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ETHNOLOGY.

[It is considered important to collect all possible information as to the location and character of ancient earth-works, which exist in various parts of the United States, with a view to classify them and determine their distribution in relation to special topographical features of the country as well as to different regions. For this purpose the correspond ents of the Institution are respectfully requested to furnish information as to any ancient remains of this character existing in their neighborhoods.-J. H.]

ANCIENT GRAVES AND SHELL-HEAPS OF CALIFORNIA.

BY PAUL SCHUMACHER.

During my visit to that part of the California coast between Point San Luis and Point Sal, (Map A,) in the months of April, May, and June, of 1874, I often had occasion to observe extensive shell-heaps, like those I had found about a year previously so numerous along the shores of Oregon. These deposits of shells and bones are the kitchen refuse of the earlier inhabitants of the coast regions, where they are now found, and, though differing from each other in their respective species of shells and bones of vertebrates, according to the localities and the ages to which they belong, they have still, together with the stone implements found in them, a remarkable similarity in all parts of the North American Pacific coast that I have explored-a similarity that extends further to the shell-heaps or "Kjökken-möddings" of distant Denmark, as investigated and described by European scientists.

In Oregon, from Chetko to Rogue River,* I found that these deposits contained the following species of shells: Mytilus Californianus, Tapes staminea, Cardium Nuttallii, Purpura lactuca, &c.; eight-tenths of the whole being of the species first mentioned.

In California, on the extensive downs between the Arroyo Grande and the Rio de la Santa Maria, the mouth of which latter is a few miles north of Point Sal, I found that the shells, on what appear to have been temporary camping-places, consist nearly altogether of small specimens of the family Lucina; so much so that not only can scarcely any other sort

Of the collections made by the writer at that place, the complete and illustrated description will be found in the Smithsonian Report for the year 1873, p. 354.

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be found, but hardly even any bones. My reason for supposing these heaps to be the remains of merely temporary camps, is the small number of flint knives, spear-heads, and other implements found therein, and the total absence of any chips that might indicate the occasional presence of a workshop where domestic tools and weapons of war were manufactured-a something that immediately strikes the accustomed eye in viewing regularly well-established settlements. On further examining this class of heaps by a vertical section, we find layers of sand recurring at short intervals, which seem to indicate that they were visited at fixed seasons; those möddings exposed toward the northwest being vacated while the wind from southwest was blowing sand over them, and, mutatis mutandis, the same happening with regard to camps with a southwest aspect while the northwest wind prevailed. It is fair, then, to suppose that these places were only the temporary residences of the savages to whom they appertained; that they were tenanted during favorable times and seasons for the gathering of mollusks, which, having been extracted from their shells, were dried in the sun for transportation to the distant permanent villages. The comparatively small quantities of shell-remains now found at these regular settlements going also to support this theory. No graves have been found near these temporary camps. I discovered, however, one skeleton of an Indian, in connection with which were thirteen arrow-heads, but it was plainly to be seen that the death of this person had happened during some short sojourn of a tribe at this place, as the burial had been effected in a hasty and imperfect manner, and the grave was without the usual lining which, as we shall see, is found in all the other tombs of this region.

On the extremity of Point Sal, the northern projection of which is covered by large sand-drifts, we find, down to the very brink of the steep and rocky shore, other extensive shell-deposits, which, with few exceptions, consist of the Mytilus Californianus and of bones; flint chips being also found, though very sparsely in comparison with the mass of other remains. The sea having washed out the base of this declivity, and the top-soil having, as a consequence, slid down, we see on the edge of the cliff shell-layers amounting in all to a thickness of four or five feet; that part closest to the underlying rock appearing dark and ashlike, while the deposit becomes better preserved as the surface is neared. At other places, for example, on the extreme outer spur of this Point Sal, the shell-remains have been so conglomerated or cemented together by extreme antiquity as to overhang and beetle over the rocks for quite a distance.

Leaving the temporary camps, we shall visit the regular settlements of the ancient aborigines. Traces of these are found near the southern Point Sal, at a place where it turns eastward at an angle of something less than 90°, behind the first small hill of the steep ridge which trends easterly into the country, and which, up to this spot, is, on its northern slope, covered with drift-sand and partially grown over with stunted her

bage, (Fig. 2.) Further traces of a like kind are to be seen on the high bluff between North and South Point Sal, (Fig. 3.) Here the shells are

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piled up in shapeless, irregular heaps, as they are met in all localities on the coast where there were the fixed dwelling-places of people whose principal food consisted of fresh shell-fish; for in the neighborhood of these permanent homes the shell-remains were always put away in fixed places, while in temporary camps they were carelessly distributed over the whole surface of the ground. Very vividly did these bleached mounds recall to my mind the immense remains of such heaps as I had seen in Oregon, on the right bank of the Chetko, as also near Năt-enēt, and near Crook's Point, Chětl-e-shin, close to Pistol River. I re

membered, also, how I had observed the Indians in various places; for example, near Crescent City, on the Klamath, and on the Big Lagoon, forming just such shell-heaps; two or three families always depositing their refuse on the same beap.

Fig. 3.

To return to Southern California. A deposit similar to that of Point

Sal, although much smaller, is found on the left bank of the Santa Maria River, near its mouth. Both at the first-described fixed camps and at this place there are to be found tons of flint-chips, scattered about in all directions, as also knives, arrow-heads, and spear-heads in large numbers. I was somewhat disappointed, however, in being unable to find any graves; such numerous heaps indicating the existence of important settlements, that should have been accompanied by burying-places. I therefore moved farther inland, seeking a locality where the soil could be easily worked, where a good view of the surrounding country could be had, and where, above all, there was fresh water, all of which requirements appear to have been regarded as necessary for

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