

 May 1902, half a dozen shell pits were opened, all of which averaged 

 from 4 to 6 feet deep, with about an equal breadth. They were all 

 bowl-shaped and contained animal bones, oyster shells, etc. Several 

 bone and antler implements, a quantity of typical Algonkin pottery, 

 fragments of quite a number of clay pipes, stone arrow points, 

 scrapers, hammerstones and a flat, thin, double-sided mortar or 

 metate were found. A portion of a pestle, a grooved axe, and a 

 grooved adze were picked up nearby. Several small shell heaps 

 averaging lo by 6 feet, and from 4 to 6 inches deep, containing the 

 usual camp refuse, were also opened. In the nearby fields, ])ortions 

 of a couple of banner stones, grooved axes, a couple of celts and a 

 number of celt blades were picked up. Celts are very rare on the 

 north shore of Staten island ; Mr Skinner in ten years of collecting 

 says he has never obtained a single specimen, and has not seen more 

 than two or three. A stone gouge, the only one reported from 

 Staten island, was also found near this site. 



4 Mariners' Harbor. Bowman's brook site is situated on the 

 shore of Kill van Kull, running inland for some distance along the 

 north shore of Bowman's brook, or, as it is often called, Newton's 

 creek or Deharts brook. In the early spring of 1903, the firm of 

 Milliken Brothers started work on a large steel plant which now 

 covers the entire ground once occupied by this site. As the sand 



