The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1878-06-27
The Skeleton in Armor."

The "Skele.on in Armor," unearthed
at Fall River some forty five years or
more ago, continues t. be topic of
speculation and discussion among anti
ouaries, among those especially who have
desired to persuade themselves that it
was not the skeleton of Norseman.
Many of the present ger GRAFTON, probably,
have never seen description of it. 1t
was found in the year 1888, or earlier, by
men who were digging down hill and
making excavations.
In 1887 it was described in a paper
published in the american Magazine,
Boston. The displacement Of II large
mass of earth brought to view the top of
a human skull which proved to have be-
longed to body that was buried there
in a sitting posture. The following de-
scrption of it is taken from the american
Magazine
"The surrounding earth WAS carefully
removed, and the body found to be en-
veloped in covering Of coarse bark of a
dark color. Within this envelope were
found the remains of another of coarse
cloth, made of fine bark, and about the
texture Of Manila coffee bag. On the
breast was plate If brass, thirteen
inches long, six broad at the upper end,
and five at the lower. This plate appears
TO have been cast, and is from one eighth
to three thirty seconds of an inch in
thickness. 1t is SO much corroded that
whether or not anything was engraved
upon it has not yet been ascertained. 1t
is oval in form, the edges being irregular,
apparently made so by corrosion. Below
the breas,plate, and entirely encircling
the body, was belt composed Of brass
tubes, each four and a half inches in
lecgth, and three-sixteenths of an inch in
diameter, arranged ongitudinally and
close together, the length of tube being
the width of the belt. The tubes are of
thin brass cast upon hollow reeds, and
were fastened together by pieces Of
sinew. Near the right knee was culver
of arrows The arrows are of brass, thin,
fat, and triangular in shape, with a round
hole cut through near the base. The
shaft was fastened to the head by insert
ing the latter in an opening at the END
of the wood, and then tying with a
sinew through the round hole-a mode OF
constructing the weapon never practiced
BIZ the Indians, not even with their ar
rows of thin she'll Parts of the shaft
still remain on some OF them. When
first discovered the arrows were in a SOFT
of culver of bark, which fell to pieces
when exposed to the air"
The attempts to explain this skeleton
in armur" are numerous. Various theo-
ries have been devised. The writer in
the american Magazine suggested several
explanations, but inclined most strongly
to the belief that the skeleton was that OF
Phpnician from some Ph9nican vessel
which had been driven to this coast 10y
stress of weather, which, not being very
reasonable, has Lot found favor. 1t ap-
pears 10 be true that the Basques were
accustomed TO visit the North American
fishing grounds long before the time OF
Columbus, and thar they had comuuni-
cation with the Indians along the coast (;
but they were fishermen, and not war
riors and nobody has ventured to sug-
Rest that one OF the old Basques was
buried at Fall River.
Longfellow's ballad on the skeleton
makes it say; II was Viking DID,
and gives an imaginative history Of this
old Viking. Many Others believe that
the man buried in armor at Fall River
was a NorsemaD, and that the burial took
place at some time after the year 1000,
A. D., during the period of the Morse
trading and numbering settlements in
Masss chusetts and Rhode Island, which
existed more than three hundred years,
beginning early in the eleventh century
and ending near the middle Of the four
teeuth. This theory has more supporters
than any other, and it is not improbable.
Danish sntiquaries think the unesrthed
skeleton was that Of Thorwald Erikson,
the only great Morse chief known to have
been buried in vinlsnd. He was killed
there by Indians, in the year ZOOS.