22 ABORIGINAL MONUMENTS OF NEW YORK. 



PLATE III. No. 2. 



ANCIENT WORK, RUTLAND TOWNSHIP, JEFFERSON COUNTY, NEW YORK. 



The slightest and much the rudest structure discovered in Jefferson county, is 

 the one here dehneated. It is situated about a hundred rods back from the brow 

 of the terrace, already so often referred to, and which here rises abruptly from the 

 inferior level, presenting a bold, and in some places, a precipitous bank. 



Notwithstanding its elevation, this terrace has numberless depressions or basins, 

 which are wet and marshy. Upon a slight elevation, in the midst of one of these, 

 and still covered with a primitive forest, is the work in question. It will be ob- 

 served that it is exceedingly irregular, and that the lines are interrupted by several 

 wide openings, which are quite too broad to be regarded as gateways. 



The embankment is not of uniform dimensions. In some places it is elevated but 

 a foot or eighteen inches, by four or five feet base, while in others it is perhaps three 

 feet in height. The ditch is also irregular, — in sections scarcely exceeding a large 

 plough furrow in depth and width. In fact, the work seems imperfect, and to have 

 been constructed in haste for temporary purposes. Within the area, which is 

 quite uneven, are several small accumulations of stones, which bear the marks of 

 fire. Upon removing some of them, the proprietor of the ground found ashes and 

 other burnt matter, amongst which was a carbonized ear of maize. A small but 

 entire vessel of pottery, of considerable symmetry of shape, was also found here 

 some years since. 



Human bones have been discovered beneath the leaves ; and in nearly every part 

 of the trench skeletons of adults of both sexes, of children, and infants, have been 

 found, covered only by the vegetable accumulations. They seem to have been 

 thrown together promiscuously. They have also been found in a narrow depres- 

 sion resembling an artificial trench, indicated by a dotted line in the plan, and 

 caused by the subsidence of the earth in a cleft of the limestone substratum. These 

 skeletons, from all accounts, do not seem to have been much decayed, and no dif- 

 ficulty was experienced in recovering them entire. The skulls were in some cases 

 fractured, as if by a blow from a hatchet or club. These circumstances would 

 seem to imply, not only that the work is of comparatively late construction, but 

 also that this was the scene of one of those indiscriminate massacres so common 

 in the history of savage warfare. 



From the bank of the terrace, near this work, a very extensive and beautiful 

 prospect is commanded. 



