Tioga Point Museum - Graves Found May 12, 1898

In 1882, a drainage ditch was being dug for the home of Millard and Louise Murray when a Native American grave site was discovered.

Between 1882 and 1895, 29 burials in total were found in the Murray Garden site. "The graves were grouped somewhat regularly around the one in the center which was marked with such care that it was believed to be that of a chief surrounded by members of his clan."

"Throughout this plot with one exception the skeletons were flexed but buried in a sitting posture, often with the right hand upraised and bearing a pot containing food, arrow points, or seeds, the latter leading to the confecture that the old apple trees may have grown from these very seeds."

Louise Murray went on to found the Tioga Point Museum in 1895.

Info from research article:

In 1608 John Smith described the Susquehannock as a “gyant-like people.” The accuracy of his observation of impressive stature, as applies to the males, now has been confirmed. When and how this particular population developed genetically has yet to be documented. Recent study of material excavated more than a century ago at the Murray Garden site (36Br2) places this location within the Susquehannock cultural sequence and also sheds important light on the people interred there. This site and others in the Tioga Point area, at the confluence of the North Branch of the Susquehanna and the Chemung River appear to represent the relocation of Susquehannock villages from the far North Branch in present New York down to the forks in north central Pennsylvania. The human remains from 36Br2 offer a means of tracing the development of the unusual stature of these people after 1500, confirming the very important way by which curated collections can contribute to our understanding of the past.

Conclusion from the research on the size of the skeletons:

CONCLUSIONS An evaluation of human skeletal remains that were recovered more than a century ago at the Murray Garden site (36Br2) allows this location to be evaluated within the context of contemporary nearby sites as well as the post-1500 Susquehannock villages located far downstream, along the lower reaches of the Susquehanna River. This study confirms that museum collections from the past, such as those held at Tioga Point, can be extremely important in the pursuit of modern archaeological questions (Allen and Ford 2020). Together with other data from these cultural features we can place this site in time, placing it in the period when these Native populations were beginning to enter the historic record. Evaluation of the stature of these people, three males (average 172.2 cm or 67.8 inches) and three females (average 158.7 cm. or 58.9 inches) further confirms observations that the Susquehannock, said to be “a gyant-like people,” may include the people at the Murray Farm site. As a Susquehannock population of the first half of the sixteenth-century, the Murray Garden people appear related to, or immediately descended from, the people at nearby Murray Farm site 36Br28. Together these studies reinforce the belief that the Susquehannock people, previously linked with the New York Iroquoians, relocated or were driven down the river that bears their name, and settled in the region around Tioga Point around 1530, before relocating to sites along the lower Susquehanna River around 1550 CE..

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