The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-11-24
WE'RE GRAVES OF INDIANS.
,yrrr rsrrNo DIsoovBRrES1x SOUTH
BRooKJYN.

Twelve or Etfteen Masses OF oJster SHELLS
rov,a nv worElnEmon VINE Are hatfaE n
Cur FAR Aveuue U-Benes ans. u hs naid,
p,,,..,. Also, nave Been Unearthoa.
An o,d cemet.ry. older than any other known
o.r,..arr ,vI,bin the limits Of Greater New
Yort was discovered near Ryder's Pond, at the
hooa NJ Gnrrison's Creek. not far from Sleeps.
head Raw. on Friday last by mon who are cut
ting Avenue L through to Ryders roma. IL
was an Indian cemetery. ana must nave ooon
near oyster beds that doubtless had their ex-
istence in Dead Horse Inlet or its vicinity.
Tho mon under Contractor Jenkins got to
about ninety wards from the pond when the
nick of an italian laborer went rafting into a
bed NJ ovatcr shells. These were about nino
,nches from the surface. Tho shells extended
nbout Ave feet in one direction and four In an
other. They were about fleet and 8 inches
deep. The shells had been laid In with the outer
aide I'M and piled In as one would pack books Of
different sizes in a box.
After n while the diggers got down to sand
again. This sand was about four feet and q
half from the surface. One OF the teamsters,
waiting for his wagon to DO loaded, saw
a strange largo shell. as he supposed,
tossed up by q shovel on his wagon.
This man was william Considin, who lives
in Ryder's lane near by. Considin picked
tho supposed shell up, and knocked a little
black mould of of 1t. and then he recognized
that II was bone. Finally he made out that 1t
was the side of a mans skull, including an eye
aperture. This bone was carried to tho dump
with the rest of the load.
The teamsters found also some bits OF pottery
as big as ones hand in aome cases. These were
smooth as glass on one side and all rough on
tho other. The rough side had q lot OF marks
or animals on it. Save them thingsf Nav.
they was busted I tell you. and weren't any
good. Yes. they went to the DUMP. too, besides
some other bones about, as big as a broom han
Two more OF these she'll filled holes were found
on Friday, and five or six on Saturday. The toam-
sters. who did no loading, amused themselves by
picking out some OF the larger bones, and aftor
looking them ovor. tossed them into the wag-
ons to be carried down to the dump. where
the roadway had to be raised instead Of
lowered. In all. at least twelve, and probably
fifteen, Of these graves were cut into. AS
there were 80 many of the graves. the men
construction.
First OF all, ut the surface wcre a lot Of shells
scattered and broken by ploughs. These broken
shells were mixed with nine inches or more Of
was a different kind of shell, called the peri
Wrinkle, there. too. In some of the graves there
was one only, at least the careless onlookers
found no more, and in the others were two.
two, was about eighteen inches from the sur
face, and a foot beneath was q bigger periwinkle
shell. In a grave which was dug into by q re-
porter the small periwinkle shell was three
ten inches long.
Under the oyster shells was found black
mould mixed with fragments Of bone. The
larger periwinkle shell may have been placed
the bottom of the gravel Is mixed with red
sand, and below 1t 10 the gray beach sand.