Putnam.] 
220 
[May 18, 
top, seem to be mixed with the surrounding gravel to a greater or 
less extent ; but generally after removing the contents of the 
upper third ol the pit, a mass of fine, gray ashes is found, which 
is from several inches to over two feet in thickness. Sometimes this 
mass of ashes contains thin strata of charcoal, sand or gravel. 
Below the mass of ashes, burnt stones have been found in some of 
the pits, and also occasionally in the ashes. Throughout the 
whole mass of ashes and sand, from the top of the pit to the bot- 
tom, are bones of fishes, reptiles, birds and mammals. Those of 
the larger species of mammals, such as the elk, deer and bear, are 
generally broken, and all are, apparently, the bones of animals 
that have been used as food. In some pits, as in one which I 
opened, about half a bushel of such bones have been taken out. 
With the bones are the shells of several species of Unionidae, of 
which from fifty to a hundred or more have been taken from a 
single pit. Many of the valves, but always of the species having 
massive shells, have a large circular piece cut out near the centre. 
There are also found in these pits many and often large pieces of 
pottery, but up to this time the only whole vessel obtained from 
a pit was the one found in the last of the six that were emptied 
during my visit . 1 
A large number of implements made of bones and of deer and 
elk antlers have been found. Those made of elk antlers are in 
most cases adapted for digging or for agricultural purposes, and 
are often so large and so well made as to prove that they were 
effective implements. One form of implement which, so far as 
I know, has not been found in any other place, is made from a 
leg-bone of a deer or an elk. These singular longitudinally- 
grooved bones have sharp edges, beveled on the inside, and were 
probably used as scrapers of some kind until the bone was grad- 
ually worn through in the center, as shown by a large number of 
halves, as well as by several perfect specimens showing various 
stages of use. One, which had been used but little, if at all, was 
taken from one of the pits opened under my direction. The most 
common bone implements are the “ awls,” or pointed bones of 
many sizes, of forms similar to those found in other places. 
1 Since then a pottery dish has been fonnd in one of the pits recently opened. 
