120 
SCATTERED HUMAN BONES 
Scattered human bones were found in nearly every refuse heap and in 
the muck surrounding the spring, but they were most numerous in deposits 
Nos. 1, 4, and especially in No. 15. Some of them, however, may be rem- 
nants of skeletons disturbed by ploughing. The bones most commonly 
found were, in order of abundance, fragments of skulls, whole and broken 
lower jaws, tibia?, femora, humeri, vertebrae, radii, fibulae, ulnae, scapulae, 
metacarpals, and metatarsals. The large numbers of pieces of crania may 
be due to the fact that skulls are easily broken, or that the brain was 
desired, some of the Iroquois being known to break open the skull of victims 
to extract the brains {See Jesuit Relations of 1642, XXII, 255). A few, 
also, may have been broken to get pieces suitable for manufacture into 
gorgets like those in Plate XV, figures 32 and 33. Pieces of skull, blackened 
and scorched by fire, were found in several of the refuse deposits. Lower 
jaws were common, four being found in deposit No. 4 lying on top of the 
sand beneath the refuse, two of them together. More than half of these 
jaws have the condyles broken off; some show marks of hacking near the 
constricted portion, and one has the apex of the coronoids broken off; all 
of which is probably due to the method of detaching the jaws. A broken 
jaw found in deposit 2, and two right halves embedded in ashes in deposit 
15, were scorched. The ends of most of the humeri and radii were gone 
and some have marks of hacking at the broken ends, probably to assist in 
breaking the bone. Some of the ulnce were broken. All the femora were 
broken; one from deposit 15, with the shaft broken near the middle, showed 
marks of hacking on the side of the fractured end, and several other pieces 
were burnt. About two-thirds of the tibiae have both extremities broken 
off and two are burnt at these ends. A right tibia from deposit 15 has an 
oblong hole broken into the internal surface of the bone, about 3 inches 
above the internal malleolus, apparently caused by a wound, but without 
subsequent reparative growth. One tibia was found in a post hole in 
deposit 4, about 18 inches below the surface. All the fibulae are broken and 
some were hacked near the broken ends. A metatarsal bone shows marks 
of cutting, probably made by the knife used in removing the flesh. 
This large number of scattered, single bones may have been of the 
people of the site, but it is more likely that most of them are the bones of 
enemies, who had been roasted and eaten. Most of the bones are those 
of young and middle-aged individuals, in two instances those of women, 
in one or two of children, but all others of men. Many of these bones are 
better preserved than those in graves, which is probably due to boiling or 
roasting. The breaking and hacking of the bones likewise suggest canni- 
balism, a practice that was not rare among the Iroquois, as stated in the 
note on page 76 above. The burnt bones may even be those of prisoners 
burnt at the stake. 
