When John Pitman began digging a cesspool in the yard of his summer home in Warwick, on May 14, 1949, he probably never expected he would soon be opening a grave.

Pitman lived at Gaspee Point, a 15-acre peninsula on Narragansett Bay. The house was located on a small hill about 200 yards from the water and he broke ground for the cesspool about 20 feet from the residence.

He dug a hole about six feet in diameter and had gotten to a depth of about three feet when he reached a layer of what appeared to be clam shells. After spading through approximately 18 inches of shells, Pitman rested his eyes on a skull. He reached in and grabbed it, pulling out the lower part of the jaw that had been damaged by his digging tool.

A series of phone calls were made and, the following day, 50-year-old Dr. Maurice Robbins ventured out to the property. Robbins was an archaeologist, director of the Attleboro Museum of Art and the Massachusetts Archaeological Society for the Attleboro area. He had come to investigate and excavate any other remains from what appeared to be a grave. Karl Dodge, chairman of the Warren King Moorehead Chapter of the Massachusetts Archaeological Society, came along to assist him.

The two men discovered that the grave had been laid out in an oval shape, about 39 inches long and 35 inches wide. The grave was set at an incline with one end about eight inches deeper than the other.

The skeleton was face-down, with the right arm bent so that the hand had been near the head. The left hand had rested beneath the pelvis and the legs had bent to the right side of the body with the right leg on top of the left. The left heel was about nine inches from the bottom of the spine.

Robbins removed the bones from where they lay. The skull had been broken into several parts, one fracture going from the top of the left eye socket to a bone behind the right ear. The hole at the base of the skull, where the spinal cord passes through, was also broken.

After removing the skeleton, the men sifted through the dirt in the hole. There, they located the teeth, most of the facial bones, other parts of the skull, the bones of the right hand and wrist, vertebrae from the top of the spinal column and several other vertebrae.

Robbins took the remains to his home in Attleboro where he set about piecing together the skeleton. The teeth were in excellent condition with four wisdom teeth unerupted. Due to this factor, as well as the condition of the bones, Robbins estimated the age of the deceased to be between 15 and 18 years. The size and weight of the bones led him to believe they belonged to a male. He also believed the boy had been Native American.

Robbins’s conclusion was that the boy had been flung face-down in a refuse pit and had probably been mistreated by his elders. His goal was to reassemble the bones and place them in the museum he directed.

The real history of the grave may be more interesting than what Robbins determined. It is a common custom among many tribes in America to bury victims of murderous assaults face-down when the assault is carried out by a member of the same tribe.

It was also a common practice for Native Americans to bury their dead in existing refuse pits, especially during winter months when the ground was too frozen to open.

In 1990, the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act was enacted. This law directed that any federally funded institutions in possession of Native American remains or associated funerary objects which can be connected to a specific tribe, work with such tribe to have the items returned to the custody of descendants.

At one time the museum contained a large collection of bones and artifacts excavated by Robbins. In 1988, the collection was moved to the new Robbins Museum in Attleboro. The museum has worked with tribal descendants over the years to return these artifacts to their rightful owners.

Kelly Sullivan is a Rhode Island columnist, lecturer and author.