Page:Archæology of the Central Eskimos.djvu/179

The immediate surroundings of the Naujan settlement are exceedingly rich in graves; most of them lie fairly high and, with the appearance of the stones, the skeletons and the grave goods, give the impression of being very old; round about the settlement, on the ridge east and west of the valley, on the promontory south-west of the settlement and on the island Simiutaq, 65 graves were found; of these 54 were examined; the greater majority of these were, however, more or less disturbed and contained neither skeleton nor grave goods.^[1]

Group 1. On the gravel plain to the immediate East of the settlement and down towards the modern tent settlement. Eleven graves; height above sea level: 8 to 13 metres.

Grave 1. Roof removed; the interior space rectangular, 1.25 × 0.70 metre; direction SW.—NE.; the skull in the eastern corner; two fragments of bones close by.

Grave 2. Roof still preserved, although collapsed towards N.; interior space 1.30 × 0.45 m; lies SSW.—NNE.; the skull nearest the south-east corner; outside, under a stone, a round plate formed out of the epiphyse of a whale vertebra; it is 16 cm in diameter, 1½ cm thick at the middle; one surface is shaped flat, the other is unworked; presumably used as the bottom for a bowl. In the grave there were also a walrus molar, a piece of walrus rib, a cut piece of antler, a stump of wood and a very thin wooden stick, 10½ cm long, with a piece of caribou skin and sinew thread wound round it; this latter is certainly a later intermixture.

Grave 3. Much disturbed; 1.3 × 0.4 m; SSW.—NNE.; only few remnants of the skeleton; towards the south a very decayed bone point, 6.4 cm long; furthermore, a whale bone and a piece of flint.

Grave 4. On a small rocky knoll, which forms one side of the grave; partly collapsed; 1.5 × 0.5 m: NNW.—SSE. At the northern extremity a human jaw bone; also a number of animal bones including a piece of whale rib.

Grave 5. Only one roofing stone preserved; 1.2 × 0.5 m; NE.—SW. Contained the most of a skeleton; the skull towards NE.; two animal bones and a piece of wood.

Grave 6. Completely destroyed; seems to have lain SSW.—NNE.

Grave 7. Roof removed, the sides fallen in; has lain towards the south, slightly to the west. Length 1.3 metres. Contains several animal bones, including a piece of caribou head.