12 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



many forts and sites have also been obliterated, quite a goodly num- 

 ber have been located and described, and with a moderate farther 

 research it is possible to tell a great deal of the occupation of New 

 York in historic and prehistoric times. 



The articles left by the aborigines here have a wide range in nature 

 and origin. In a broad way they may be classed as flaked or chipped 

 forms of stone, those of clay, those of shell, horn or bone, those of 

 metal, glass and wood; and most interesting of all, those of picked 

 or polished stone. This is a simple matter of convenience, for many 

 things in all these have other relations. Fine and beautifully wrought 

 articles may precede those which are rude, or they may have coex- 

 isted in the same camp or town. Horn and bone were often used 

 with stone. Metallic articles were of a remote date, as well as recent. 

 Wood was used in every period. 



While many rude implements closely resemble those called paleo- 

 lithic, these are usually surface finds here, pointing to no remote 

 antiquity. In fact quite deep burial often proves no test of age, 

 owing to some well known customs as well as natural agencies. 

 Some implements made of argillite, and much changed by weathering 

 or contact with the soil, although surface finds, are precisely like 

 those occurring in the higher deposits at Trenton, N. J. Thus far 

 none of the ruder articles have been reported at any great depth 

 here, though this is but negative testimony, which farther research 

 may change. Up to the present time polished stone implements have 

 been reported here deepest of all. How reliable the reports are it is 

 difficult to say. 



Caches of flint are frequent, commonly composed of broadly 

 chipped stones, rather more triangular than leaf-shaped in form, 

 and nearly alike in size, although this is not always the case. In 

 general they are supposed to be those from which others were to 

 be made, having been deposited either for security or to preserve 

 the temper of the flint. Although not strictly correct, this word will 

 be used for a common material. Many of these simple articles were 

 not farther elaborated, but at once came into use. Others may have 

 been changed into other forms, but this is little more than theory. 

 Their uniformity in size, and their burial in quantities give plausi- 



