I20 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



as earthworks but simply as the bases for a stockaded wall. Tree 

 trunks from 15 to 20 feet high were trimmed off and placed from 6 

 inches to a foot in a shallow ditch in the top of the wall and the 

 earth was packed in about them. The tops were further secured b\ 

 being tied together with bark ropes and withes. There are good 

 liisloric descriptions of these palisaded inclosures. The area within 

 them ranges from one-eighth of an acre to more than 7 or 8 

 or even 16 and it is supposed that they contained fortified villages or 

 were places of refuge against both human and beast enemies. The}- 

 do not diff'er in any way from the stockaded inclosures of the prov- 

 ince of Ontario, in the Huron-Iroquois area. In some instances 

 they do not materially differ from the earth inclosures found 

 throughout Ohio. It may be said, however, that none of them are 

 so extensive in size as such w^orks as Fort Ancient, nor are the 

 embankments more than 3 or 4 feet high, except in rare instances. 



There are three general forms of the stockaded inclosure. the 

 first being the hilltop stronghold which was naturallv fortified on 

 all sides and the narrow neck that connected the out-jutting hill with 

 the general terrace of which it formed a part shut off with a pali- 

 saded wall. Deep ravines on either side brought natural protection 

 from the sudden onslaught of enemies and the places were rendered 

 further secure by having the neck protected by a stockaded wall and 

 perhaps an outer ditch. The ditch served two purposes. It afforded 

 the material out of which the wall was erected and it made it more 

 d'fficult for the enemy to climb the stockade or to set fire to its base. 

 Typical hilltop strongholds are those at Ellington, Chautauqua 

 countv, the Reed fort near Richmond Mills, Ontario county, the 

 fort near Portage in Wyoming county and the prehistoric Alohawk 

 site at Garoga. 



A second form of protected inclosure is irregular in form and 

 follows somewhat the natural line of the ground. It may or ma\' not 

 be upon a hilltop. Examples of this form are found on Indian hill 

 near Ellington, the stockade near Livonia, Livingston county, known 

 as the Tram site, and near Macomb, St Lawrence county* on the 

 farm of William Houghton, near Birch creek, and Fort hill, Auburn. 



A third form is in inclosure more or less circular in form with a 

 low wall and shallow outer (h'tch. Examples of these are such 

 inclosures as are found at Oakfield, Genesee county :' at Elbridge. 

 Onondaga county, where there is a circular inclosure covering about 



1 These inclose about to acres of land and were described by Squier. 

 figure 8. in his plate. 



