G. F. Eaton — Prehistoric Fauna of Block Island. 155 



The only limb bones which afforded measurements were the 

 two femurs ; their lengths were found to be eleven and a 

 quarter inches, indicating a total stature of about forty-two 

 inches. A careful search brought to light no other human 

 bones from this shell-heap. 



Cannibalism. 



The discovery of this skeleton is of especial interest to the 

 archeologist, inasmuch as it throws light on the subject of the 

 prevalence of cannibalism among the Indians of the New 

 England coast. That the child whose skeleton has just been 

 described met with a violent death was suggested by the defec- 

 tive condition of the left wall of the skull, though whether a 

 blow causing such a fracture was given in the act of capture or 

 as a coup-de-grace would be fruitless to discuss. Further, the 

 fact that the skeleton had been apparently cast upon the heap 

 of shells, bones, wood ashes, and broken cooking utensils, is 

 suspicious, and does not indicate the slightest degree of that 

 reverent care usually observed in the Indian funeral ceremony. 

 The absence of the arms and of portions of the lower limbs 

 can best be accounted for by supposing them to have been cut 

 off for greater facility in cooking. The places of amputation 

 point to a crude knowledge of anatomy, for the shoulder and 

 knee joints are those which a savage could best divide with his 

 rough stone knife, and after failing to master the nicety of the 

 ankle joint, he might be tempted to try a few inches higher up, 

 at the small of the leg, where he would at least be unhindered 

 by any complex articulation. 



An ingenious theory has been advanced to account for the 

 finding of this human skeleton in a shell-heap. Believing that 

 it has not appeared before, the writer states it here briefly. 

 When a death occurred during the cold winter months, it 

 would have been difficult for the Indians, provided only with 

 rude mattocks of stone or wood, to dig a grave in the frozen 

 ground ; yet under their fires, which were probably located 

 within the limits of their shell-heaps or at least close to them, 

 there would have been little or no frost in the ground, and a 

 grave could have been dug with comparative ease. This 

 theory might account for the occurrence of a complete skele- 

 ton in a shell-heap, but it fails to satisfy the requirements of 

 the present case, where a skeleton lacking the bones of arms 

 and legs was found. 



In the Cemetery Shell-heap, a piece of human skull was dis- 

 covered consisting of parts of the frontal and left parietal 

 bones. Judging from the development of the coronal suture, 

 the fragment belonged to the skull of a fully mature indi- 

 vidual. Although this is of less interest than the discovery of 

 the child's skeleton in the Mott Shell-heap, it certainly adds 

 somewhat to the evidence upon the subject under consideration. 



