A VANISHED RACE

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 23, 28 January 1928, Page 20

A VANISHED RACE

EELICS FOUND ON A DESEET ISLE. One of the most unusual archaeological finds of recent years was made recently by the field expedition of the Los Angeles Museum to San Nicolas Island, 100 miles off.the coast of Southern California, states the "New York Times." The discovery consisted of an Indian grave which was dug out to a depth of some five feet through various layers, revealing a number of skulls, bones, shells, and ancient utensils. Not only were the nature of this grave and its position and depth unusual, but the arrangement, of its contents - also was puzzling. Eight skulls were found lying in a semi-circle beneath four great shoulder bones of whales. On top of each of the eight skulls was found a shell dish. The perforations of the shells were stopped with aspbaltum. In one case the mouth of a skull was wide open, and one of these odd dishes was thrust into it. Inserted under the chins of three Bkulls were three steatite pipes. Soapstone dishes, bowls and pendants were lying here and there, with pestles sticking out from between odd bones. Large bone, whistles were found in the grave, together with a finely worked bone harpoon. Over in one corner, in a curiously compact mass, were arranged the incomplete bones, mostly ribs, of a child's skeleton. , Many other graves were discovered on the island, which is an isolated, windswept, entirely barren spot in the great Pacific encircled by dense beds of kelp which make it difficult to approach. None of the smaller graves extended deeper than eighteen inches below the surface. Some are fairly recent, comparatively speaking, and others, which had to be cut out of solid sandstone of granite-like formation, must date back several, hundred years. The Los Angeles Museum's expedition spent two months on the island, living in a tent, and in the shack of a seventy-six-year-old shepherder, who is for months at a time the single inhabitant of San Nicolas. The waters about the island are favourite grounds of fishermen, smugglers, and bootleggers. ■■■■.■•■•■ ■■■•:,•