THE MUSEUM. 



A Monthly Magazine Devoted to Research in Natural Science. 



Vol. II. 



ALBION, N. Y., JUYL 15, 1896. 



No. 9 



Notes from the Mohawk's 

 Country. 



p. M. VANEPPS. 



(VII.) 



AL.\B.ASTER. 



A few years ago I came .in possess- 

 ion of a beautiful example of the not 

 over common doubly-perforated, boat 

 or shuttle-shaped form of what for 

 want of a better name are commonly 

 termed gorgets. This specimen, one 

 of a number of objects discovered at 

 the accidental opening of a grave, in 

 the eastern Mohawk Valley, was long 

 rather a puzzle as to the material from 

 which fashioned, some thinking it to 

 be of marble, which it somewhat re- 

 sembles, while others have suggested 

 that it was bene, somewhat changed 

 and mineralized by long burial. 



Not being familiar with objects of 

 alabaster, this gorget was not recog- 

 nized as such, until after reading Mr. 

 Hovey's valuable paper relating to the 

 prehistoric quarries of alabaster, dis- 

 covered by him in Wyandot Cave, In- 

 diana. ■'•■ Mr. Hovey says, "Quite 

 probably the place was resorted to by 

 successive generations for material to be 

 made into amulets, ornaments, discsand 

 images. According to J. Jones M. D. 

 such articles of alabaster have been re- 

 peatedly exhumed in the Southern 

 States, and I learn from Prof. S. F. 



* Amer. Antiquarian, Oct. 1880. 



Baird, that similar specimens of man- 

 ufactured alabaster have been found in 

 tumuli in Illinois. " 



On close examination and compari- 

 son with some samples of alabaster 

 from the ancient quarry at the base of 

 The Pillar of the Constitution in Wy- 

 andot Cave, and with other specimens 

 from New York caverns it appears cer- 

 tain that the material from which the 

 gorget in question is fashioned is ala- 

 baster, and which might easily have 

 been derived b}' barter from the an- 

 cient Wyandot quarrymen. During 

 September 1894 an alabaster pipe of 

 a very curious and uncommon form, 

 was found at Camp Cayadutta in Ful- 

 ton Co., N. Y., by Mr. Robeit Hart- 

 ley, who has kindly furnished a draw- 



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