TOO NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



period. The archeology of the Ouendat or Huron is apparently 

 quite similar to that of the confederate Iroquois. 



In pursuing our inquiry it is soon discovered that there are definite 

 centers in which material known to be, or termed, iroquoian may 

 be found. In scattered spots edging these centers are isolated Iro- 

 quoian specimens, as on Manhattan island. But the fact remains 

 that Iroquoian artifacts are found in numbers only within cerlain 

 definite centralized localities, and that these objects are not seem- 

 ingly more than 500 or 600 years old. Many sites show an age of 

 less than 150 years. At most, let us say tentatively, that within the 

 well-recognized areas, objects recognized as Iroquoian seem only 

 to indicate a period of cultural fixedness of less than 600 years. 



The centers of prehistoric Iroquoian occupation, recognized as 

 such by the objects known to archeologists as Iroquoian, are : (i) the 

 St Lawrence basin with Montreal as a center, (2) the region between 

 Georgian bay and Ontario with Lake Simcoe as a center, (3) 

 the Niagara peninsula in Ontario following the Grand river, (4) the 

 Genesee river-Finger Lakes region, (5) Chautauqua county, stretch- 

 ing across the Pennsylvania neck into Ohio, (6) the highlands east 

 of Lake Ontario in Jefferson county, (7) Oneida, Madison and 

 Onondaga > counties, (8) the Susquehanna about Elmira, 9) the 

 Mohawk valley and highlands to the north, and (10) Niagara, Erie, 

 Chautauqua and Genesee counties. Circles of various circumference 

 may be drawn from these centers, and intercept smaller centers. 

 This plan of approximating the areas is only a scheme to fix the 

 localities in our minds, and no attempt is made to make them inde- 

 pendent localities with definite boundaries. The contour of the land, 

 streams, lakes, lines of travel and danger from enemies largely 

 determined the early limitations. 



We wish now to inquire which of these centers are the oldest and 

 if there is any possible means of determining the causes that made 

 Iroquoian material culture differ from the surrounding Algonkian. 

 We wish to inquire, as others have before us, whence the Iroquois 

 stock came into these centers and what clue may be found showing 

 a migration from earlier centers. We wish to inquire just how 

 definitely valuable Iroquoian objects, as they are now recognized, 

 are in determining a migration from other regions. 



Perhaps, then, we ought first to inquire just how permanent any 

 form of material culture is and whether there have been any revolu- 

 tions, not to say modification, in the material culture of a stock. We 

 ought to consider that there are Algonkian tribes, for example, that 

 are Siouan in culture and Siouan tribes that are Algonkian, as the 

 Blackfeet and Winnebago respectively. 



