THE ARCHEOLOGICAL HISTORY OF NEW YORK lOQ 



After nearly 20 years of experience in New York archeology it is 

 the opinion of the writer, based both upon his excavations and upon 

 a knowledge of Iroquoian customs, that articles of value were fre- 

 quently cast aside with the bones of animals eaten for food as a 

 sacrifice to the spirit of the slain forest-brother who gave of its 

 pelt and its meat that the man-animal might be clothed and fed. 

 Trinkets were also often sacrificed to plants and vegetables. During 

 the annual wild pigeon hunts of the Seneca, wampum beads, colored 

 feathers, brooches of silver and other trinkets were buried beneath 

 a little fire under the trees where the pigeons were killed. The arrow 

 points or spears that pierced and slew certain animals also were 

 never used again but thrust into the pits with their bones. We 

 believe that this is the first explanation of the abundance of useful 

 articles, apparently carelessly discarded, that has appeared to explain 

 their presence in New York refuse pits. Without doubt many 

 articles were also lost, or without intention swept out in the rubbish 

 of the lodges. 



Mr Dewey describes the dumps as follows : 



" Starting at the bridge across the ravine on the north side of the 

 site, then going south, the ash deposit excavated in September and 

 October 191 5 is found all the way around to the neck of the site. 

 The first slide of any importance is about 25 feet from the bridge. 

 It has an average width of 70 feet and extends up and down the 

 bank for 40 feet. From this point south for a distance of about 

 100 feet there is no evidence of any deposit. The banks here are 

 steep with no growth of shrubs or trees and any refuse thrown 

 over would have gone into the brook at the bottom and have been 

 washed away by high water. 



" The next deposit is a small one having a width of only 34 feet 

 and a length of 40 feet. Forty feet from this point begins the third 

 deposit. Conditions here would indicate a double slide. It had a 

 width of 50 feet but was intermixed with shale and overburden. The 

 deposit was very thin and contained few artifacts. Farther on by 

 50 feet to the south occurred the fourth slide or deposit. This was 

 by far the largest and was 105 feet wide. At this point the ashes 

 were deep in places though quite thin in others. Many artifacts 

 were found in this dump, including two fine bone fish hooks, numer- 

 ous awls and some very fine potsherds. A perfect effigy pipe of 

 stone was found in this place. The fifth dump was y6 feet farther 

 south where the bank is 50 feet high. The deposit had a width of 

 75 feet and was rich in bone material. 



