Collecting Skulls in Western Oregon

In the history of the 19th century there was a tradition among scientists to collect human remains from burial sites. It was a large worldwide operation and was practiced by really any scientists who was in the field to discover something. Whether a botanist or a linguist, geologist  or a cultural anthropologist, they all seemed to collect skulls and human remains when they happened on such things. At times scientists went on side expeditions, teamed with other scientists, to find human remains, dig them up, and collect them. It was a hobby among many people in the region and unique skulls could be valuable, they would be bought by museums and other scientific collectors to make large collections. There are now many millions of sets of human remains in museums worldwide.

The collection of human remains is not unknown, in fact very well known to tribal communities today. Scientists are also well aware of this sordid history, and many work to decolonize their work so that native human remains never again becomes a commodity to be collected and sold to buyers. Unfortunately, there is a large black market of such things and so this practice may never end. Many pot hunters think they have the right to collect and sell such things and while it is illegal in the US to do so, it still happens.

But collecting human remains and cultural objects is the origin story of many museums. Collections attracted visitors and funding, and caused a huge growth of the industry worldwide (See: Collecting Culture, Douglas Cole). Natural history collections  filled up museums but the prize collections were the cultural works of many tribal cultures and their remains. Tribes and tribal scholars today are working to track down where their people were removed to. This is not easy and there are many barriers to research. Museums do not really want to lose their collections so they create finding aids to their collections but the digital aids do not really give much information. Then, many of the essays and research articles published about the activities of the collectors, are difficult to find and access. Science journals from museums and scientific societies are usually behind paywalls that do not allow ready access. Therefore, tracking down the journals and collection lists of individual collectors can be daunting.

I recently came back to this issue of Human remains when a colleague Robert Boyd began looking at the records of John Townsend on the Columbia. Boyd, a well known author and researcher in Portland, OR is writing a book “Before Portland” about the original peoples and early history of Portland. He recent began writing me and Henry Zenk, another colleague about the Townsend journal and activities. Townsend collected some lists of Native languages. These lists are split up between several archives, (American Philosophocal Society and the Library of Congress). Zenk and Boyd reexamined the language lists, dating to 1825, and determined that the Kalapuya language collected was actually Kalapuyan. This makes it the earliest collection of the language by a scientist. These lists were looked over previously, probably some 40 years earlier, under the assumption that they were actually a different tribe. This process reminds me that researchers need to go back over materials they have previously read, periodically, because as they mature as researchers they see new things in the journals that they missed before.

But along with the Language lists, there is information about how Townsend was engaged in collecting the skulls of people from burials on the Columbia. We found he had collected at least 8-10 skulls, from several Chinook people, a Tillamook, Clatskanie, Cowlitz and a Kalapuya skull. He then had the skulls transferred to a collector, Samuel Morton, back east. Townsend activities intersected with David Douglas who recorded some of their actions. Douglas attracted Thomas Nuttall and Townsend to the Columbia region, but Nuttall appears to have reserved his attention for birds. Interestingly Townsend and Nuttall and several other influential early Oregonians (Daniel and Jason Lee) were in the same 1834 wagon train, captained by Nathanial Wyeth.

Boyd has tracked down a lot of the history, some of which will appear in his book

“Townsend sent a Klikatat and “Chinook” skull to his brother in September 1835, with instructions to send the box to Samuel Morton, the phrenologist.  Why he didn’t send the skulls directly to Morton is unclear (source: APS letter).  Also in September 1835, Townsend stole a Tillamook, Clatsop, and Chinook skull from cemeteries near Fort George.(source, his manuscript Narrative, quoted in the Mearns’ 2009 book on Townsend–the passage is missing from the printed Narrative).  In early October, a few weeks later, Meredith Gairdner stole Concomly’s skull from its grave and took it with him to Honolulu (source: OHQ article).  As to the other three skulls collected by Townsend and pictured in Morton’s 1839 Crania Americana, I don’t yet know where and when he got the Kalapuya, Clatskanie, and Cowlitz. The Cowlitz and Clatskanie probably came from Mount Coffin, possibly Coffin Rock.  Townsend visited Mt Coffin in December 1834, but says in his Narrative that though he wanted to collect a skull then, it was too dangerous.  He passed by both Native cemeteries several times in the next few years.  For the Kalapuya skull best guess is from the Kalapuya camp(?) at WFalls in May-June 1835. But, lacking direct documentation, it’s really hard to pin down where and when for these three, since JKT traveled extensively through the lower Columbia from his base at FtV. … It now seems conclusive, from Henry’s i.d. of Townsend‘s “Kalapooyah” word list, that it was indeed Kalapuyan… It also applies to the “Kalapooyah” skull he stole for Morton’s Crania Americana, wherever he got it.”

This confirmation was all I needed to, “go down the rabbit hole” and take a deep dive into finding these records on behalf of my tribe and the others. It helps that I have some three decades of research experience.

Samuel Morton

Samuel Morton was a well known collector of Human skulls who had many colleagues who all wanted to contribute to his vastly growing collection. Chinook skulls were prized because of the head flattening where the skulls were misshapen. Morton’s collection is at Penn State today. (Crania Americana- Samuel Morton)

457 Chinook indian Mitchell

461 clickitat  indian Townsend

462 Chinook chief Townsend

571 572 Kanaka townsend

573 cowlitz  Townsend

574 kalapooyah townsend

575 clatsop  Townsend

576 Tillamook Townsend

577 Klatstoni Townsend

578 Chinook slave Townsend

Notes: 457 is from Mitchell, and about the same time. Perhaps aligning the collection numbers with his travels can tell us where Townsend was when collecting skulls. The kanaka skulls could have been collected at fort Vancouver or Hawaii. I think the source list may have been the official list because there are extensive publication notes. We should be able to track down articles to find the publications they were featured in. I checked U Penn and they have a lot of essays about the collection, with recent statements about perusing repatriation, but all links to the online archive of cranial scans are broken.

(The Samuel Morton skulls list at the Internet Archive.)

Finding this list means that there are likely other records and so I went to the published Journal narrative to discover his interest in human skulls. Perhaps we can track his movements and find where he collected. I found that Townsend did not always record when he stole skulls in his journal. Its clear he knew the tribes did not like this theft and it was an immoral practice being discouraged by John McLaughlin at Fort Vancouver and yet he did this anyway. Perhaps he was ashamed at some level. So anytime he seemed interesting in practicing doctor- would be a good time to stealthily collect a skull. When people are dying most pay attention to those who are ill and not to someone in their burial grounds.

Notes transcribed from relevant books and manuscripts

(Townsend’s Narrative of a journey across the Rocky Mountains, to the Columbia River by Townsend, John Kirk, 1809-1851, 1905, Skull references Pp303-305)

“A custom prevalent, and almost universal amongst these Indians, is that of flattening, or mashing in the whole front of the skull, from the superciliary ridge to the crown. The appearance produced by this unnatural operation is almost hideous, and one would suppose that the intellect would be materially affected by it. This, however, does not appear to be the case, as I have never seen, (with a single exception, the Kayouse,) a race of people who appeared more shrewd and intelligent.

I had a conversation on this subject, a few days since, with a chief who speaks the English language. He said that he had exerted himself to abolish the practice in his own tribe, but although his people would listen patiently to his talk on most subjects, their ears were firmly closed when this was mentioned; “they would leave the council fire, one by one, until none but a few squaws and children were left to drink in the words of the chief.” It is even considered among them a degradation to possess a round head, and one whose caput has happened to be neglected in his infancy, can never become even a subordinate chief in his tribe, and is treated with indifference and disdain, as one who is unworthy a place amongst them. The flattening of the head is practiced by at least ten or twelve distinct tribes of the lower country, the Klikatats, Kalapooyahs, and Multnomahs, of the Wallammet, and its vicinity;89 the Chinooks, Klatsaps, Klatstonis, Kowalitsks, Katlammets, Killemooks, and Chekalis of the lower Columbia and -its tributaries, and probably by others both north and south.80 The tribe called Flatheads, or Salish, who reside near the sources of the Oregon, have long since abolished this custom.91

The mode by which the flattening is effected, varies considerably with the different tribes. The Wallammet Indians place the infant, soon after birth, upon a board, to the edges of which [176] are attached little loops of hempen cord or leather, and other similar cords are passed across and back, in a zig-zag manner, through these loops, enclosing the child, and binding it firmly down. To the upper edge of this board, in which is a depression to receive the back part of the head, another smaller one is attached by hinges of leather, and made to lie obliquely upon the forehead, the force of the pressure being regulated by several strings attached to its edge, which are passed through holes in the board upon which the infant is lying, and secured there.

The mode of the Chinooks, and others near the sea, differs widely from that of the upper Indians, and appears somewhat less barbarous and cruel. A sort of cradle is formed by excavating a pine log to the depth of eight or ten inches. The child is placed in it on a bed of little grass mats, and bound down in the manner above described. A little boss of tightly plaited and woven grass is then applied to the forehead, and secured by a cord to the loops at the side. The infant is thus suffered to remain from four to eight months, or until the sutures of the skull have in some measure united, and the bone become solid and firm. It is seldom or never taken from the cradle, except in case of severe illness, until the flattening process is completed.92

I saw, to-day, a young child from whose head the board had just been removed. It was, without exception, the most frightful and disgusting looking object that I ever beheld. The whole front of the head was completely flattened, and the mass of brain being forced back, caused an enormous projection there. The poor little creature’s eyes protruded to the distance of half an inch, and looked inflamed and discolored, as did all the surrounding parts. Although I felt a kind of chill creep over me from the contemplation of such dire deformity, yet there was something so stark-staring, and absolutely queer in the physiognomy, that I could not repress a smile; and when the mother amused the little object and made it laugh, it looked so irresistibly, [177] so terribly ludicrous, that I and those who were with me, burst into a simultaneous roar, which frightened it and made it cry, in which predicament it looked much less horrible than before.

Pp309

On the afternoon of the 4th, we passed along a bold precipitous shore, near which we observed a large isolated rock, and on it a great number of canoes, deposited above the reach of the tides. This spot is called Mount Coffin, and the canoes contain the dead bodies of Indians. They are carefully wrapped in blankets, and all the personal property of the deceased, bows and arrows, guns, salmon spears, ornaments, &c., are placed within, and around his canoe. The vicinity of this, and all other cemeteries, is held so sacred by the Indians, that they never approach it, except to make similar deposites; they will often even travel a considerable distance out of their course, in order to avoid intruding upon the sanctuary of their dead.”

[181] We came to anchor near this rock in the evening, and Captain Lambert, Mr. N., and myself visited the tombs.

We were especially careful not to touch or disarrange any of the fabrics, and it was well we were so, for as we turned to leave the place, we found that we had been narrowly watched by about twenty Indians, whom we had not seen when we landed from our boat. After we embarked, we observed an old withered crone with a long stick or wand in her hand, who approached, and walked over the ground which we had defiled with our sacrilegious tread, waving her enchanted rod over the mouldering bones, as if to purify the atmosphere around, and exorcise the evil spirits which we had called up.

I have been very anxious to procure the skulls of some of these Indians, and should have been willing, so far as I alone was concerned, to encounter some risk to effect my object, but I have refrained on account of the difficulty in which the ship and crew would be involved, if the sacrilege should be discovered; a prejudice might thus be excited against our little colony which would not soon be overcome, and might prove a serious injury.

Pp 320-323

On the Klakamas river,105 about a mile below, we found a few lodges belonging to Indians of the Kalapooyah tribe. We addressed them in Chinook, (the language spoken by all those inhabiting the Columbia below the cascades,)108 but they evidently did not comprehend a word, answering in a peculiarly harsh and gutteral language, with which we were entirely unacquainted. However, we easily made them understand by signs that we wanted salmon, and being assured in the same significant manner that they had none to sell, we decamped as soon as possible, to escape the fleas and other vermin with which the interior of their wretched habitations were plentifully supplied. We saw here a large Indian cemetery. The bodies had been buried under the ground, and each tomb had a board at its head, upon which was rudely painted some strange, uncouth figure. The [221] pans, kettles, clothing, &c., of the deceased, were all suspended upon sticks, driven into the ground near the head board.

June 6th. — The Indians frequently bring us salmon, and we observe that, invariably, before they part with them, they are careful to remove the hearts. This superstition, is religiously adhered to by all the Chinook tribe. Before the fish is split and prepared for eating, a small hole is made in the breast, the heart taken out, roasted, and eate* in silence, and with great gravity. This practice is continued only during the first month in which the salmon make their appearance, and is intended as a kind of propitiation to the particular deity or spirit who presides over the finny tribes. Superstition in all its absurd and most revolting aspects is rife among this people. They believe in ” black spirits, and white, blue spirits, and grey,” and to each grizzly monster some peculiar virtue or ghastly terror is attributed. When a chief goes on a hunting or fishing excursion, he puts himself under the care of one of these good spirits, and if his expedition is unsuccessful, he affirms that the antagonist evil principle has gained the victory; but this belief does not prevent his making another, and another attempt, in the hope, each time, that his guardian genius will have the ascendency.

In their treatment of diseases, they employ but few remedies, and these are generally simple and inefficacious. Wounds are treated with an application of green leaves, and bound with strips of pine bark, and in some febrile cases, a sweat is administered. This is effected by digging a hole two or three feet deep in the ground, and placing within it some hemlock or spruce boughs moistened with water; hot stones are then thrown in, and a frame work of twigs is erected over the opening, and covered closely with blankets to prevent the escape of the steam. Under this contrivance, the patient is placed; and after remaining [222] fifteen or twenty minutes, he is removed, and plunged into cold water.

Their mode of ” making medicine” to use their own term, is, however, very different from this. The sick man is laid upon a bed of mats and blankets, elevated from the ground, and surrounded by a raised frame work of hewn boards. Upon this frame two ” medicine men ” (sorcerers) place themselves, and commence chaunting, in a low voice, a kind of long drawn, sighing song. Each holds a stout stick, of about four feet long, in his hand, with which he beats upon the frame work, and keeps accurate time with the music. After a few minutes, the song begins to increase in loudness and quickness, (a corresponding force and celerity being given to the stick,) until in a short time the noise becomes almost deafening, and may well serve, in many instances, to accelerate the exit of him whom it is their intention to benefit.

During the administration of the medicine, the relations and friends of the patient are often employed in their usual avocations in the same house with him, and by his bedside; the women making mats, moccasins, baskets, &c., and the men lolling around, smoking or conversing upon general subjects. No appearance of sorrow or concern is manifested for the brother, husband, or father, expiring beside them, and but for the presence and ^ear-astounding din of the medicine men, you would not know that anything unusual had occurred to disturb the tranquillity of the family circle.

These medicine men are, of course, all impostors, their object being simply the acquisition of property; and in case of the recovery of the patient, they make the most exorbitant demands of his relations; but when the sick man dies, they are often compelled to fly, in order to escape the vengeance of the survivors, who generally attribute the fatal termination to the evil influence of the practitioner.

P338-339 (the following exchange is truly remarkable)

February 3d, 1836. — During a visit to Fort William, last week, I saw, as I wandered through the forest, about three miles from the house, a canoe, deposited, as is usual, in the branches of a tree, some fourteen feet from the ground. Knowing that it contained the body of an Indian, I ascended to it for the purpose of abstracting the skull; but upon examination, what was my surprise to find a perfect, embalmed body of a young female, in a state of preservation equal to any which I had seen from the catacombs of Thebes. I determined to obtain possession of it, but as this was not the proper time to carry it away, I returned to the fort, and said nothing of the discovery which I had made.

That night, at the witching hour of twelve, I furnished myself with a rope, and launched a small canoe, which I paddled up against the current to a point opposite the mummy tree. Here I ran my canoe ashore, and removing my shoes and stockings, proceeded to the tree, which was about a hundred yards from the river. I ascended, and making the rope fast around the body, lowered it gently to the ground ; then arranging the fabric which had been displaced, as neatly as the darkness allowed, I descended, and taking the body upon my shoulders, bore it to my [237] canoe, and pushed off into the stream. On arriving at the fort, I deposited my prize in the store house, and sewed around it a large Indian mat, to give it the appearance of a bale of guns. Being on a visit to the fort, with Indians whom I had engaged to paddle my canoe, I thought it unsafe to take the mummy on board when I returned to Vancouver the next day, but left directions with Mr. Walker to stow it away under the hatches of a little schooner, which was running twice a week between the two forts.

On the arrival of this vessel, several days after, I received, instead of the body, a note from Mr. Walker, stating that an Indian had called at the fort, and demanded the corpse. He was the brother of the deceased, and had been in the habit of visiting the tomb of his sister every year. He had now come for that purpose, from his residence near the ” turn-water” (cascades,) and his keen eye had detected the intrusion of a stranger on the spot hallowed to him by many successive pilgrimages. The canoe of his sister was tenantless, and he knew the spoiler to have been a white man, by the tracks upon the beach, which did not incline inward like those of an Indian.

The case was so clearly made out, that Mr. W. could not deny the fact of the body being in the house, and it was accordingly delivered to him, with a present of several blankets, to prevent the circumstance from operating upon his mind to the prejudice of the white people. The poor Indian took the body of his sister upon his shoulders, and as he walked away, grief got the better of his stoicism, and the sound of his weeping was heard long after he had entered the forest.

P 361

“On the 24th, I embarked in a canoe with Indians for Fort George, and arrived in two days. Here I was kindly received by the superintendent, Mr. James Birnie,130 and promised every assistance in forwarding my views.

Sept 30th. — I visited to-day some cemeteries in the neighborhood of the fort, and obtained the skulls of four Indians. Some of the bodies were simply deposited in canoes, raised five or six feet from the ground, either in the forks of trees, or supported on stakes driven into the earth. In these instances it was not difficult to procure the skulls without disarranging the fabric; but more frequently, they were nailed in boxes, or covered by a small canoe, which was turned bottom upwards, and placed in a larger one, and the whole covered by strips of bark, carefully arranged over them. It was then necessary to use the utmost caution in removing the covering, and also to be careful to leave every thing in the same state in which it was found. I thought several times to-day, as I have often done in similar situations before: — Now suppose an Indian were to step in here, and see me groping among the bones of his fathers, and laying unhallowed hands upon the mouldering remains of his people, what should I say? — I know well what the Indian would do. He would instantly shoot me, unless I took the most effectual measures to prevent it; but could I have time allowed me to temporize a little, I could easily disarm his hostility and ensure his silence, by the offer of a shirt or a blanket; but the difficulty in most cases would be, that in a paroxysm of rage he would put a bullet through your head, and then good bye to temporizing. Luckily for my pursuits in this way, there are at present but few Indians here, and I do not therefore incur [256] much risk; were it otherwise, there would be no little danger in these aggressions.

The corpses of the several different tribes which are buried here, are known by the difference in the structure of their canoes; and the sarcophagi of the chiefs from those of the common people, by the greater care which has been manifested in the arrangement of the tomb.”

The Journal seems conclusive about where and when the skulls were collected. We are now working to help the tribe toward repatriation.

Further, I encountered more information published in the journal Cumtux published by the Clatsop County Historical Society. (Cumtux vol 1 no3, summer 1981, p 32-33)

“When he realized that his condition was becoming serious, he sought a leave of absence for a trip to the Sandwich Islands where relief might be
gained. However, before his departure he wanted to do something in the interest of science. He had heard many tales of Chief Concomly’s great leader¬
ship and mental ability and as a scientist he wondered about the skull that held this powerful brain. He knew that the scientists of Europe would be most
interested in studying such a sample. Dr. Gairdner knew of the burial place  of the Chinooks and probably had visited Concomly’s grave site. He knew
also that desecration of canoe burial places was forbidden and offenders risked their lives. Doctors in particular were held in suspicion by the Chinooks
since a Dr. John Scouler surgeon on a ship visiting the Columbia in 1825, had taken three skulls from the burial place and escaped the furious discovery by
the Chinooks by hiding aboard ship. Making his way to Point Ellice, he found that the body had been removed from the canoe and buried a short
distance away to prevent desecration. However Gairdner was not to be daunted in his mission. All alone he set to work digging up the remains. After
great exertion he reached the long box opened it and found the body skeletal. The head was in good condition, the skin dried and the hair in place. The forehead was narrow and sloping back sharply. Apparently Concomly’s mother had done a good job of compressing the infant head in the cradleboard. Perhaps that was the cause of his genius.
Gairdner managed to complete his gruesome job and get away with the head without being caught but the difficult procedure brought on another
hemorrhage, so that the ground around Concomly’s grave was red with blood. He packed the head in a box and took it with him to Honolulu and from there
sent it to his friend, Dr. John Richardson, eminent Scottish Physician and naturalist who had been a member of the second Arctic expedition.”

The Smithsonian Institution had the skull in 1956 and the skull has since been repatriated.

“The Chinook Nation finally won their appeal to properly bury Chief Concomly’s skull with his remains in the Tribal Cemetery near Chinook, Washington in 1972.”

This exchange led me to look at Dr. Scouler more.

Looking at Dr. John Scouler I found he was widely collecting in the West coast and on the Columbia at least 2 or 3 Chinook skulls in 1825. I have tracked some of Scouler’s crania collections to the Museum of Natural History in Paris. He bequeathed his collection to this museum on his death. They do not give good details in their collections search but here is what I found labeled United States. France now has a repatriation law that Tribal nations could use to get back their people. (https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/jorf/id/JORFTEXT000048668800)