THE ARCHEOLOGICAL HISTORY OF NEW YORK 



289 



site is the row of dots that encircles the pot where the belly meets 

 the neck. Cushing's theory that pots with square tops and line 

 decorations about the rim were modeled after bark baskets appears 

 strengthened by some of the forms which had not only decorated 

 square tops but had the stitching imitated by the dots around the 

 neck, as appears on the bark baskets to which Gushing referred. 



Pottery clay in masses, tempered and partly worked, was found 

 in a number of the ash pits. Some of these partially w^orked masses 

 of clay even yet show the imprints of the potter's fingers. One 

 fragment of a coil was foimd in an ash pit where it had become 

 hardened and preserved. Several crude partly formed pipe bowls 

 and pot bottoms were found, possibly the work of children. Most 

 of the pots have smooth surfaces although many were found marked 

 with a cord-wrapped paddle. Several smoothed paddlelike stones 

 were found in pits containing clay in masses, which are thought to be 

 potters' paddles used for working over the surfaces of pots. All 

 have rounded ends and at least one square side as if to form a l)lunt 

 scraping edge. The serrated rib illustrated by text figtu'e 43 may 

 liave been used to roughen the surfaces of partly formed vessels to 

 facilitate the process of shaping the w^all which w^as afterwards 

 smoothed. 



Fig. 43 Serrated ri 



No ent're pots were found with any trace of color decoration. 

 One sherd was found, however, which has two parallel bands of 

 brown running over a background of yellowish red. Whether this 

 is simply an accident or intentional is difficult 

 to determine, as the sherd is small. The 

 lower band is well defined and seems to be 

 inlaid into the pottery (figure 44). One 

 broken pot found in a grave had an ear like 

 some of the Ohio forms. These two pot- 

 sherds w^ere the only departures from the 

 usual Iroquoian forms found in the site and 

 suggest contact with other stocks. 



Of equal interest with the pottery vessels are the earthenware 

 pipes, all of which wxre found in graves. More than a dozen frag- 



Fig. 44 Sherd 



