HORN AND BONE IMPLEMENTS 251 



Prof. Perkins found a fine but modern bone mask in Yer- 

 village sites are rare in that state, but excavations 

 might reveal something. Bone awls appear in some Illinois mounds, 

 but do not differ from eastern forms. Bone articles found at Hoche- 

 laga (Montreal) are precisely like those of New York and those of 

 the old Huron country, near Georgian bay, are similar. Rarer 

 forms have been obtained from the curious mounds about the Bay of 

 Quinte. A one-sided harpoon from Manitoba is of a common New 

 York type. Bone articles are rarer in Pennsylvania, perhaps 

 through lack of excavation, nor are they common near the sea- 

 coast, where many things supply their place. 



As most of the early visitors to New York were migrants, stop- 

 ping but a few days or weeks in a place, the absence of bone imple- 

 ments on their camp sites is no proof that they had none. Destruc- 

 tion came in many ways. James E. De Kay, in his Zoology of 

 New York, says, in speaking of the common deer : 



It has often been a matter of surprise that, while so many horns 

 are annually cast, so few are ever found. This is to be explained 

 by the fact that, as soon as they are shed, they are eaten up by the 

 smaller gnawing animals. I have repeatedly found them half 

 gnawed up by the various kinds of field mice, so numerous in our 

 forests. 



It may be added that a friend recently found that mice had 

 gained access to his bone articles and badly gnawed some which 

 were centuries old. Besides this, mere camps did not produce suffi- 

 cient ashes or carbonaceous matter to preserve perishable articles, 

 while those of stone remained. They are not frequent in graves, 

 but must be sought where fires have been long in use. The dump- 

 ing places, bordering most Iroquois villages, yield many and some 

 which are fine. Nothing preserves them so well as ashes, and these 

 accumulated to a great depth where a lire burned for many years. 

 In some circular lodges the floor was occasionally cleansed by draw- 

 ing all accumulations to the edge of the lodge, and filling the center 

 with fresh earth or gravel. This produced hut rings, and relics are 

 to be expected near the border, not in the center. Where a village 

 was edged with deep ravines, refuse was thrown down the banks, 

 but sometimes a deep hole was found or formed and gradually filled. 

 These have rich deposits. 



