The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1903-03-28
PORTO RIcAN DISCOVERIES.
Recently Exhumed and sent
TO Washington.


bureau of ethnology of the smith
sonian institution, of Washington. be-
longs the honor of being the first sci
enlist 10 exhume prehistoric skull
in Porto Rico and of making other val
liable discoveries. DIR. Fewkes lately
shipped TO Washington IL boxes of
cnrios, including hatchets, pottery,
idols and other rare relies. lie re-
turned few days ago to San Juan
from an island trip which has lasted
since last November, with the excep-
tion OF month spent in Santo Do
mingo. In substance he says of his
remarkable finds:
While on a trip into the interior
OF the island, near Utuado, l noticed
what | thought was a bone sticking
out of the earth, and which had been
exposed by the road building. ! pro-
ceeded 10 make further nvestigation
and hit upon what from my standpoint
was veritable gold mine, for my sup
position was right. IL was bone. But
that was the least part of the discov-
cry. II was simply the index.
IL set to work here and soon was
making discoveries galore. / had
struck upon a place where tho prehis-
toric men had buried their dead, held
their mortuary dances and worsbiped
their idols.
These places are called 'Juegos de
Bollo,' and are clear spaces OF ground,
with mounds on the sides of them.
This space where / made the discovery
was clearly marked out, for all around
The clearing were stones marking the
boundary of the dancing place.
AT about the middle of the outside
OF the opening / found the spot where
there was formerly an idol. This idol
has disappeared, and thus far have
not been able to trace it.
around the sides OF this open space
are the mounds. To the casual OBJ
server these are quite natural eleva-
tions OF earth, but detected that they
were artificial, and associating the
open space with these Artificial
mounds, | started an investigation
which resulted in my finding the first
skull Of prehistoric man OF Porto Rico
light more skeletons, the majority OF
which were badly decayed, but two
were in a fine state Of preservation.
They were found five feet under
ground.
1.-THE heads showed that they had
been hattened at the forehead by arti-
fetal means, probably by heavy com
preston during childhood.
THE early writer's on natives OF the
West Indies tell of these fiat skulls.
These Indians were buried in n sitting
posture, and without any covering
whatsoever. In close proximity TO the
bodies there were fragments OF pot
terry, which shows that urns and bowls
were buried with the dead.
81 found one complete bowl at the
side of one of the bodies. These bowls
were probably used TO put food in, as
il was the belief that the soul came
from the under world, and that after
death the soul returned whence IL
came. and the food was for the susie
nance of the soul.
"There is no doubt that the early
settlers Of Porto Rico were much like
our North American Indians, and what
is more, they were highly polished.
They made hideous idols of stone and
wood and rough pottery.
"The married women wore kits
made of cotton and aguava fiber, as
did also the chiefs Of tribes. They were
an industrious race. for in addition to
the things have mentioned they made
hammocks and baskets.
"The house Of the prehistoric men
and those now in use are Identical
They are made OF palm leaves matched.
"They also built canoes, in which
they sailed around the island. There
is nothing to show that they were a
commercial race.
my trip TO Santo Domingo devel-
Oped one thing | think quite certain.
and that is that the prehistoric man OF
that island and of this are practically
Of the same race"
DIR. Fewkes will continue his investi-
cations, remaining here for seyral
months