_Remains of Animals._ Human remains have not been found in the
shell-heaps of Denmark, except in the case of casual burials, as of a
shipwrecked sailor, or of burials from some other unusual occurrence,
and these are of a modern date. The same absence of human remains marks
the shell-heaps we are describing, with a single exception. At Cotuit
Port an unequivocal metatarsal bone from the great toe of the human
foot was discovered. No other bones were found with it, except those of
animals. It was so deeply buried, and its appearance was such, that
no doubt exists that it was of the same age as the heap itself; we
have therefore assigned it a place in the following table, which gives
a list of the species of animals uncovered and identified by their
bones, or shells, in the different heaps, and shows their relative
distribution through them.
--+-------------------------------------+-------+--------+------+-------
| Kinds of Animals found |Mount |Crouch’s| Eagle| Cotuit
| in the Shell-heaps. |Desert.| Cove. | Hill.| Port.
--+-------------------------------------+-------+--------+------+-------
1| Man, | | | | *
2| Elk (_Cervus Canadensis_), | * | | |
3| Moose (_Alce Americanus_), | * | * | |
4| Caribou (_Rangifer Caribou_), | | * | | ?
5| Deer (_Cervus Virginianus_), | * | * | * | *
6| Bear (_Ursus Americanus_), | | * | | *
7| Wolf (_Canis occidentalis_) | * | | |
8| Dog (_Canis_), | * | | * | *
9| Fox (_Vulpes fulvus_), | | | | *
10| Cat (_Felis_), | | | | *
11| Otter (_Lutra Canadensis_), | | * | |
12| Mink (_Putorius vison_), | | * | | *
13| Sable (_Mustella Americana_), | | * | |
14| Skunk (_Mephitis mephitica_), | | | | *
15| Seal (_Phoca vitulina_), | * | * | | *
16| Beaver (_Castor Canadensis_), | * | * | * |
17| Woodchuck (_Arctomys monax_), | * | | |
18| Great Auk (_Alca impennis_), | * | * | |
19| Razor-bill (_Alca torda_), | * | | |
20| Ducks (three species), | * | * | |
21| Wild Turkey (_Meleagris gallopavo_),| | | * | *
22| Heron (_Ardea herodias_), | | * | |
23| Tortoise (two species), | | | | *
24| Shark, | | | | *
25| Cod (_Morrhua Americana_), | * | * | * |
26| Goose-fish (_Lophius Americanus_), | | * | |
27| Whelk (_Buccinum undatum_), | * | * | |
28| _Pyrula carica_, | | | | *
29| _Pyrula canaliculata_, | | | | *
30| Oyster (_Ostrea edulis_), | * | * | * | *
31| Clam (_Mya arenaria_), | * | * | * | *
32| Quahog (_Venus mercenaria_), | | * | * | *
33| Mussel (_Mytilus edulis_), | * | * | * | *
34| Scallop (_Pecten tenuicostatus_ | | | |
| and _P. Islandicus_), | | * | | *
35| Hen-clam (_Mactra_), | | * | |
--+-------------------------------------+-------+--------+------+-------
Besides the species of shells mentioned above, and which may be
regarded as having been used for food, there were also found species
from the following genera, probably accidentally introduced, viz.:
_Tritonium_, _Littorina_, _Nassa Zua_ and _Purpura_; seven species of
_Helix_; three species of _Natica_.
A glance at the above table shows what a great variety of animals was
brought to these places by the Indians. Some were hunted as articles of
food, others for their skin, and still others for both. Precisely where
the line is to be drawn between those which are and are not edible, or
what animal an Indian would absolutely refuse to eat, it is impossible
to say. Although the kinds of meat used were in the main palatable, the
natives certainly did not hesitate to make use of some which do not
commend themselves to the taste of civilized people. Josselyn, who, of
all the earlier writers, has given the most complete account of the
animals found on the coast of New England, states that “the Indians,
when weary with travelling, will take them (the rattlesnakes) up with
their bare hands, laying hold with one hand behind their head, with the
other taking hold of their tail, and with their teeth tear off the skin
of their backs, and feed upon them alive, which, they say, refresheth
them.”[8]
The bones of the deer and birds outnumber those of all the other kinds.
The condition in which they are found bears a striking resemblance
to that of the bones from the shell-heaps of Scotland, the Orkneys,
and Denmark. Nearly all the fragments from the _deer_ were those of
the long bones, which in the living animal are either covered by
the largest amount of flesh, or contain the most marrow. Not one of
them was whole, all having been broken up for the double purpose of
extracting the marrow, a custom almost world wide among savages, and
often practised by hunters, and of accommodating them to the size of
the vessel in which they were cooked. Even the phalanges of the toes
were treated in the same way.
The bones of the _bear_, though much less numerous, were similarly
broken up, and in two instances had been carbonized by contact with
the fire. Among the specimens collected by Mr. Morse in his first
visit to Crouch’s Cove, was the last molar from the lower jaw. The
crown was somewhat worn, but the ridges were not all effaced; it was
of small size, measuring 0.55 inch in length, and 0.46 in breadth. The
average size of eight specimens of the same molar in the black bear
was, length 0.60 inch, breadth 0.47, while that of two specimens from
the polar bear was, length 0.54 inch, breadth 0.45. The tooth from the
shell-heaps, therefore, as regards size, more closely resembles the
last-mentioned species, as it does also in the shape of the crown,--but
it would be unsafe, from a single specimen of the molar in question,
to attempt to identify them. The former existence of the polar bear,
on the coast of Maine, is rendered quite probable by the fact that the
tusk of a walrus has actually been found at Gardiner.[9] Sir Charles
Lyell obtained a portion of the cranium of another at Gay Head,
Martha’s Vineyard.[10] It was found by a fisherman who supposed that
it had fallen from a cretaceous bed in the cliff above. Perhaps it may
have been of a more recent date, and a contemporary of the Great Auk.
The presence of the bones of the _dog_ might be accounted for on the
score of its being a domesticated animal, but the fact that they were
not only found mingled with those of the edible kinds, but like them
were broken up, suggests the probability of their having been used as
food. We have not seen it mentioned, however, by any of the earlier
writers, that such was the case along the coast, though it appears to
have been otherwise with regard to some of the interior tribes as the
Hurons. With them, game being scarce, “venison was a luxury found only
at feasts, and dog flesh was in high esteem.”[11] We have not found any
marks of cutting instruments, as was the case with the bones found by
Steenstrup in the shell-heaps of Denmark, and from which circumstance
he inferred that dogs were eaten. In fact, they have served as food in
so many parts of the world, that the use of their flesh anywhere ought
not to be considered an improbability.
A whole left half of the lower jaw of a _wolf_ was found at Mount
Desert, measuring 7.5 inches in length, making a strong contrast in
size, with a similar half from a dog found at Crouch’s Cove. This was
more curved, and had a length of a little less than five inches.
The bones of _birds_, like those of the deer, were almost without
exception broken, but in quite a different manner. In the latter it was
the shaft that was shattered, the ends often remaining uninjured; while
in the birds the shaft was whole, and the ends not only broken off, but
nowhere to be found. It is not to be supposed that they were so broken
off for the extraction of the marrow, since those containing only air
were treated in the same way. Steenstrup having observed the same fact
in the remains from the Danish shell-heaps, suspected that they were
mutilated by dogs, and accordingly by way of experiment, having kept
some of these animals on short diet, gave them various bird bones to
eat. He found, as he had anticipated, that they ate the ends, rejecting
the shaft. He explains their choice by the greater sponginess, and
easier digestibility of the former as compared with the dense middle
portion of the latter. No doubt an additional inducement was found in
the remains of flesh, tendon, and ligament, which would usually remain
adherent to the ends, after the portions ordinarily eaten had been
removed. On looking over the specimens of our collections, marks of
teeth of animals were frequently noticed, some of them of such size as
might be made by dogs, but others by a much smaller animal, as a cat or
mink.
Of the remains of birds, by far the most interesting are those of
the Great Auk (_Alca impennis_), which formerly had a much wider
geographical distribution than now, for having followed the glaciers in
their retreat, at present it is confined to the arctic and subarctic
regions. In Europe it formerly existed, as appears from the evidence
of the shell-heaps, on the shores of Scotland, the Orkneys, and it
has recently died out in Iceland. In the United States we have the
authority of Steenstrup and Prof. Baird for its former existence as
far south as Cape Cod. There can be but little doubt that the last
survivors lingered till after the arrival of the Europeans. The
description of the “Wobble,” by Josslyn, as far as it goes, applies
to the Great Auk, “an ill-shaped bird, having no long feathers in
their pinions which is the reason they cannot fly; not much unlike a
penguin.”[12]
There are various traditions along the sea-coast of its having been
seen at a much later date. Audubon, however, in his voyage to Labrador
saw none in the Straits of Belle Isle, but was told that they still
bred on an island north of Newfoundland.
The remains of the Great Auk in the shell-heaps of Maine, were in
sufficient numbers to show that it must have been common, since
seven specimens of the humerus alone were found, besides fragments
of the cranium, jaws, and sternum. The specimens of humerus differed
remarkably in condition from the same bone of other birds found with
them, in not being mutilated; for of the seven specimens, four were
whole, and the fifth had lost but one end, while of the humeri of the
other kinds, scarce one was whole enough to enable one to identify
the species. They seem not to have been attractive to the dogs.
They are characterized by their much flattened shape, thick walls,
narrow cavity, and the absence of an opening for the entrance of air.
Well-preserved specimens of the coracoid bone were also found entire.
The catalogue we have given of the animals found in the shell-heaps
shows that the elements of variety in food certainly existed,
especially if we add to these the maize, beans, squashes, and various
kinds of roots Indians are known to have used. From the testimony of
eyewitnesses, soon after the settlement of the country, it appears that
while sometimes the Indian contented himself with maize roasted, or
with this and beans made into a pottage, he often, when the necessary
materials were at hand, made what might well be called a hodge-podge.
Gookin gives a full account of the manner in which this was concocted.
In a word, it consisted of a mixture of fish and flesh of all sorts.
“Shad, eels, alewives,” “venison, beaver, bear’s flesh, moose, otters,
raccoons, or any kind that they take in hunting,” are cut into pieces,
bones and all, and stewed together. “Also they mix with said pottage
several sorts of roots, as Jerusalem artichokes, and ground nuts, and
other roots, and pompions, and squashes, and also several sorts of
nuts or masts, as oak-acorns, chestnuts, walnuts. These, husked and
dried and powdered, they thicken their pottage therewith.”[13]
Father Rasles[14] expresses his disgust at their style of cooking and
eating, and Wood evidently had a poor stomach for “their unoat-mealed
broth, made thick with fishes, fowles, and beasts, boyled all together,
some remaining raw, the rest converted by overmuch seething to a
loathed mash, not half so good as Irish boniclapper.”[15] When visiting
the English, if offered food, Wood informs us they ate but little, “but
at home they will eat till their bellies stand forth ready to split
with fullness.”[15]
_Works of Art._ _Pottery_ is poorly represented, only small fragments
having been found. Like those from other parts of the United States,
the pots were made of clay, with or without the admixture of pounded
shells, and were imperfectly burned so that the walls are both friable
and porous. The ornamentation, when it exists, is of the rudest kind
(Pl. 14, fig. 18), consisting of indentations or tracings with a single
point, or, as in some cases, with a series of points on one and the
same instrument. Both at Crouch’s Cove and Cotuit Port, specimens were
found in which the lines in the surface had been formed by impressing
an evenly twisted cord into the soft clay (Pl. 14, fig. 19), the cord
being laid on in various positions. This kind of ornamentation has a
special interest, since there is evidence of its having been made use
of in widely distant places. We have found similar specimens on the
banks of the St. John’s in Florida; there are others from Illinois,
presented to the Peabody Museum by J. P. Pearson, Esq., of Newburyport,
and others have been noticed in the ancient barrows of England.[16]
This kind of ornament has given rise to the belief that the pots were
moulded in nets, which were removed after the vessel was finished. All
the specimens we have seen are wanting in any indication of a regular
mesh, or of the existence of knots where the cords crossed, which, if
they existed, as they must have in a net, could not have failed to be
represented.
_Implements._ It is somewhat remarkable that with the exception of
the shell-heaps at Salisbury, all of those here described yielded so
few articles made of stone. At Mount Desert only two arrow-heads were
found, at Crouch’s Cove Mr. Swann found a pestle, and Mr. Morse a rude
chisel, both picked up on the shore, but probably washed out from among
the shells. At Eagle Hill, Mr. Putnam found a spherical stone with a
groove around it, but at Cotuit Port not a single piece of worked stone
was discovered. In regions adjoining the different shell deposits,
especially at Cotuit Port, an abundance of stone implements have been
found, and those who have preceded us have occasionally obtained some
from the heaps. In the Danish heaps, they seem to have been quite
common, and Mr. Rau found them so at Keyport.
Implements of _bone_, on the other hand, are quite abundant, as
were also fragments of bone showing the marks of the instruments by
which pieces had been detached, and of such there was a considerable
variety. Some of the bones were cut across by making a groove around
the circumference, as one would cut a notch in a stick, and breaking
the rest; and others, as the metatarsal bones of the elk and deer,
were split lengthwise, by making a groove on each side nearly to the
marrow cavity, and completing the division by fracture. The roughly
striated surface of the groove, and its undulating course, indicate a
piece of stone, and not a saw, as the instrument with which the work
was done. We have found by experiment that this mode of working bone
does not prove so great a labor as it might at first sight seem to be,
and with care have succeeded in splitting in two, lengthwise, in the
course of an hour, a piece of human ulna seven inches long, by means
of a flint “chip” held in the hand. This, of course, involves a large
expenditure of time, but it must be remembered that an Indian’s time
was not valued. The work is rendered very much easier by keeping both
the instrument and bone wet. It has been objected to the opinion, that
certain implements from the European heaps were used as saws, that
having wedge-shaped edges they would soon become “choked” or “jammed.”
Practically this does not happen, for we have uniformly found that the
roughness of the sides of the flint is sufficient to widen the groove
as fast as the edge deepens it.
Implements of bone made by the Indians dwelling in New England have
rarely been mentioned, and are seldom seen in collections, but if one
may judge from the number of specimens we have obtained, must have
been in quite common use. The inhabitants of the North-west Coast, and
the Esquimaux, are largely dependent upon this material, and Messrs.
Squier and Davis found a few bone instruments in the mounds of Ohio.
The accompanying figures, drawn by Mr. Morse, represent the forms of
the more important ones discovered in the different heaps, which form
the subject of this paper. Except the first, which is reduced one-half,
linear measurement, all are represented of the natural size. We are
unable to assign any uses for the larger part of them, and of the
others can only offer a conjecture.
[Illustration: Pl. 14.
Fig. 1.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2 _a_.
Fig. 3.
Fig. 4.
Fig. 5.
Fig. 18.
Fig. 19.