The skull of a young adult male Amerind from a grave at a coastal site in southern Connecticut bears a largely cicatrized elliptical anomaly near bregma. Some evidence suggests deliberate antemortem trephination of the scraping type. The specimen is of interest since perhaps fewer than twenty human skulls have been advanced as putative cases of trephining by North American aborigines.
Nonceramic designs are rarely described from southern New England. One is here illustrated and its elements examined. Several controlled speculations as to its meaning are advanced. These include attenuated Southern Cult motifs, depicted natural-history phenomena, and the possibility of its being a map or a record of some cultural event. No conclusions are drawn. Re-examination of similar artifacts in local collections may reveal additional scratched designs.
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