4O XE\V YORK STATE MUSEUM 



The pressure sent more into South America. Time, climate and 

 food and, of equal if not primary importance, the original race 

 color and mental impulses caused these scattered units of the race 

 to develop along similar physical lines. But while we think of the 

 similarity of the branches of the red race we ought not expect them 

 to be any more similar than the various branches of the Aryan or 

 white race. 



It is quite probable that many parts of North and South America 

 had long been settled and that there were several millions of the 

 red race before any large number of them crossed the Rocky 

 mountains and the great plains to begin a migration by slow stages 

 to the Atlantic coast. The earliest comers seem to have had no 

 habits that wrote a record into the soil. Perhaps they were nomadic 

 and had no settlements that endured longer than a year. 



The oldest evidences of man's presence seem to be on some of 

 the upper terraces. In western New York we have found several 

 strange sites where the artifacts were crude and all osseous matter 

 completely absent. The presence of carbonized material in the pits, 

 however, proved that fire had been used. Along the headwaters of 

 the Hudson similar old sites have been found. It would be mere 

 guessing to say how old these places are or even that they are 

 demonstrably the oldest. 



As occupation becomes more evident, through the relics one finds, 

 it is patent that the occupation is more recent. Thus, we may trace 

 the historic Algonkian people by their artifacts to their prehistoric 

 sites of occupation and these back to very rude sites that fade into 

 others that may or may not be Algonkian. 



On some of the sites that may be considered old the relics are 

 greatly weathered. Certain sites near Oneida lake and others on 

 the upper waters of the Hudson yield many crude flints and hatchet 

 heads of stone that have plainly been weathered for centuries. But 

 even in this case we can only say the relics appear to be among 

 the oldest. 



To the writer the first definite occupation seems to have been by 

 a people influenced by the Eskimo. They may have been Eskimoan, 

 they may have been Algonkian tribes intermarried with the Eskimo, 

 or they may have been Algonkian tribes culturally influenced by the 

 Eskimo. The Algonkian people at length came to possess most of 

 this area and in almost every portion of the State one may find 

 Algonkian artifacts. For a considerable period wave after wave of 

 Algonkian tribes came this way, one of the last being the Delaware. 



