Milford chronicle., 1960-08-12
Delaware State Museum
Leon deYaIinger, Jr, Director


During the past two months the
Delaware State Museum, with a
grant-in-aid from the State Arch
geological Board, has been con-
Quoting careful excavation of an
aboriginal site near Lebanon, Del
aware. The location, designated as
the st. Jones River Site, is on the
property of the Dover Sand and
Gravel Company, owned by Mr..
Louis Edgell, who very kindly per-
mitted this important excavation.
Mr.. G. H. Melton and Mr.. Jesse
Bland of the same firm have been
most helpful and cooperative dur
ing the period of excavation.
Professor Richard L. Titus, as
sisted by Harvey Shockley, Jr, Or
van L. Childers and Kirk Parker
carried on the exacting excavation
work under the direction of Leon
deValinger, Jr., Director, Della
ware State Museum. In the early
stages, valuable assistance in a
salvage project was received dur
ing two successive week-ends, from
members of the Archaeological So
ciety of Delaware, under the leader
ship of DR.. Allen G. Schiek and
Mr.. H. G. Omwake.
The site along the bluff of a
gravel pit disclosed evidence of
aboriginal burials. The area was
laid out in five-foot squares which
were carefully dug from the sur
face through hard clay. This ma
terial was sifted for artifacts, evil
dence of burials, charcoal and other
traits. Often the digging disclos-
ed nothing, but in other measured
sections the excavators uncovered
long finely Clipped side notched
projectile points, leaf shaped flint
blades, copper beads, copper gor-
gets, banded slate gorgets, block
end tubular pipes, cremated burial
remains, redeposited in the ground
and red ocher in the graves to-
gether with destroyed artifacts.
AS these burial customs and ar
tifacts were entirely different from
the Late Woodland Pattern of the
Algonquin and Iroquois Indian
cultures usually found in Della
ware, a careful study was neces-
sary to properly identify the ex-
cavated material. The artifacts
and the traits recovered indicated
that these people were of the Late
Adena Culture of the Upper Ohio
Valley. This culture was SO named
because it was founded on the
"Adena" the Worthington estate
naar Chi1IicOfhe Ohio
DR.. Don w. Dragoo, Associate
Curator, Section of Man, Carnegie
Museum, Pittsburgh, who has done
considerable work and written on
Adena Culture, was engaged as a
consultant. He recognize and veri-
fed that these were the artifacts
and traits of the Adena people,
who built the remarkable mound
formations in the Ohio Valley. 1t
was his estimate that they may
have been here as early as 500 to
1000 years B. c. Artifacts and
traits of the Adena people have
been found in western Pennsylva-
mia, near West River on the west
side of the Chesapeake Bay and
near Cambridge, Maryland. This
st. Jones River Site is their cas-
ternmost location thus far estab-
lished. DR.. Fragoo presents the
theory that they came this way on
their migration up the Delaware
River Valley into New Jersey and
New York State.
Upon the completion of the ex-
cavation and the examination and
Interpretation of the burial re-
mains, these materials and the ar
tifacts will be utilized in a new ex-
hibit in the Delaware State Muse
um, SIG South Governors Avenue,
Dover, Delaware. The Museum is
open Tuesdays through Saturdays,
II a. MS p. M; Sundays 2-5 p. M,
closed on Mondays.