230 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 191 



here. Research in this direction by Wray and Schoff (1953) has 

 defined those archeological traits (imported and native) distinctive of 

 Seneca culture at various times during the Early Historic, has eluci- 

 dated the changes brought about in Seneca culture by European 

 influences, and has indicated the sequence in which the various 

 villages were occupied between 1550 and 1687. The archeological 

 materials also emphasize the restricted distribution of these early 

 historic villages which lie largely within a narrow ecological zone 

 formed b}'' the merger of the interior low plateau with the lowland 

 bordering Lake Ontario, bounded on the east by Lake Canandaigua 

 and on the west by the Genesee. The archeological evidence on 

 hand at present does not indicate any extensive Seneca movement 

 away from this area, other "Seneca" sites being known only from the 

 Genesee and the Upper Allegheny (mostly undescribed and unpub- 

 lished), and possibly on the Susquehanna. All these are historic, 

 however, and some are historically documented Late Colonial (Hough- 

 ton, 1912, pp. 363-410; MacNeish, 1952 a, pp. 53-54; 1952 b, pp. 

 38-39; Mayer, 1943; Mayer-Cakes, 1955, p. 72; Parker, 1919; Ritchie, 

 1954; Steward, 1954; Witthoft, 1951, pp. 318-319; 1955; Wray, 1954; 

 1955; Wray and Schoff, 1953). 



The remaining foci of the Iroquois Aspect to be found in New York 

 are not directly pertinent to the purposes of this study, and only a 

 few comments need to be made. The Madison Focus furnishes us 

 with a warning against the uncritical correlation of archeological 

 foci with tribes, components showing strildng similarities having been 

 correlated with historical villages assigned to the Onondaga, Oneida, 

 and St. Lawrence Iroquois (Kwedech) tribes. This fact is also of 

 interest in light of the known linguistic affiliations and warns us 

 against making any rash assumptions concerning the carriers of 

 archeological cultures (MacNeish, 1952 a, pp. 52-53; 1952 b, pp. 

 56-57, 66, 84; Witthoft, 1951, pp. 316-317). 



As has been intimated already, the Tioga Focus originally seems to 

 have occupied the Upper Susquehanna drainage and to have migrated 

 from there to the Lower Susquehanna, blotting out the Shenk's 

 Ferry culture in the process. This conclusion is based upon studies 

 of the datable European trade goods found in the sites and upon 

 cross-correlation with well-known Seneca sites, and may be considered 

 as fairly well established. The Upper Susquehanna sites, such as 

 Homets Ferry, South Towanda (Sick), and Cass, are equivalent to 

 the earliest historical Seneca sites, and are datable at c. 1550. The 

 Quiggle site on the west branch of the Susquehanna is slightly later, 

 and apparently represents the initial Tioga thrust into the lower 

 valley. After this time both the north and west branches seem to have 

 been abandoned, the archeological materials indicating a gap until 



