Exploration of a Munsee cemetery near Montague, New Jersey . ere found in the feast-pits associated with the burials and else-where in the cemetery, few objects of stone were buried with thebodies. No large implements were found, and the only small ones con-sist of ten pieces of flint, associated with Skeletons 24 and these, three were accompanied with steel and were probablyused for striking fire. Under the chin of Skeleton 6 were two smallchipped pieces of black flint, and five small pieces were associatedwith other material near the bones of Skeleton 39. Three flatpieces of limestone
Exploration of a Munsee cemetery near Montague, New Jersey . ere found in the feast-pits associated with the burials and else-where in the cemetery, few objects of stone were buried with thebodies. No large implements were found, and the only small ones con-sist of ten pieces of flint, associated with Skeletons 24 and these, three were accompanied with steel and were probablyused for striking fire. Under the chin of Skeleton 6 were two smallchipped pieces of black flint, and five small pieces were associatedwith other material near the bones of Skeleton 39. Three flatpieces of limestone were found—one, near the skull of Skeleton 6,is a fragment with disintegrated surface, the edges of which mayhave been worked. A similar piece rested on the chest of Skeleton14, and another was found under the lower jaw of Skeleton the position of these stones it is evident that they had notbeen deposited fortuitously. With Skeleton 33 were twenty-six small pebbles, associated withglass beads found in and about fragments of a rattle made from the. HEY E-PEPPER—EXPLORATION OF A M UN SEE CEMETERY 45 shell of a box-turtle. The stones had probably been used with therattle, and the beads as ornaments. Another evidence of the ceremonial use of stones in connectionwith the burials was the rinding of a rock-crystal in the mouth ofSkeleton 20. Owing to their attractive appearance, both in theirtranslucency and in the beauty of their facets, and no doubt alsoto the mystery associated with their formation, crystals have beenand still are used by many primitive peoples for ceremonial pur-poses, and the Munsee of Minisink were no exception, although theskeleton under consideration is that of a white man. Practically all the beads of aboriginal manufacture depositedwith the dead are of shell; a few are made of metal, but only sevenstone beads were found: these are of catlinite, or red pipestone,and were found with Skeletons 29 and 53. With the former therewere six, five of which
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookidexplorationo, bookyear1915
