r 



284 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



small child, smoothly carved. It is from the Mohawk valley, and 

 in the Richmond collection. 



Fig. 171-73 are from drawings of three bone images in the state 

 museum, made by R. A. Grider, and much like Canadian examples. 

 All come from West Bloomfield, and are light brown in color. 

 Fig. 176 is the largest bone image yet found here. It was found in 

 a grave of an adult and a child, which contained bone beads and 

 some copper wire, and belongs to S. W. Morse of Willow Point 

 N". Y. The back is much weathered, and there are longitudinal 

 cracks. There is a prominent headdress, probably representing the 

 symbolic horns of an Indian chief. 



A finely carved head, terminating a piece of deer horn, comes 

 from an Indian site at East Aurora. It is of very recent character. 

 In the deep ashes of a fireplace in the Genesee valley, a beautifully 

 carved Chinese head of ivory was found, which must have come 

 there in the way of Indian trade. Prof. G. H. Perkins of Burling- 

 ton Yt. has a fine bone mask from the northern Vermont line 

 closely resembling some small stone masks of New York. All such 

 articles are of recent date. 



Bone combs 



The Indian use of bone combs seems not very old, and yet is 

 prehistoric in a sense. Most of those found are of the 17th cen- 

 tury, but some seem a few years earlier, suggesting a knowledge of 

 Europeans without direct contact. The early ones are very simple 

 in design, and with few but strong and large teeth. They are 

 almost entirely confined to Iroquois sites, or those classed with them. 

 Out of a large number a few forms are given here of both periods. 

 All those in Jefferson county, and a very few elsewhere, may be 

 called prehistoric. 



Fig. 186 is one of these early forms from Jefferson county. It 

 has scalloped edges and some elliptic perforations, and the four 

 large teeth are all broken. Fig. 187 is from a drawing furnished 

 by Mr Frey. The type is early, though from a recent Mohawk 

 grave. There are bu«t four teeth, and the upper part of the comb is 

 highly ornamented. The article is perfect and fine. Fig, 196 is 

 from an early Onondaga fort of the historic period, on lot 100, 

 Pompey. Three teeth remain, but another seems to have been 



