Till-. AUCHEOLOGICAL HISTORY OF NK\V YORK 325 



rounded the site Lefore the knoll was -cultivated. 1 Its form as far as 

 could be traced is shown on the map of the site, and the probable 

 form of the missing part is indicated by a dotted line. The trench 

 seemed to average about 2 to 3 feet deep. Judging from the before- 

 mcMitioned similar work still extant on Talcott's hill, there was 

 probably an embankment around inside the trench, with one or more 

 gateways across both ditch and bank. 



Having concluded this general description I will now take up 

 more carefully the graves, ash pits and other phenomena observed 

 during the course of the w r ork, and to this end w f ill describe in 

 some detail examples of each kind w r hich I consider typical. The 

 graves, as before indicated, were first discovered by the posthole 

 method and then when the grave area was once located it was easy 

 to drive trenches across it, removing the plowed surface layer, and 

 then to locate the graves from above by the contrast of their stained 

 disturbed earth mixed with bits of charcoal to the clear color of the 

 undisturbed sandy soil composing the knoll. Another indication is 

 the marked softness which is still noticeable in the disturbed soil 

 filling the grave. Sometimes ash pits were mistaken for graves at 

 first, and in one case the remains of two skeletons were found in 

 an ash pit below the northwest refuse deposit near the swamp. 



No order or regularity was observed in the location of the graves 

 unless the bunching at the southwestern end of the site, so noticeable 

 on the map, may be considered as such. It was also observed that 

 all the graves, and all the pits for that matter, lay within the limits 

 of the old earthwork, although there were refuse deposits outside. 

 In depth the skeletons varied from 8 to 36 inches from the surface 

 to the uppermost bones, with an average a little less than 20 

 inches. This average would doubtless be somewhat higher but for 

 the action of the plow in removing, year after year, some of the 

 covering of earth from above the skeletons. Some had actually been 

 struck and broken by the plow. 



The folded or flexed position of burial prevailed here as elsewhere 

 among precolonial New York Indians. The bodies were doubled 

 no. with knees close to the chest and arms flexed, then laid on their 

 sides in the grave. I have selected two photographs from our series 

 to illustrate this point; representing the skeletons in pits 9 and 51. 



Pit 9 was found some distance east of the main group of graves 

 and was discovered in digging the first or exploration trench. Its 

 dimensions were 48 by 30 inches and it contained a skeleton at the 



1 Hough, F. B., History of Jefferson County, p. 12. 





