THE ARCHEOLOGICAL HISTORY OF NEW YORK 



533 



is shown by holes in several potsherds which had evidently been 

 drilled along both edges of a break for the purpose of lacing it 

 together, thus preserving the integrity of the vessel, a common 

 practice among the ancient Indians of the New York sea coast, but 

 rarer in the Iroquian region. Some of the jars associated with 

 infant skeletons were so very small that it is improbable that they 

 were used as anything but toys. One of the cups found was partly 

 filled with red paint — a circumstance which may give a hint as to 

 the use of the others. Sometimes two or even three vessels occurred 

 in one grave, as in pit 92 where three jars in a row were found with 



Fig. 35 Typical Iroqiioian vessel from (the Silverheels site. Period 

 1650-87. x^. 



the remains of two infants, or in pit 82, where a large jar and a small 

 one lay at either side of a little bone dust, once an infant's skeleton. 

 Pottery vessels and indeed almost all the objects of utility, when 

 buried with a body, were placed, as a rule, at the right side, if it 

 were laid out straight and m front, near the head, if it were folded. 



