EARTHENWARE OF THE NEW YORK ABORIGINES 8/ 



Five Nations of New York. The Massawomekes of Capt. John 

 Smith, so dreaded on Chesapeake bay, were probably a southern 

 ofifshoot of the Eries, so that along the principal rivers of Penn- 

 sylvania, somewhat remote from the sea, we may expect to find pot- 

 tery closely resembling that of this state. In river valleys, how- 

 ever, subject to inundation, any flood may expose or bury still 

 deeper objects of this kind. Their age can not safely be predicated 

 from their depth in the soil. The fairest chronological evidence 

 will come from village sites, and these give no great age to earthen- 

 ware in New York, while that age is an open question still. 



The question of age and probable population is affected by an- 

 other circumstance. Early Iroquois villages were removed every 

 lo or 15 years, and a Kberal allowance of time would give six or 

 more removals in a century. A dozen sites, and often many more, 

 would thus be required in 200 years for a single village. The 

 Mohawks had from three to four or more towns at a time, and the 

 Senecas never less than four. The latter would thus occupy and 

 abandon neariy or quite 50 places in two centuries. It is thus 

 obvious that for any long period of continuous occupation we must 

 reduce the population to a very small number. On the other hand, 

 if we allow a moderate strength to any people we reduce the time 

 of occupation. When this fact is understood, and the true relation- 

 ship of the site known, we arrive at a safe basis for estimating the 

 length of time in which much of New York was really occupied 

 as a home by the aborigines. Without discussing the subject far- 

 ther, attention is called to these facts, for they greatly afifect a clear 

 conception of prehistoric times, and their relations to later days. 

 Chronologically most of the articles here described belong to the 

 17th century, and the larger part of the rest apparently to the i6th. 



Most ol the first class of illustrations here given are of fragments 

 of vessels, selected out oif a large number to show patterns used in 

 ornamenting. All these are of actual size, and being fragmentary 

 there is no need of giving dimensions. Fig. i is a rim from Jef- 

 ferson county, where the style of ornament is often both bold and 

 rich. The vessel must have been quite handsome, as the ornamen- 

 tation was continued down the sides, below the projecting rim. 



