THE ARCHEOLOGICAL HISTORY OF NEW YORK 8l 



in a fire pit near Troy and associated with it on the site crude and 

 much weathered flints. In some sites of this general cultural horizon 

 will be found gouges, hemispheres of hematite, figurines, ornaments 

 of unusual shapes, and many other unfamiliar artifacts. 



It is evident that sites of this character are not Iroquoian, that 

 they are not of the clay pot using Algonkian tribes, and that there 

 is little distinctive in them resembling the mound-building people, 

 except for an occasional bird stone. A study leads to the con- 

 clusion that sites of this character were once occupied by a 

 people influenced by the Eskimo, if not actually by the Eskimo 

 themselves. Our investigation points out that the influence came 

 from the north, especially the northeast. 



It would be difficult to indicate any special center in this State 

 from which this culture radiated. The area showing traces of this 

 Eskimoan influence are: (i) the St Lawrence basin to Clayton; 

 (2) the east and south shore of Lake Ontario from Clayton to 

 Irondequoit Bay; (3) the Genesee valley; (4) the Finger Lakes 

 region, including the entire drainage basin; (5) the Champlain val- 

 ley; (6) the Hudson valley to Albany. Scattered relics are found 

 in Western New York and in the valleys of the Susquehanna and 

 Delaware with their tributaries. The culture thins out as it ranges 

 south, but it may be expected to appear in Vermont on the east and 

 even in Massachusetts. Not much may be expected in either Penn- 

 sylvania or Ohio. 



Many of these so-called Eskimoan sites appear to be of great 

 antiquity, while others seem closely to approach the period of the 

 middle Algonkian tribes. Indeed certain Algonkian sites that date 

 to the opening of the colonial period seem in some ways to have 

 been influenced by this northern culture. It is quite likely, therefore, 

 that the period of influence was a lengthy one. W^e may even be 

 permitted to ask several questions concerning the people who left 

 these evidences, these questions to constitute the problem set forth 

 for solution by students of archeology. First, we may ask were 

 the people characterized by this culture Eskimoan? Second, if they 

 were not of Eskimo stock, who were they? Were they Boethuck 

 or Algonkin? Third, did not some undetermined people copy cer- 

 tain features of Eskimoan culture? Fourth, were these people 

 exterminated, driven back to the north, or were they absorbed by 

 later comers to perpetuate some of their arts? 



It is possible that some time a painstaking student may discover 

 and open up a site that will answer some if not all of these inquiries. 



