File:Exploration of a Munsee cemetery near Montague, New Jersey (1915) (14754571806).jpg

Identifier: explorationofmun21heye (find matches)
Title: Exploration of a Munsee cemetery near Montague, New Jersey
Year: 1915 (1910s)
Authors: Heye, George G. (George Gustav), 1874-1957 Pepper, George H. (George Hubbard), 1873-1924, joint author
Subjects: Munsee Indians
Publisher: New York, The Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Smithsonian Libraries

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e skeletons foundin the Minisink cemetery is that of a white man. If it is finallyshown, as some authorities now believe, that burials of the deadwere not made in a fully extended position until after missionarieshad impressed their teachings on the aborigines of this region,we have additional evidence, if such were needed, of the effect ofthe contact of civilization on the natives of Minisink, as twenty-eight of the forty-five burials whose position of burial was deter-minable, were interred in this manner. In a report of investi-gations of the Van Etten site, farther up the Delaware river, nearPort Jervis, New York, some of the graves contained woodencoffins, and in each such case the associated burial was in an ex-tended position. The exploration of the Minisink cemetery has furnished con-siderable objective material for comparative study, but more isrequired. It is regretted that a greater number of perfect vesselsof pottery was not recovered, as the ceramic art of this Algonquian
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• BH Hh (HBBB ^p ^^^^H M ^^^ 11 1 . HEYE-PEPPER—EXPLORATION OF A MUNSEE CEMETERY J? area is not adequately represented in our museums. Nevertheless,both the entire vessels and the fragmentary jars from Minisinkhave supplied information of importance with respect to formand ornamentation, and show the influence of Iroquois peopleon the Algonquian inhabitants of the site in question, under whosedomination the latter are known to have been during the earlyhistorical period. Other artifacts are likewise of interest andimportance: the objects of shell exhibit a considerable range ofform and ornamentation, and with the pottery attest to the estheticsense of the Minisink people. This is the more noteworthy becauseof the fact that only thirty of the sixty-eight skeletons wereaccompanied with objects of any kind, and several of these hadmerely a piece of stone, a rock crystal, a bears tooth, or a frag-ment of pottery. In some Eastern burial sites stone implementswere deposited with the dea

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