Waterbury evening Democrat., 1889-02-27
PREHISTORIC RELICS UNEARTHED
 IN WEST VIRGINIA.

peculiar relics, such as beads, shells, pipes. arrow heads, bones of animals once used for food. pottery, etc.
 Two years ago the river rose higher than it had been known to rise for years. It washed out this mill race, and when the banks caved in there were exposed to view many skeletons, as above men, tioned. The farmers and boys of the neighborhood visited the place out of curiosity and carried off many articles. No account was printed at the time, and no examination of the place was made until The World called the attention of the Smithsonian men to this find, and a letter was at once written there to the postmaster. But before reply came was we'll on my way to the scene of the discovery.
 DIGGING UP THE BONES.
 Six men were engaged. and the spot where the graves lay was carefully dug over. It was found that about forty skeletons had been exhumed by the freshet and carried away by the waters. Many more remained, some of which had been disturbed by the blow, for they were buried only two feet deep. One of these was found to have inferred with the body stone tips for his arrows, beads as necklace, whole pot of clay rudely fashioned and holding several decayed bones of the deer. This had been his cooking vessel, and when inferred with the warrior it was filled with deer joints, luscious and juicy" the meat of which sustained his soul in its march through the Happy Hunting Grounds.
 Another skeleton had similar outfit placed with it. Many of the bodies were buried in cramped positions, few were extended as we place our dead, many bones were missing and the skulls of some individuals seemed crushed and broken. therefore drew a conclusion that most of these warriors were killed in battle. AS it was the Indian custom to mutilate the bodies of the slain, in some instances to smash the skulls, the condition of the skeletons is easily ac- counted for. In the loose eartL thrown out of the excavations and everywhere about the surface we found arrow points, broken pottery, copper beads, glass beads, shells, parts of stone tomahawks, etc. One excavation revealed an old fire place. We took out about five bushels of ashes, the bones of deer, buffalo and ground hog. The buffalo or bison bones are seldom met with in the east. It is known that the bison roamed all over this country, but the whites found him further west than the Mississippi. There fore the date of this burial place can be placed very far back. The presence of glass and copper beads shows the tribe had contact with the whites. But these beads were found on the surface and not buried with the bodies.
 ANOTHER INDIAN VILLAGE.
 After examining this cemetery went twelve miles down the river to another Indian village site. With force of seven men began work in some high clay banks which fronted the river. Here the bodies had never been disturbed and lay just as the Indians had left them. | We took out nearly twenty entire skele. | tons. The skulls of number were pre- served whole, and when any fell to pieces | the fragments were large enough to ad- init of their being put together. The average depth of these graves was three feet. With one we found a copper plate, fine dish of clay with handles and hold ing on the inside shell with strange markings on it. The copper plate was not of European manufacture. It was the native Lake Superior copper ham mered out in cold state by the Indians was about five inches long, two inche: wide and perforated for suspension as al ornament.
 l Another body had a necklace of sixty two bone beads, while third had ovel three hundred small beads. These hat been placed in a mass by tho left fore arm, but had not been strung. A bone awl almost as sharp as needle ano wonderfully we'll preserved accompanied this. man. The farmer owning the place presented me with another copper plate and stone tomahawk, which he had plowed up not long before. also secured a good clay pipe found with one of the skeletons. This pipe was shaped some what like our cigar holders, only larger and was made of hard burned clay, rec in color.
 The remarkable feature of all Indian skulls is the state of preservation in whicl we find their teeth. I never, with but one or two exceptions, found truly pre- historic skeleton in which the teeth wert not without sign of decay. Sometime when the bones are almost ready to fal
 into dust the teeth remain sound
 Whether it is due to their diet of meats not having known the use of any of oul modern teeth destroying foods ant sweetmeats, leave for the consideration of the dental fraternity. After this plac.
 had been examined we dug into larg'
 mound of earth and stone, 30 by 40 feet
 6 feet high. In that we found the skele
 ton of brave warrior covered with sev
 eral large sheets of mica (This ma.
 have been used as a looking glass) Sev
 eral black flint arrow heads lay by hi
 side, and over his breast lay an ornamen
 of black slate with two perforations
 The ornament was highly polished ant
 presented a beautiful appearance. Thu
 ended the work. A total of fifty bodies i