222 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



The other ossuary within the fort was found in pit 79, and con- 

 tained the disjointed skeletons of an adult and a child, and a folded 

 child skeleton in order accompanied by much wampum and red trade 

 beads. 



On May 25th, John Kennedy, while harrowing a field adjoining 

 the flood plains site, dragged up a few bits of charcoal and human 

 bones, which he recognized as indicating something of interest 

 beneath. The next day we made excavations at the place he pointed 

 out and unearthed a circular ossuary about 6 feet in diameter and 2 

 feet deep, filled almost to the surface with a mass of intermixed 

 human bones. No regular arrangement could be made out, but most 

 of the long bones were rudely grouped in one part of the pit, the 

 skulls in another and so on. The whole ossuary was not uncovered, 

 merely the top and one side and only a part cleared out, still nine 

 skulls, representing people from infancy to old age, were observed, 

 including those removed and sent to the Museum. The bones near 

 the surface were much decayed and badly broken, showing signs of 

 fire ; while a few bits of charcoal and scattered potsherds lay among 

 them. The bones were so soft and so tangled that an attempt to 

 excavate the entire deposit would merely have resulted in their 

 destruction; and this fact, together with the expressed disapproval 

 of the Indians, rendered such an attempt inadvisable. The bone 

 deposit was probably surmounted in former years by a mound, the 

 last of which may have been destroyed that very season by the 

 spring plowing. 



Ossuaries of this sort are said to have been commonly made by 

 the Iroquoian people, who collected the bones of their dead at inter- 

 vals and brought them in bundles to be deposited together in a 

 mound. 1 



Before leaving the subject of burials some mention should be 

 made of the physical condition of the skeletons a number of which 

 exhibited abnormal features. The skeleton in pit 67 showed decided 

 deformity of the spine and skull, that in pit 68 a diseased condition 

 of the right fibula, while several vertebrae and other bones from 

 different graves showed ankylosis. Injuries of the skull which had 

 apparently taken place before death were observed on several occa- 

 sions, especially in the case -of the skeleton in pit 78, which more- 

 over showed an arrow wound beneath the sternum. Decay of bones 

 in general was very irregular, even in the same skeleton, a state of 



1 Morgan, League of the Iroquois, 1851, p. 173. 



