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



Referring again to the murder of John Oldham by the 

 Manissees, in 1636, the condition of Oldham's body when 

 found may be particularly noted. Governor Winthrop de- 

 scribes the reprisal of the trader's sloop by John Gallop, and 

 writes "and looking about, they found John Oldham under an 

 old seine, stark naked, his head cleft to the brains, and his 

 hand and legs cut as if they had been cutting them off, and 

 yet warm." The reason for this attempted dismemberment of 

 Oldham's corpse is readily understood if we accept the theory 

 of cannibalism. 



Stone Implements. 



Stone implements are frequently found on the surface of the 

 Island, though until this time little attention has been given 

 them and few have been saved. Throughout the mass of each 

 shell-heap, stone arrow-points, spearheads, and knives or 

 scrapers were found, nearly all of them made of quartz or 

 quartzite, which are common bowlder materials. Besides these 

 finished implements, there were quantities of irregular flakes 

 showing some evidence of chipping. From the Fort Island 

 Shell heap, one roughly-made quartzite axe was taken ; and 

 from the Mott Shell-heap two large single-grooved axes, one of 

 quartzite, and the other of a dark fine-grained porphyry ; both 

 of these had been carefully ground to sharp-cutting edges. 

 Although a few well-made arrow-points of graceful shape were 

 found, the average grade of workmanship shown by the shell- 

 heap implements is much inferior to that displayed by the 

 stone implements of the mainland. Indeed this lack of skill 

 is sometimes manifest in the choice of material as well as in 

 manufacture, for arrow-points were occasionally made of a 

 dark gray argillite whose strong cleavage did not permit a good 

 edge to be obtained by secondary chipping. 



On the high wind-swept bluff near Grace's Point, an inter- 

 esting discovery was made. The surface near the edge of the 

 bluff is almost denuded of vegetation, and the finer grains of 

 sand in the drift stratum are carried away by the wind as soon 

 as they are exposed. Consequently the surface at this place is 

 composed principally of glacial pebbles and coarse gravel. 

 Many of the pebbles are of a fine quality of quartz or quartz- 

 ite, well suited for the manufacture of the smaller stone im- 

 plements. Here, within an area of about eight hundred square 

 feet, was found a great number of worked stone pieces rang- 

 ing through several stages of development from the simplest 

 flakes to the finished arrow-points. Two of these are beauti- 

 fully worked points of the tanged and leaf-shaped types 

 which bear witness to far higher skill than do the implements 



