REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR I915 53 



of white contact, up to the point where the Indian usage of native- 

 made tools and utensils has become entirely obsolete. 



The central New York section embraces articles from a series of 

 sites in the vicinity of Elmira, northward through the counties of 

 Oneida, Madison, Onondaga, Cayuga and Oswego, the northern 

 counties containing specimens largely selected from the Bigelow 

 collection acquired last year. The central New York collections 

 being from so many varied sites, are arranged mostly by the com- 

 parative method, that is, objects of similar character are placed 

 together in individual cases. 



In eastern New York the Hudson river and Mohawk region is 

 represented by a few articles from the Hudson river on both sides 

 from mouth to the source. Those from the tidewater region have 

 been acquired mostly through the kindness of Mr Alanson Skinner 

 of the American Museum of Natural History, who arranged for a 

 satisfactory exchange with the State Museum. The region about 

 Albany, Troy and the upper waters of the Hudson is represented 

 by specimens selected from the collections of Mr James Holden, 

 Mr Albert Hurd, Rev. O. C. Auringer and Prof. D. F. Thompson. 



The northern New York region is represented by materials from 

 the counties south of the St Lawrence along the state line and east- 

 ward from Jefferson county in a direct line to Take Champlain, 

 but not including the county of Warren. A number of exceptional 

 objects from Jefferson county, arranged by classes, have been 

 installed, including some three hundred pottery smoking pipes and 

 nearly fifteen hundred specimens of bone and antler. 



In order that the objects may be of educational interest to the 

 visitor to the Museum, not versed in the more technical side of 

 archeology, the specimens have been arranged in a synoptic exhibit 

 to show the methods by which implements were made and the 

 purposes for which they were employed. By careful experiments 

 the archeologist has worked out the aboriginal methods of pottery 

 manufacture and the character of implements employed in decora- 

 tion. By observation it has been possible to discover from among 

 the native implements found in various village sites, the tools and 

 with these tools the manufacture and methods of decoration have 

 been demonstrated. In the exhibit of flint chipping, the method 

 by which flints were worked into shape has been shown. All the 

 various tools that have been discovered on Indian sites are shov/n 

 and their purposes explained, and a series of glass arrowheads and 

 knives made with these tools, is shown. 



