MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS RELATING TO ANTHROPOLOGY. G43 



CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY, NEW YORK. 



By James Sheward, of Dunkirk, X. T. 



Cbautauqua County has furnished many indications of a former oc- 

 cupancy ; but, as yet, we have found nothing to establish its probable 

 antiquity. 



I have some fragments of a piece of pottery, ajar or vase, found be- 

 neath the roots of a very old apple-tree in the town of Stockton. This 

 tree grew in a valley, and was evidently quite old when it was blown 

 down. The vase or jar was broken, but it was estimated, from the 

 pieces found, to be about two gallons capacity. The pieces indicate 

 that it was made principally from pounded quartz. The surface was 

 smooth and impervious to water. The depth at which it was found I 

 have been unable to ascertain with any certainty. Thus far I can find no 

 evidence of a secular increase in the valley ; consequently there are no 

 data for a calculation of the period when the jar was abandoned. The 

 fragments and description were given to me by Mr. F. McCullough, of 

 Delanti, this county. Within the village of Frewsbury, town of Car- 

 roll, some years ago, a jiine stump, which had been left standing for a 

 long time, was pulled up, and under its roots were found two human 

 skeletons. I saw some of the bones were parts of the skull, but was 

 unable to determine whether the crania indicated round, flat, or oval- 

 shaped heads. I could obtain no certain information as to the depth 

 below the surface at which these bones were found, and none as to sec- 

 ular increase. The i^iue stump was very large and showed 580 jcuticle 

 layers or growths. The tree at the time it was felled was five hundred 

 and eighty years old, and was probably cut down twenty years or 

 more before the stumj) was pulled up. A period of six hundred years 

 must have elapsed since that tree began to grow. How long those 

 skeletons have been inhumed prior to the germination of the tree we 

 cannot tell. At the first settlement of that section of our county the 

 valley was a vast pine forest. Through this valley runs a creek or 

 brook, tributary to the Conawauga, one of the tributaries of the Ohio. 

 I have reason to think that a thorough exploration of this neighborhood 

 would give valuable information. 



In the town of Sheridan, on the farm of Mr. N. Gould, have been 

 found, at various times, numbers of human bones. These bones indi- 

 cated, by their number, size, and position, that the place where they 

 were found was either a cemetery or had been the scene of a battle 

 where large numbers of all ages and sexes had been killed. The cra- 

 niologieal developments I know nothing about. In the vicinity of Mr. 

 Gould's farm are yet to be found earthen fortifications, breastworks, 

 and ditches. These fortifications are somewhat numerous and exten- 



