5OO NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



31 Mound along the river west of Vandalia opened by K. Tandy 

 Jemerson. 



32 Mound west of the mouth of Trout creek in the town of 

 Carrollton. Moses Shongo found a complete pottery vessel here. It 

 is now in the State Museum. 



Cayuga County 



General occupation. Cayuga county is one of the few localities 

 in the State that contains within so small an area so large a number 

 of earthworks and village sites. These are distributed along the 

 Seneca river and around the shores of Cayuga lake. The county has 

 long been a hunting ground for amateur archeologists and many 

 scores of sites have been ruthlessly exploited by the relic hunter. 

 Like other counties in this general geographical region, there are 

 evidences of several occupations. Before the coming of the Cayuga 

 Indians into the northern part of the country the makers of the 

 polished slate implements had lived there, leaving numerous evi- 

 dences of their early occupancy. As is the case in other regions, 

 however, very few graves of this culture have been discovered and 

 most of the relics of it have been picked up on the surface. The 

 later Cayuga-Iroquois, however, left numerous traces and their 

 earthworks, village sites and burial grounds are scattered through- 

 out the county. 



One of the sites which particularly attracted the attention of E. G. 

 Squire was the hilltop fortification near Auburn. This earthwork 

 he describes in detail. 1 The earthwork is situated on a high, steep 

 side hill overlooking the city of Auburn, and is defended by the 

 steep slope and the ravines. An embankment surrounded most 

 of the fortification and Mr Squier noted eight gateways. Another 

 interesting fortification is in the town of Mentz, 6 miles northwest 

 of Auburn and 3 miles from Throopsville. This earthwork is 

 situated on the crest of a ridge running north and south, just east 

 of the road to Byron, the fence not running more than 2 rods from 

 the eastmost embankment. But one gate is noted and this is near 

 the southwestern portion of the inclosure. Other fortifications of 

 this character in the county are of considerable interest but these 

 two are typical. A later Iroquoian stockade site was in the town 

 of Ledyard 4 miles south of Union Springs. The great castle of 

 the Cayugas was not far from this point, being on the north bank 

 of Great Gully brook, about 1^/2 miles from the lake. An important 

 settlement attractive alike to the early and later Indians was on the 

 range about Farley's Point. 



1 The Aboriginal Monuments of New York, E. G. Squier, p. 36. 



