410 THE SENECA NATION 



seems coincident with the growth in power of the nation. Until 

 1635 or thereabouts, the Senecas had barely held their own 

 against their strong Iroquoian and Algonkin neighbors. On the 

 south and west they were harassed by their Iroquoian kin, the 

 Eries and Neuters, of which the Wenroes, who were the out- 

 posts of the Neuters, were driven back by the Senecas in 1639. 



The purchase of guns from European traders seems to have 

 changed the Senecas from a relatively weak people to a strong 

 offensive nation, and this is coincident with their movement 

 from the well hidden and well protected villages in the hill 

 country about the head of Hemlock and Canandaigua Lakes to 

 more open and more easily accessible situations nearer Lake 

 Ontario. 



Not all the sites mentioned were occupied by the Senecas 

 during the period from 1655 to 1687. It is probable that the 

 Victor site, the Kirkpatrick site, the three East Bloomfield sites 

 and the two Lima sites belong to this period, possibly also the 

 two West Bloomfield sites. Although these have been known 

 and recognized as Indian village sites for many years, little 

 systematic archeologic work has ever been done upon them, 

 and though collectors have taken from them an immense amount 

 of archeologic material, a relatively small amount has been pre- 

 served and made available for study. The State Museum at 

 Albany secured a large collection from the two West Bloomfield 

 sites, through purchase from a collector. In the Genesee Valley 

 Museum at Letchworth Park is a large collection from the same 

 sites, from the Dann farm and from the Kirkpatrick site, with a 

 few artifacts from Lima. The Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences 

 sjrstematically explored much of the village of Gandagora at 

 Victor and its cemetery, the cemetery of the village of Gandou- 

 garae, and that on the Beal farm, and a large collection from 

 these sites is on exhibition in its museum. Several smaller col- 

 lections are in the possession of local collectors. 



The following study of the archeology of the Senecas of this 

 period is based upon : 



(a) Field work on the sites at Victor (Gandagora), East 

 Bloomfield (Gandougarae) and Rochester Junction (Totiakto). 



(b) Visits to the site at Lima, the Dann farm and the sites 

 at West Bloomfield, at Naples and at Richmond Mills. 



