308 THE INDIAN OCCUPANCY 



cemeteries have been found far from any site. When a village 

 burying ground occurs it is always in a soft sandy soil close by. 



Burials are of two types. Bodies were buried singly in graves, 

 or they were buried temporarily, or even kept above ground until 

 they were decomposed, after which the bones were gathered and 

 with the bones of others were buried in a great, common grave. 

 This common grave has been called a "bone-pit" or ossuary. 

 Several of these "ossuaries" are reported as having been found 

 on the Niagara Frontier. 



Of these two methods the burials attached to the village sites 

 are all of the first type, that is, all bodies exhumed had been buried 

 singly in individual graves. This does not prove that the villagers 

 did not bury their dead in "ossuaries". The individual graves 

 may have been only the temporary resting places of their dead, 

 while they awaited the time for the ' 'Feast of the dead' ' . In the 

 graves of the village at East Hamburg (No. 22 of the list) were 

 found axes, kettles and beads, showing conclusively that these, 

 at any rate, were the permanent resting places of their dead. In 

 the graves of the village on Buffum Street, Buffalo, practically 

 nothing was buried with the bodies, and, for a large village such 

 as it must have been, very few bodies were found. It is barely 

 possible that an ossuary at Clarence, may have been the common 

 grave of the dead from this and neighboring villages. 



Village Sites and Burial Places 

 of Erie County, N. Y. 



The sites marked with a star (*) were visited and verified in 1907 and 

 1908 by Dr. R. E. DeCeu and the writer. 



AIvDEN. 



Nothing reported. 



AMHERST. 



* Site No. 1. A small village site is on the property of Mr. L,ehn, 

 on L,ot No. 20, on the east side of. the Garrison Road where 

 it crosses EUicott Creek, on the south bank of the creek. 

 Flakes, points and pottery are found. 

 Reported by Peter Chalmers. 



