214 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



skeleton. None of the graves was more than 43 inches deep: the 

 average was about 2 feet, 2 inches. Some skeletons were so near 

 the surface that they had been disturbed by the plow, but these were 

 usually of infants. There were no stones, mounds or other surface 

 skeletons headed westward, but the graves were arranged in no 

 definite order. We divided the burials into the following classes 

 which will be taken up in order: (i) folded skeletons, (2) extended 

 skeleton, (3) infant burial, (4) bone burial and (5) ossuary. 



The typical folded adult skeleton (thirty-nine out of the seventy- 

 three found were in this position) lay about 2 feet deep on the side, 

 heading west, with knees more or less drawn up and arms flexed 

 (plate 72). Generally the hands had been near the face, but these 

 were seldom found, the bones having usually disintegrated. Even 

 children were generally buried in the folded attitude. The position 

 of the body had been easy and natural in most cases, although some 

 had evidently been forcibly folded. One, in pit 37, even had the 

 sole of the left foot against the right knee, a very strained position. 

 This badly disintegrated skeleton lay at a depth of 27 inches, head- 

 ing north; charred corn was scattered about, and near the breast lay 

 a broken pottery vessel. Beneath the skeleton, and filling the whole 

 bottom of the pit to a depth of 39 inches from the surface, was at 

 least a bushel of charred corn, in two layers, beneath which a layer of 

 charred wood, bark and grass was found. In all probability an old 

 corn-cache pit had been later used for burial purposes. 



A good type of folded skeleton, found in pit 24, is shown in figure 

 31, an adult male lying on the right side, headed west, at a depth of 

 28 inches. The left arm was bent, the right straight, the legs drawn 

 up in a natural position, the jaw fallen. Lower bones, ribs and 

 vertebrae were in bad condition. Not far from the face was a 

 large deer-antler spearhead pointing west, against which lay a terra- 

 cotta pipe in the form of a coiled serpent. Between the end of the 

 outstretched right arm and the knee, where the hand had been, were 

 found thirteen triangular flint arrowheads. 



The skeleton in pit 85 (plate 73) will also illustrate the extended 

 burial. An iron trade-axe or tomahawk of early form and a rude 

 arrowhead lay near the forehead ; near the face a terra cotta pipe and 

 a rude stone knife showing traces of a handle, and not far away a 

 pottery jar of graceful shape broken by roots. This skeleton also 

 headed west. 



Another burial of this sort, found in pit 43, without accompany- 

 ing objects. It should be remembered that all these skeletons have 



