Archaeologia Nova Caesarea: 1907-1909 . the immediate vicinity of the Indians permanenttowns, and there were many such in New Jersey, naturallythere would be a general place of burial. Such cemeteries,in early Colonial days, were respected, but the increaseddemand for land soon resulted in encroachment upon theirboundaries and now they are obliterated. An occasionalrelic is turned up by the plow or perhaps a skull, but of thepast and all this relic and this skull really signify, who shallsay? Lost is lost, and gone is gone forever. That the Indian, how^ever, was not devoid of all sentimentis a
Archaeologia Nova Caesarea: 1907-1909 . the immediate vicinity of the Indians permanenttowns, and there were many such in New Jersey, naturallythere would be a general place of burial. Such cemeteries,in early Colonial days, were respected, but the increaseddemand for land soon resulted in encroachment upon theirboundaries and now they are obliterated. An occasionalrelic is turned up by the plow or perhaps a skull, but of thepast and all this relic and this skull really signify, who shallsay? Lost is lost, and gone is gone forever. That the Indian, how^ever, was not devoid of all sentimentis apparent from w^hat has been quoted from Samuel Smith,and near a century later we find it reported by Barber and 6o Hovve,^ they in turn quoting from an unnamed author,that on the bank of the Rancocus creek, and not far fromthe Delaware river, there was a tumulus formed by thegraves of the Indians. There they used to be brought inwickers on mens shoulders, and were interred in sittingpostures, surrounded and defended by upright Fig. g. Axe, Celt and Gouge of Delaware Indians. The occurrence of burial moimds in New Jersey have beenfrequently reported, but in every instance of which I haveknowledge, it was a natural hillock or out-reaching ridge,with sufficient clay at its base to preserve it against the wearand tear of the elements. Such a feature in a landscape ^Historical Collections of New Jersey: Barber and Howe, 2nd Ed.,1856, p. 122. 6i would not escape an Indians notice, and its utilization as aburial place would be a very apt suggestion, but that atumulus was ever deliberately built is open to question, al-though earthworks for defense are recorded by those whohad seen them and questioned the Indians as to their originand purport. It can be said safely that the Delaware In-dians were in no sense mound-builders, but appear occas-ionally to have been mound-dwellers. An examination of one such natural hillock gave evidencethat it had been palisaded near the top and
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