REMAINS IN A DELAWARE STATE MOUND.
The attention of scientific men has recently been attracted to a neighborhood upon Middle Sound, some ten miles east of this city, by the discovery thereof large quantities of human remains of an unknown race and period, scattered at intervals along the oceanfront of this plantation. Yesterday a party of gentlemen was present at the opening of two mounds of relics. Nothing unusual was found in the first mound, but the examination of the second resulted in a very interesting discovery. Digging a circular well in the center of the mound, at a depth of six or seven feet there was found a circular deposit of charred coals, min led with fragments of human bones; which had evidently lain there undisturbed for a long time, and in their original, deposit. Among the bones, they discovered a black, glittering and unknown substance resembling mica, which they reserved for further examination, and a fine specimen or brown and transparent quartz. The persons to whom these bones belonged were evidently fastened together and burned at this spot, and afterward covered with soil. Who they were and what the occasion of their fate, is, of course, a matter of conjecture. Further explorations may determine their race and nation. We believe these are the only mounds of this character, and the only evidence of a similar sacrifice yet discovered. Wilmington (Del.) Star, June 22, 1878.
The attention of scientific men has recently been attracted to a neighborhood upon Middle Sound, some ten miles east of this city, by the discovery thereof large quantities of human remains of an unknown race and period, scattered at intervals along the oceanfront of this plantation. Yesterday a party of gentlemen was present at the opening of two mounds of relics. Nothing unusual was found in the first mound, but the examination of the second resulted in a very interesting discovery. Digging a circular well in the center of the mound, at a depth of six or seven feet there was found a circular deposit of charred coals, min led with fragments of human bones; which had evidently lain there undisturbed for a long time, and in their original, deposit. Among the bones, they discovered a black, glittering and unknown substance resembling mica, which they reserved for further examination, and a fine specimen or brown and transparent quartz. The persons to whom these bones belonged were evidently fastened together and burned at this spot, and afterward covered with soil. Who they were and what the occasion of their fate, is, of course, a matter of conjecture. Further explorations may determine their race and nation. We believe these are the only mounds of this character, and the only evidence of a similar sacrifice yet discovered. Wilmington (Del.) Star, June 22, 1878.
