322 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



At the widest part it reaches a breadth of about 160 to 200 feet. 

 Near the southwestern end is a hollow crossing the ridge, just 

 beyond which the land rises again to more than its former height and 

 continues 150 feet to the little brook, forming a sort of semidetached 

 knob. The highest part is not more than 30 feet above the creek. 

 Higher hills encircle the site on the land slide, which seems a 

 peculiar feature for as a rule the Indians did not like to build 

 their villages when they could be commanded from a nearby 

 eminence. 



The knoll lies at the point where the creek issues from its narrow 

 ravine among the hills to a broad level valley which seems to have 

 been an arm of Lake Iroquois; so the knoll may have originated as 

 a bar of sand and clay formed around a reef of limestone by the 

 swirling stream, loaded with sediment, as it emerged from the glen 

 into the quieter waters of the bay. The drift material of the sur- 

 rounding hills is of glacial and not fluvatile origin. 



The indications of Indian occupation, as is shown by the stipple 

 on the Heath site map, are scattered over an area about 800 feet in 

 length along the top of the knoll and down the slope at both sides 

 to a breadth of approximately 240 feet. They consist as usual of 

 black soil, fire-broken stones and occasional bits of broken pottery or 

 worked stone showing among the grass roots of the pasture, most 

 abundant in occasional patches. 



In order to get more exact information concerning the nature of 

 the site than could be observed from the surface, the distribution of 

 graves, ash pits and refuse heaps, and consequently the best places 

 to dig, the usual procedure was followed, a series of holes being 

 dug resembling post holes, in parallel transverse lines across the 

 hill, each hole of course revealing the nature of the soil at that 

 particular point. The results showed several deposits of refuse 

 upon the knoll in its eastern part, especially just above the spring, 

 but these with one trifling exception, marked "A. H." on the map 

 of the site, had all been overhauled by previous collectors. The 

 one above the spring had been from 18 inches to 2 feet deep and 

 covered an area some 25 by 10 feet, although the exact limits were 

 hard to define on account of the spreading effect of the plow. 

 Westward along the ridge were scattered graves to the number of 

 twenty-seven, containing thirty-two skeletons in all, clustering thickly 

 as shown on the map on the brink of the little transverse hollow. 

 This part was explored by a series of trenches run where it was 

 thought they would do the most good. The little knob west of the 



