THE ARCHEOLOGICAL HISTORY OF NEW YORK 53! 



a sitting position. Three other skeletons had been previously 

 exhumed at this locality. 



Earthwork at Almey's. Aboriginal relics in Gerry are mostly 

 in the uplands that bound the Cassadaga valley upon its eastern side. 

 But few have been found along its western borders except on lot 

 60 at and near the hamlet of Towerville. A spur of elevated land 

 here juts out from the Ellery hills toward the Cassadaga. To the 

 south of this promontory lies a pleasant valley through which flows a 

 tributary of the Cassadaga, and from its base the plain that borders 

 the Cassadaga extends eastward. At the verge of this promontory 

 are some of the most distinct and interesting evidences of a former 

 occupation to be found in the county. These relics are located about 



2 miles directly southwest from the ash heaps. They are to be seen in 

 a pleasant grove upon the lands of John E. Almey. They were sur- 

 veyed by the writer and R. Reed in 1891. At least 50 feet above the 

 valley and inclosing one-fourth of an acre of the extreme point of 

 this elevated spur is an earthwork in the form of a letter C, the open 

 side being toward the east brink of the promontory and facing the 

 valley of the Cassadaga. This steep high bank seems to have been 

 sufficient to afford protection for that side of the fortified space, as 

 there is no sign of an earthwork along the brow of the eminence. A 

 depression in the land extends along the south side and a ravine along 

 the north side to the face of the declivity. To the west the land 

 gently rises for a long distance. The embankment extending along 

 the depression south of it, viewed from the high land across the 

 depression, makes a conspicuous appearance. Here for 70 feet it is 

 4 or 5 feet high. The remainder of the way along the west side for 

 150 feet, with the exception of 30 feet recently worn away by the 

 plow, the embankment has a height of from 2 to 4 feet. Thus far 

 a well-marked ditch extends around the outside, at some points 3 feet 

 deep. At places on the inside there are slight appearances of a ditch. 

 For 64 feet along the north side of the earthwork the ditch and wall 

 have disappeared ; for the remainder of the way to the east bank of 

 the inclosure (70 feet) the ditch is plain to be seen. A cross section 

 at one point showed the embankment to have been 13 feet wide and 



3 feet high, and the ditch 5 feet wide and 2 feet deep. The embank- 

 ment is usually much less in width. In the inclosure is a grove of 

 maple trees, among which some pines formerly grew. A pine 5^2 

 feet in diameter and over 200 feet in height a few years ago grew 

 without the inclosure but partly within the ditch, near its southeast- 

 ern termination. Trees and some old pine stumps stand upon the 

 bank and in the ditch. One old decayed stump was 4^ feet in 



