44$ NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



relics," is a monument to a crime against knowledge and truth. We 

 can not emphasize this fact too strongly, for the relics left behind by 

 primitive man and his descendants of the earlier ages are all too few. 

 important clues and a complete chain of evidence may be forever 

 obliterated by the careless and ignorant collector. Collectors have 

 no moral right to destroy the records that ancient man took cen- 

 turies to write into the soil, through his enduring artifacts. They do 

 have a heavy moral obligation to preserve every circumstance 

 concerning their finds. 



The amateur collector should early get in touch with recognized 

 museums and scientific societies and subscribe to the various arche- 

 ological periodicals. Such museums as the New York State Museum 

 at Albany will always welcome correspondence from collectors and 

 will freely give advice. Nearly all museums issue bulletins and guide 

 books of value to collectors. Archeological associations, such as the 

 New York State Archeological Association, with headquarters in the 

 State Museum, the Ohio State Archeological Society, the Wisconsin 

 Archeological Association, and others, issue interesting publications. 

 General works such as Handbook 30 of the Bureau of Ethnology, 

 Washington ; Moorehead's " Stone Age " ; Wissler's "American 

 Indians " ; and Fowke's "Archeological History of Ohio," will be 

 found of considerable value to students. 



The moral of this " word with amateur collectors " is that no one 

 should be a mere collector of aboriginal artifacts. The collector 

 must likewise be a student who carefully records the information 

 that chance or diligence unfolds. By means of a little care and study 

 the whole subject will appear in a dififerent and higher light ; the 

 collector while satisfying his instinct of acquisitiveness will at the 

 same time become a contributor to the science of archeology, and 

 thus a real benefactor. 



Spoons, bone and antler. Bone and antler spoons have been 

 found in Iroquois sites, especially in graves. The bowls are capa- 

 cious but seem small compared with the Iroquois wooden spoons. 

 There were three or more bone spoons found on the Dann site near 

 Honeoye Falls. One had the figure of a swimming beaver in relief 

 on the back of the handle. 



Antler spoons have been found on the Marsh, Gandagaree site 

 near Victor, at Boughton hill and at St Lawrence. One came from 

 an early Algonkian site near Brewerton (Beauchamp, Horn and 

 Bone, 315-16). Spoons of this kind may be considered rare. 



State Museum. The New York State Museum is the outgrowth 

 of the Natural History Survey originally authorized by the State 

 Legislature in 1836. The Museum has two functions: first, that of 



