Abstract
THE first of these two papers deals with archæological investigations along the coastal region of N.W. Florida, being a continuation of the searches conducted during ten successive seasons along other portions of the coast and the waterways running down to it. The work on this occasion was principally centred in the districts around Perdido Bay, Pensacola Bay, Santa Rosa Sound, and Choctawhatchee Bay. As has hitherto been the case in the investigation of Floridan antiquities, a rich harvest resulted, mainly of objects of pottery. This in spite of the excavation craze which has led numbers of unskilled searchers to probe the soil for its buried treasures. “In no part of Florida,” writes Mr. Moore, “is the pursuit of this ignis fatuus so intense, and persons, otherwise sane, seemingly, spend considerable portions of their time with spade and divining rod in fruitless search.” Some twenty mounds were investigated, and the paper is devoted mainly to a detailed description of the finds. Numerous interments were discovered; the greater number of the skeletons were, however, incomplete. The custom of burying the remains of the dead under inverted earthenware bowls of large size was evidently very prevalent, and recalls the similar practice observed by the pre-dynastic Egyptians. An interesting custom is revealed in connection with the pottery vessels found with the greater number of interments. Very many of the pots buried with the dead exhibit a hole purposely broken through the base, this having been done, it is believed, in order to “kill” the vessel to free its spirit to accompany that of the departed. This custom was seemingly very largely practised, and must have been associated with a system of primitive animistic philosophy which is almost world-wide, and which finds expression under different, though kindred, forms of manifestation.
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Aboriginal Remains in N.W. Florida 1 . Nature 67, 612 (1903). https://doi.org/10.1038/067612c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/067612c0