250 ANXALS XEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 



SECTION OF ANTIiEOPOLOGY AND PSYCHOLOGY 



2-1 January, 1916 



The Section met at 8 :30 p. m., in conjunction with the American Eth- 

 nological Society, whose president, Dr. P. E. Goddard, presided. 

 The following program was presented : 



Franz Boas, General Ethnological Notes feom Porto Eica 



Robert T. Aiken, Porto Eican Burial Caves. 



H. K. Haeberlin, Archeologigal Work in Porto Eico. 



Summary of Papers 



Mr. Aiken stated that the archeological work done during the past 

 summer was in two sections, the first being the excavation of a cave 

 and adjacent village site, the second the excavation of a much larger 

 site. The following data refer only to the former undertaking, which 

 was carried through with the cooperation of Dr. J. H. Mason and under 

 the general direction of Professor Franz Boas. The cave in question is 

 one of the innumerable lioUows in the limestone formation which com- 

 poses a large portion of the island. It lies in a riclge about ten miles 

 from Utuado, at an elevation of about two hundred feet above the adja- 

 cent valley. The entrance is large and faces east. The floor was en- 

 tirely excavated. It was composed of alternate layers of disintegrated 

 limestone and crystalline calcite with a thick underlying stratum of 

 clay. The upper forty inches of the stratified formation yielded no less 

 than twenty fairly complete human skeletons, all evidently interred in 

 contracted position. All the remains were quite fragile but hardened on 

 exposure to the air. Only three intact skulls were found. A few scat- 

 tered bits of potsherd were found, as well as a few fragments of stone 

 and shells. The village at the foot of the hill yielded nothing but a few 

 similar sherds, a single hammer stone and a few pebbles. However, the 

 fact of there being a site here was proved by the presence of prehistoric 

 walls. 



The conclusions to be drawn from the material are that the Porto 

 Eicans practised cave burial, but did not use such caves for habitation 

 and did not place offerings with the dead. 



Dr. Haeberlin stated that a ball-court near Utuado was studied as 

 part of the same expedition of which Mr. Aitken was a member. On the 

 north and south the court was bordered by a continuous row of flat 



