48 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



distinguish differences in the cultural artifacts we find it is not always 

 possible to say that the difference is due to the lapse of time and the 

 change of pattern, or to the influence of another tribe that came to 

 supplant an older tribe. Our best clues are found along the lakes and 

 rivers where there have been fishing camps and settlements. On 

 the St Lawrence, for example, there are sites along the banks that 

 are deep with the refuse of the centuries and where one may find 

 early Algonkian material near the bottom and in the body of the 

 layer, and Iroquoian potsherds on top. As a general thing few 

 individuals have had the time or patience to make a thorough study 

 of the Algonkian occupation except along the sea coast. For solving 

 the riddles of migrations and occupations, however, this difficult and 

 perhaps unproductive work must be done. The collector who desires 

 to get relics only and the museum that only desires to fill its display 

 cases are both neglecting an obligation to science. Research work, 

 alone, will solve the problem of the Algonkian occupation. 



Periods of occupation. The earliest type of occupational evidence 

 that we may assume to be Algonkian, yields crude implements, large, 

 clumsy spears, steatite pottery, some rough and poor grade clay pot- 

 tery, occasionally a polished stone implement, net sinkers, large flakes 

 of chert or stone notched at the top for choppers, and now and then 

 a grooved axe and celt. Only in very rare instances are any imple- 

 ments of bone found. Probably no graves of this period have ever 

 been found. This period seems to have been influenced by the 

 Eskimo. 



A second or intermediate period of the Algonkian occupation is 

 characterized by a larger number of grooved axes, roller pestles, a 

 greater abundance of crude pottery, the surface of which is scratched 

 or stamped with fabric or cord marks, steatite pottery, by pits filled 

 with crumbling and almost completely disintegrated refuse and espe- 

 cially by the great abundance of drills, of notched arrowheads and 

 spears of chert and other stone. Many of the finest ceremonial stones 

 from New York belong to this intermediate period. The sites are 

 generally along the waterways, on the banks or upon the high level 

 fields near creeks, lakes and rivers. To some extent the early 

 Algonkian sites are found in such places also, but most generally on 

 the slopes and terraces far above the present river beds. 



The later Algonkian occupation is more definite in character and 

 covers almost the entire area of the State. It is characterized by 

 numerous flints, by steatite pottery, clay pottery, notched choppers, 

 grooved axes, celts, adzes, hoes, some copper implements, gouges. 



