HISTORY OF THE MUSEUM 



Booth Archse- 



ological 



Collection. 



New Jersey. 



defrayed by friends of the Museum: Mr. Theodore Cooper provided 

 the funds for the explorations at Pelham Bay in 1899, and Mr. William 

 R. Warren the same year provided for the other local work. Other 

 contributors toward the field work were Mr. Charles Pryer, Mrs. 

 Esther Herrman, and Mr. Henry E. Pickering. 



In the material obtained are found collections of human remains, 

 implements, utensils, etc., from an Indian burial place in Tottenville, 

 Staten Island; Indian skeletons, pottery, stone implements, and vari- 

 ous objects of Indian make from an Indian burial place at Croton 

 Neck; various objects from shell heaps and Indian village sites in 

 Westchester and Rockland Counties; implements, etc., from Indian 

 sites in Schoharie County; Indian skeletons and other material from 

 village sites and burial places on Long Island. The collectors in the 

 field at various times were Messrs. Harlan I. Smith, George H. Pepper, 

 Frank Wallace, 1895; M. Raymond Harrington, 1899-1903; Marshall 

 H. Saville, 1899-1907; Alanson Skinner, 1907. 



A recent accession to the New York State series is the Booth 

 Archaeological Collection, numbering 1,154 catalogued specimens, pre- 

 sented by Mr. Henry M. Booth. It was gathered almost entirely 

 from the Hudson River valley in and between Westchester County 

 and Albany, and well represents the prehistoric culture of the Al- 

 gonkin Indians of that region. 



Explorations were carried on along the Delaware River near 

 Trenton, New Jersey, for several years, to investigate carefully the 

 question which had arisen regarding the antiquity of man in the 

 Delaware valley. 



The most important discoveries were the remains of several skele- 

 tons unearthed from clay belonging to the glacial deposits and a human 

 femur in the vicinity of which were also found an elk bone and frag- 

 ments of the musk-ox. In addition to these there were discovered 

 several pieces of stone which show evidence of human workmanship 

 that cannot be doubted, which seems to establish the fact that America 

 was inhabited by men during Glacial time. The research was begun 

 in 1893 by Mr. Ernest Volk with funds provided by the Duke of 



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