164 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



places from which an enemy could be fought and driven down the 

 slope. Plate 58 is a cross section of the eastern hill near the gateway 

 of the fort and shows two of the outposts. Plate 59 gives the 

 outline of one looking down and into it. 



That these walls and trenches are artificial is proved by the fact 

 that potsherds, fire-broken stones, chipped flints, and stone imple- 

 ments were found below the modern bottoms of the trenches behind 

 them. This indicates that they were occupied. The earth of which 

 the walls are composed, upon examination, proves to have been 

 thrown up by men because the strata of soil are reversed and 

 intermixed. 



The fort is separated from the point of which it is a part by a 

 wall 200 feet in length that curves irregularly from bank to bank. 

 That this wall is of artificial origin is evident at a glance and this 

 is confirmed by an examination of the earth of which the wall is 

 built. The late-washed sand is found on top while the yellow sand 

 and top soil are found beneath. The base of the wall is 14 feet in 

 thickness while the ditch from the crest of the wall to the outer edge 

 of the excavation is 16 feet wide. The average height of the wall 

 from the bottom of the trench is 5 feet. Near the eastern side of 

 the fort where the hill is not steep the wall as it approaches it is 

 higher and steeper and the trench deeper. A depression in the top 

 of the wall at this point seems to indicate the ancient gateway. A 

 log probably bridged the ditch at this place over the deep pit. 



That the site was anciently occupied by man is to be judged not 

 only from the wall but from the pottery fragments, flint chips, flint 

 articles, stones showing signs of use and fire-broken stones found 

 scattered over the surface of the ground within the wall-'nclosed 

 area. Such objects always constitu e good evidence of aboriginal 

 occupation. 



In view of the interesting location of the Burning Spring site, its 

 remarkable features and pronounced evidence of aboriginal occupa- 

 tion it was chosen as a site most worthy of archeological research, 

 the object being to discover if possible the tribal identity of the 

 one-time occupants and builders of the fort, and to find as many 

 specimens of their manufactured implements, etc. as possible, the 

 former to be deduced from the latter. 



The owner of the 'fort, an Indian, never permitted anyone to 

 excavate in it and before his death in 1902 he instructed his two 

 daughters to see that no white man should ever touch it if they 

 could prevent it. Many people, however, at various times surrep- 

 titiously dug holes in the wall hoping to find relics therein and a few 



