THE ST. JOHN'S RIVER, FLORIDA. 



45 



and many objects of interest have been found in the vast shell deposits now cov- 

 ered with orange trees. In addition to many shell heaps there are upon the place 

 a conical mound of sand and shell, which has not been thoroughly investigated, 

 and a mound of sand somewhat more oblong in form than the usual truncated 

 cone. For permission to investigate this mound we are indebted to William Edgar 

 Bird, Esq., the owner. Professor Wyman, a score of years ago, 1 made a superficial 

 examination of one of these mounds and finding skeletons, naturally supposed the 

 tumuli to have been erected for purposes of sepulture. While both mounds at 

 Bluffton contain intrusive burials, the results of our investigations show that the 

 sand mound, at least, had probably been constructed for a different purpose. 



In the month of March, 1879, we were permitted to make a superficial exami- 

 nation of the sand mound, and were rewarded by the discovery of the skeleton of 

 a man, lying a short distance beneath the surface. In association were a tube of 

 stone (Fig. 21) and a fragment of human skull ornamented with incised lines (Fig. 

 22). 



Fig. 21. Stone tube (full size). Fig. 22. Ornamented fragment of human skull (full size). 



This section of cranium possessed deep interest, since at that time the discov- 

 ery of no other ornamented piece of human bone was on record in the United 

 States, while but two specimens showing workmanship had been reported. - 



Of this fragment of human bone, now in the Peabody Museum of Archaeology, 

 Professor Putnam writes as follows : " I have looked up the piece of skull that 

 you sent in 1879 from the mound at Bluffton, and enclose an outline of the same 

 showing the lines cut upon the fragment. It is beyond question a piece of the 

 parietal bone of a human skull. It was probably a circular ornament cut from a 

 parietal bone such as I have found several times in Ohio, some of which are very 

 elaborately carved and correspond to the shell ornaments of the same circular 

 shape. I have also seen one of these circular pieces of parietal, from an Indian 

 grave in Ontario, not carved but simply perforated for suspension, so that this cut- 

 ting pieces of the human skull for ornaments seems to be rather widely spread — 

 say Florida, Ohio, Canada." 



1 " Fresh Water Shell Mounds of the St. John's River, Florida," page 37. 



2 Jeffries Wyman, op. cit., page 63. 

 (5 JOUR. A. N. S. PHILA., VOL. X. 



