528 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



Two hundred feet east of this old intrenchment on lot 47, and 

 65 feet south of the Old Chautauqua road, where once was a grove 

 of maple trees, when the field was plowed for the first time after 

 the grove had been cut down, in a lo\v mound were discovered a 

 great quantity of human bones. This mound was opened May 25, 

 1887 in the presence of the writer, Richard Reed, Dr Frank Smith, 

 W. T. Dennison and others. The mound was 12 feet in diameter 

 north and south and 10 feet east and west. Its top was 4 feet higher 

 than the ground around it. An excavation seems to have been origi- 

 nally made from 2 to 4 feet deep into which the skeletons were pro- 

 miscuously thrown. The ground in which they lay was a dark loam 

 and slightly descending. The skeletons were mingled together with- 

 out order, evidencing the haste in which they were gathered to their 

 final rest. The skulls lay mostly on the outside of the other bones. 

 The thigh and hip bones were chiefly in the center*. The skulls were 

 poorly preserved. The teeth often indicated that they had decayed 

 while the owner was living. These bones w r ere covered with not. 

 more than 8 inches of earth and were generally so preserved as to 

 indicate that not many centuries had elapsed since they were buried. 

 Several femurs were as sound as those of an articulated skeleton. 

 The skeletons seemed to be those of adults of both sexes and the 

 bones were so mingled that the skeletons could not be counted. 

 Doctor Smith carefully selected the femur bones (over one hun- 

 dred) and placed them by themselves. From their number there 

 was no doubt that more than fifty persons had been buried there. 

 No arrows, pottery or other relics were found with them save the 

 tooth of some large animal, probably a moose or an elk. A portion 

 of the bones was photographed by W. F. Dunihue. Photographs 

 are in the possession of the Buffalo Historical Society and the 

 Chautauqua Society of History and Natural Science. 



Perhaps the best preserved of these ancient earthworks in Gerry 

 is the one situated i l / 2 miles southeast of the last described remains, 

 being upon the northeast part of lot 38 and northwest part of lot 30, 

 the line between the lots passing through the inclosure. It lies prin- 

 cipally o n the farm of the late William H. Scott and a small part of 

 it on that of G. Lane. It is mostly in the woods ; only a small part has 

 been disinterred by the plow. It has been carefully surveyed by the 

 Writer and was once examined by him in company with Cyrus 

 Thomas and H. L. Reynolds of the Smithsonian Institution, Prof. 

 S. G. Love and W. W. Henderson, president and secretary of The 

 History and Natural Science Society, J. L. Bugbee and others. 



It is triangular or kite-shaped, its eastern and western sides being 

 about equal in length ; the southern side is shorter and more curved. 



