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Reprinted from the
Journal: MAN IN THE NORTHEAST, NO. 18 * (3550
wds.) B. W. Powell, North
East Archeological Researchers
Abstract Skeletal data and field
observations support inference that a previously unknown cemetery
REPORTS ON A "EUROAMERICAN MORTUARY SITE," called The Clement Site in New Hampshire (Sargent 1977; Dethlefsen, et al., 1977; Dethlefsen and Demyttenaere, 1977) prompt the author to the following account, based on previously unpublished observations, field notes, pictures and sketches made more than 20 years ago during an investigation in Connecticut. At that time, vandals had removed parts of two or three skeletons from an unrecorded cemetery at Stamford, in Fairfield County. After exhibiting these bones in a school "Science Fair", they abandoned them in a bushel basket alongside a local highway. There they were found by a road maintenance crew, which ultimately brought them to the attention of the local medical examiner. He, in turn, advised me (R.Colmers, personal communication) of the finds and requested my assistance, as he supposed the remains might be those of ancient Indians. Eventually, through promise of anonymity I extended in a local newspaper article (Weegham, 1958), I was able to reach the vandals and they offered to show me where they had dug. This proved to be grounds of a large, wooded, private estate. They said they had learned of the spot from their Art teacher, a Mr. Otto, who told them that when he was a boy, he had found skeletons in this spot ... Environment of Site Cursory examination disclosed several apparently meaningful alignments of low, unmodified fieldstones. These were all but lost in dense growth. A similar condition was cited for The Clement Site (Sargent, 1977). The stones were roughly in parallel rows, "head-and-footmarker" fashion, after the manner often shown for early Christian graveyards. Contact was made with the owner of the estate (F. Altschul, pers. comm.), who professed no knowledge of this spot on his land, but willingly gave permission for an investigation to establish its nature. A large ledge on the northern boundary of the site is known locally as "Revolutionary Rock"; hearsay connects it with events of the American Revolution.
No further documentation, town or state reference, or personal informant was found who could contribute anything on the Riverbank Site (which name we took from the local name for the area). This lack of written records parallels, again, the conditions cited at Clement (Sargent, 1977). Fieldwork With the assistance of two associates, C.R. McCormick and J.R. Farrell, then both of Stamford, in the Fall of 1958 I cleared part of the site of low brush to permit photography and aid in running sightlines for mapping. This latter task, largely carried out by McCormick, appears as Figure I -A. A smaller, cruder, "sketch map" (Fig. I -B) shows the immediate area containing the graves dug by vandals, and the one which we later dug (Burial 2). Discrepancies between placement of stone walls, roadway and the base of "Revolutionary Rock" in Figure 1, A and B, are best explained by noting Figure I -B was only a sketch map. Initially, we put down a test pit to bracket parts of two graves. This is shown in Figure I-B as the overlapping oval on Burials 1 and 7. The strategy was to see if we could verify the head-and-foot designations for the markers. The above-ground distance between the footstone of Burial 7 and the headstone of Burial I was 29 inches. However, roots of a large tree (not shown) which overgrew Burial 7 posed great difficulty to excavation; further, by minus 48 inches we could still discriminate no shaft outlines or other actual indication of a grave or graves at this locus. I suspect these stones, and others at Riverbank, may be misplaced in some cases; similar conclusions were cited at Clement by its excavator (Sargent, 1977). Accordingly, we terminated our excavation here, and selected a new spot, Burial 2, for excavation (See Fig. 2, A and B). This grave was level at the surface, and there were no trees upon or too near it. A headstone measuring 30” wide and 36” long, stood at the northern end, and was buried 20” deep. It was perfectly erect (See Fig. 2-A). Most stones at Riverbank were buried nearly their full length (NB: added after publication: note the great depth to which the headstone was vertically buried here (dotted white line shows edges) - 9/10th's of the stone, as all the others likewise, was hidden from sight with only two or three inches often all that showed above ground. I have never seen such an obliteration of formal gravemarkers before and this is one reason surely that no one had ever suspected that there were rows of graves in this place...). Burial Two This test excavation revealed a top stratum about 10" thick, consisting mostly of dark, organic soil (Fig. 3-B). It was in most particulars similar to normal A horizon soils formed locally, save for the inclusion of a number of pebbles. These we inferred to be likely from a deep-lying horizon, probably the C horizon, and their presence near the surface was evidence for a reversed stratigraphy and someone having dug here in the past. Unlike the situation at The Clement Site (Sargent, 1977), we could not discriminate true shaft outlines in the soil at all.
Fig.
No Number: Grave Shaft B.2
Toward Headstone The next 40" proved to be a yellow, sandy subsoil, undistinguished save for scattered sand and pebble lenses noted in the walls of the excavation. At minus 50", we encountered a dense, pebbly stratum, and at minus 53" recovered two badly rusted nails. Whether they were forged or machine-cut could not be determined, as was true for subsequent finds of nails. Their condition is too degraded to permit proper assessment; however, they appear in some cases to have asymmetrical or greatly offset heads . At minus 55" we encountered the cranium of a human burial (Fig. 5-A; scale in inches). All soil from this level was carefully screened. Several badly-rusted nails were found; some had adhering pieces of wood preserved by the iron salts. No outline, organic stain or other clue to either grave shaft or coffin shape could be seen. At least one of the preserved wood finds showed two pieces joined by a nail at an obtuse angle. (A wood specialist was unable to identify the species (Stem, pers. comm. 2/12/59).
Fig.
No Number: Grave Shaft B.2 Toward Footstone The burial was carefully exposed on all sides, and observations were made on primary disposition of bones, their condition, etc. (One excavator, Farrell, is a physician). It was noted that the thoracic cavity had totally collapsed and all ribs were totally disintegrated. Hands were crossed over the pelvic area, right hand on top. It was a dorsal burial, fully-extcnded, head to the NNW. The skull was raised a bit above the general horizontal plane of the rest of the body, and the skull lay on its right side, facing west. Further particulars of Burial 2 may be derived from Figure 4, and Figure 5-A. (The blotchy legend board in Figure 4-A - "Extended Coffin Burial" - was caused by raindrops of a thunderstorm that was just starting at the time we photographed...). A careful examination was made of the orbits for presence of coins, but none were found. Nor were any other artifacts noted in either the grave or gravefill, save the nails noted earlier. All bones were removed, and subsequently given to Harry L. Shapiro, then Chairman and Curator of Physical Anthropology, The American Museum of Natural History, New York, for assessment. He expressed great interest in permanently acquiring the specimen, citing infrequency with which remains of either 18th or 19th Century individuals are recovered for study. Table I, and the appended (3) paragraphed quotes, present verbatim and in toto, a report on this burial submitted to me by one of his assistants (J.R. Orttung, pers. comm., 3/24/59). Presumeably collection accession number and/or other museum specimen number was assigned this specimen; however, we were never informed what these might be.
After removal of the skeleton, we thoroughly tested the soil beneath where it had lain, and determined this was sterile. We then backfilled and replaced the headstone. This terminated our field investigation; subsequently a brief news note appeared in the literature (Powell, 1960).
At this time, a group of anthropology students from Columbia University interested themselves in the site, and are known to have dug here at least briefly. I suspect they were told of the site by Shapiro; one of their group told me subsequently that they, too, recovered a skeleton from one of the graves. My notes indicate someone had identified this as a "senile, Caucasoid female", and that a tiny, metallic pin, preserving an adhering piece of cloth, had also been recovered (shroud pin?). It was said that some anomalous condition was suspected for this burial. Whether this group ever formalized its work, or published on its finds is unknown. Interpretation The following inferences are offered as a first approximation to what this site may be. The author realizes there are likely alternate explanations: the interpretations advanced here are based on trying to make maximum use of the data we have on the site.
Fig.
4-A First, it is necessary to consider the evidence of the osseous material removed by the graverobbers. Two of the crania they found (Fig. 5, A and B, scale in inches) were examined by Shapiro. The specimen in A shows bright, apple-green stains over the external auditory meatus ("a" in illus.), and at one point on the mandible ("b" in illus.). The specimen in B is that of an old individual, showing a marked alveolar resorbtion in the mandible. Most of the facial portion is missing. On the brow ("a" in illus.) are a number of parallel scratches or cuts in the bone. It was Shapiro's first comment that Figure 4-A might be an American Indian. Specific to this assessment, he marked the greenish stains as comparable to those produced by copper ear ornaments of Indian burials known personally to him from Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. He also cited what he felt were likely Negroid characteristics of the cranium.
"This
combination of a long, narrow face with a mesorrhine nose and a
dolichocephalic skull, particularly since the skull is relatively small
and gracile, indicates a European, which impression is further increased
by the condition of the teeth, which are crowded and have considerable
evidence of caries and tooth loss with consequent alveolar
resorbtion. Tooth wear is not marked, though the lack of apposition
is undoubtedly a factor in this. "The
condition of the coronal and sagittal sutures would seem to indicate an
approximate age of 35 to 40 years, although too much reliance should not
be placed on this criterion. This individual was probably male,
judging by the considerable central development of the supraorbital
ridges, the well-developed mastoids and inion, and the strength of the
occipital condyles, although the slender zygomatic processes, and, in
particular, the frontal bossing give the skull a somewhat feminine cast.
"An
interesting anomaly is the persistence of the metopic suture. The
person was undoubtedly adult and this suture usually closes within the
first few years after birth. The percentage of its persistence
varies in different populations, anywhere from 1% up to 10% or 12% in some
groups. “...condition
of the end of the right tibia. These are bony exostoses, probably
due to some kind of inflammation during life." Several professional and avocational archeologists examined the cranium shown in Fig. 5-B at the 1959 Annual Meeting of the Massachusetts Archaeological Society. They advanced a novel thesis at that time: the cuts and scratches on the brow were possibly “scalping cuts”. On later examination, I believe these marks to be postmortem or made in “dry bone”. I suggest they are probably shovel marks made by the vandals. Thus, I discard the “scalping thesis” but do note it here for the record.
Additional data bearing on these two specimens comes from an interview with those who dug them up. Bearing in mind they were untrained observers (there were four of them), they nonetheless agreed that in one of the graves, there had been a bottle or bottles with the skeleton, and that in one case (same one?) the skeleton was in “...a sitting position...”. No bottles were forthcoming when I interviewed these people and, generally, I incline to descredit their observation. If valid, however, it may hint at presence of non-Caucasoid peoples here - perhaps Indians, Negroes, or early mixed Indian/Negro populations with unique burial customs. Pershing verbally advanced the suggestion on several occasions that the burials might relate to an 18th Century Stamford settlement associated with a mill not many miles distant. It was his conjecture that Negro slaves, or perhaps indentured white men, may have operated this mill and its associated shops, and that they and their families might lie buried at Riverbank. He and others who visited the site during our investigations also advanced the thesis that Riverbank might be a potter's field or, again, an emergency burying ground for people who died of pox or other epidemic affliction. No documentary sources were ever advanced to support these suggestions. Setting aside the rather unsettling observation that a leading physical anthropologist saw evidence for the presence of three of the world's main races of mankind (Indian, Negro, White) in only three specimens recovered at Riverbank, perhaps we can postulate the following: that Riverbank is a burial ground of demonstrated Christians (crossed hands in Burial 2), including Caucasoids, specifically Europeans (data in Table 1), and perhaps very tenuously, people of other races (Shapiro's remarks on specimen in Fig. 5-A) and other religions and/or customs (testimony of the bottles and "sitting position," and, perhaps, the green cuprous-salt stains on the cranium in Fig. 5-A). With reference to the question of race, Dena F. Dincauze (pers. comm. 1/ 12/78) advises that the mixture of races is not unprecedented in New England, having had personal experience of it at Ponkapoag in eastern Massachusetts.
Some of the bodies were interred in coffins (preserved wood and nails from Burial 2), with perhaps a "flared-side-to-bottom" shape (obtuse angle formed by two preserved pieces from Burial 2). Winding sheets, secured by shroud pins, may have been used (again, perhaps the cuprous salt stains and the "pin" said to have been recovered with adhering cloth by another group of excavators). Interestingly, Shapiro never mentioned the possibility the stains on the cranium in Figure 5-A might be from shroud pins, but this explanation is advanced specifically for very similar stains on the crania from The Clement Site (Dethlefsen, et al, 1977). An authority on the history of burial practices (Johnson, pers. comm. 4/15/78) says, however, that "..pinning may or may not have been used, most early accounts refer to tying with cord about the sheet wrapped corpse .. (and) .. loosening the ties and shroud, to permit the decedent to free himself and rise on judgment day.." This same authority opines that all pins were first made of brass, not copper or copper/silver alloys, as reported by some. He also believes it most likely the chin was tied up (not pinned up) to close the mouth of the corpse.
In the context of the several observations above, I incline to believe for the present that the green, metallic salt stains on the cranium from the Riverbank Site are most likely from shroud pins, not disintegrated ear ornaments, as worn by some Indians. The unmodified nature of the gravestones (i.e., no engravings or embellishments) stands in stark contrast to the decorated gravestones in recorded cemeteries throughout New England, and whose further significance and stylistic evolution have been so well-documented (Dethlefsen and Deetz, 1966). This unmodified aspect is reminiscent of the condition reported at The Clement Site (Sargent, 1977), whose excavators postulated it was indicative of low socioeconomic stature. We have little to fix the Riverbank Site in time. The evidence of the obtuse wood joint from Burial 2 suggests a "flared-side-to-bottom" construction. When, or if, such style coffin was in use we have not been able to determine. Johnson (pers. comm.) says tapered-side coffins were bent and steamed from one board, and had largely passed from vogue in the U.S. by the late 1870's. He also adds that coffins before 1840 usually lacked metal handles, feet, corners, nameplates, etc. Nor is there any evidence for the perhaps bizarre "loose plank tops" method of burial reported by Swauger (1959) for a site in Pennsylvania. Perhaps a final world on orientation of the burials at Riverbank is in order. Most early (Christian) cemeteries in the U.S. are oriented on an east/west axis, with feet of the deceased to the east, permitting them to rise facing the sun on Judgment Day. The orientation at Riverbank is roughly north/south. This may have been determined more by the practicality of a moderate north/south ground slope than non-Christian norms or values. Thus, Riverbank remains somewhat an enigma. Graverobbers have demonstrably known of the site apparently for many years; their depredations may profitably be contrasted with those of their predecessors, body-snatchers, for whom we noted no evidence at Riverbank, but who were invoked to explain the phenomenon of empty coffins at The Clement Site (Sargent, 1977). Riverbank shows many parallels to The Clement Site, as I hope to have suggested. The excavator of that latter site expressed the view that many such other sites must occur throughout the Northeast. At Clement, he held to a view that the interments related to a time span of Late 18th to Early 19th Centuries. We suggest that Riverbank is a burial ground for Christians and (possibly) those of other religions, perhaps with mixed ethnicity, and that these persons for the most part were of low socioeconomic status, and buried here prior to the latter half of the 19th Century. __________________________________________________________________________ Acknowledgments I thank Edward C.
Johnson, funeral historian of Chicago, for kind assistance and response to
questions about the data from The Riverbank Site; and William L. Stern of
Yale University School of Forestry for an early comment on the preserved
wood fragments from Burial 2. References Cited
Dethlefsen, Edwin S., L. Cabot Briggs and Leo P. Biese. 1977. The Clement Site: Analysis of Skeletal Material. Man in the Northeast 13:86-90. George's Mills. Dethlefsen, Edwin S. and J. Deetz. 1966. Death's Heads, Cherubs and Willow Trees: Experimental Archaeology in Colonial Cemeteries. American Antiquity 31 (4). Salt Lake City. Dethliefsen, Edwin S. and Nancy Demyttenaere. 1977. The Clement Site: Features and Artifacts. Man in the Northeast 13:90-96. Powell, B. W. 1960. In, Notes and News. American Antiquity 25 (4): 633. Salt Lake City. Sargent, Howard R. 1977. The Clement Site: Field Investigation. Man in the Northeast 13:79-86. George's Mills. Swauger, J. L. 1959. An American Burial Technique of the Early 19th Century. Pennsylvania Archeologist 29 (1). Harrisburg. Weeghman, D.
1958. Scientist Seeking Clues to Indian Bone Mystery.
Stamford Advocate, November 6. Stamford. -End-
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