TH05IAS.1 THE HUKON-IROQUOIS DISTRICT. 545 



recognized as defensive amniunitiou. lu other cases they marked 

 phices of burial. Two such instances occurred near Baldwinsville, 

 K. Y., where skeletons were found beneath the heaps, and they have 

 been noted else(7here. Some have been supposed to mark treaties, but 

 they are nowhere hirge in this district. 



HUT RINGS. 



The best examples of these occur about Perch lake, Jefferson county, 

 New York. They were at first described as circular mounds, but recent 

 investigation has proved them to have been the floors of lodges, 

 gradually raised. They are depressed in the center, and tlie outer, 

 circular edge is from 2 to 5 feet high, comj>osed of burnt stone and 

 camp refuse. No earthenware is found in them, but plenty of flint 

 chips. The diameter ranges from 20 to 30 feet. A few examples in 

 Onondaga county, New York, differ from these in their lower out- 

 lines, and iu the presence of pottery. In the same county, J. V. H. 

 Clark' described, in Pompey, "numerous circular elevations made of 

 stones, some 12 or 14 feet in diameter and about 18 inches high. They 

 were arranged in regular rows, some 2 or 3 rods apart, and were proba- 

 bly the foundations of cabins or wigwams." 



OSSUARIES. 



One mode of burial, known as the ossuary, is most common about 

 Lake Simcoo and a part of the Georgian bay, and about the shores of 

 the western end of Lake Ontario, in Canada. In this the bodies, the 

 skeletons, or the bundles of large bones were placed in a common grave 

 below the surface, which soon regained much of its customary appear- 

 ance. Mr. A. P. Hunter, of Barrie, Ontario, who has thoroughly studied 

 Simcoe county, rei>orts over 150 of these, of all sizes, mostly mapi)ed 

 and described by him. Early accounts of iutermcTit in these are well 

 known and need not be repeated. Ossuaries near Lake Simcoe are 

 usually circular, but at Beverley, near Lake Ontario, they are quite long 

 and of considerable width. In the former case there is often a per- 

 ceptible ring around the edge. This would depend on the amount of 

 perishable material buried, and the filling in of the pit. They vary 

 greatly in size, ranging from a few skeletons to many hundreds. Mr. 

 Hunter estimated the average number at 300. The (dipper kettles often 

 found iu these pits usually have a hole in the bottom, revealing a fear 

 that these graves might be robbed. 



An ossuary was opened in Beverley, iu 188G, by Mr. David Boyle, 

 which was 25 feet long by 12 feet broad. This is about one-fifth of the 

 superficial area of the one in the same town described by Mr. School- 

 craft in 1843. Except in outline they do not difl'er from those of Sim- 

 coe county. A rude pit of this kind at Ottawa, opened in 1843, is the 



■ Onondaga, vol. 2, p. 261. 

 12 ETH 35 



