Additional mounds of Duval and of Clay counties, Florida; Mound investigation on the east coast of Florida; Certain Florida coast mounds north of the St. Johns river — John Shaqi
Additional mounds of Duval and of Clay counties, Florida; Mound investigation on the east coast of Florida; Certain Florida coast mounds north of the St. Johns riverMoore, Clarence B. (Clarence Bloomfield)
History
Additional mounds of Duval and of Clay counties, Florida; Mound investigation on the east coast of Florida; Certain Florida coast mounds north of the St. Johns river
Moore, Clarence B. (Clarence Bloomfield)
Florida -- Antiquities; Mounds -- Florida
On the base of the large sand mound at Tick Island, Volusia
County,[10] the skeleton of a dog was found by us, the skull and
certain other bones of which, forwarded to Professor Cope, were
passed upon as follows by that eminent authority: “The bones you
send are those of a dog but of what species I am not sure. It is no
wolf or coyote but differs from ordinary breeds of domestic dogs.
Nevertheless, it may be some form domesticated by the Indians, with
which I am not familiar.”
Fifteen feet from the surface of the Light-house mound, or 3 feet
below the level of the surrounding territory, was discovered the
skeleton of a dog.
The cranium has been submitted to Dr. C. Hart Merriam, who was,
unfortunately, unable to spare time for an exhaustive examination,
being about to leave town for the summer. According to Dr. Merriam
the skull is not that of a coyote, nor does it belong to any type of
domestic dog with which he is familiar.
Professor Cope is of opinion, after an examination of the skull,
that it belongs to neither wolf nor coyote, but is probably that of
a domestic dog, though by no means of necessity one obtained from
Europeans.
There are, however, according to Professor Cope, certain domestic
dogs whose crania cannot be distinguished from those of wolves.
Professor Cope also made an examination of a canine skull from the
great shell deposit at Damariscotta, Maine, in which no articles of
European origin have ever been met with at a depth greater than a
few inches from the surface. The Damariscotta skull, according to
Professor Cope, strongly resembles that from the Light-house mound.
Professor Putnam, who has made a careful study of the skull from the
Light-house mound, writes as follows:
“I have lately secured for comparison several dog skulls, among
which is that of a mongrel greyhound. This skull resembles that of
the coyote more than it does the gray wolf. It differs from the
coyote, however, in being slightly more convex. In the coyote the
frontals are flatter than in the gray wolf.
“I have a skull of an Irish setter which agrees with that of a gray
wolf, except that it is slightly higher over the orbits, and there
is more of a concavity along the union of the frontal bones. The
jaws are also shorter, but the teeth are of about the same size.
“I have the skull of an English collie which differs from the gray
wolf in the same way as does the setter’s skull; that is, the
frontal bones are slightly more concave in the center and a little
higher. The jaws are proportionately shorter than the jaws of the
setter, and of course shorter than those of the wolf, and the molar
teeth are proportionately smaller.
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