434 THE SENECA NATION 



The eastern edge of the pit was divided horizontally by a 

 hard-packed stratum of clay mixed with ashes and charcoal, 

 which separated this end of the bone mass into two distinct 

 parts. The lower portion was thickest at the eastern side and 

 feathered out towards the western edge of the upper heap. The 

 bones in the lower portion under this stratum were very badly 

 decomposed. 



The entire mass of bones was covered by a bed of ashes 

 and charcoal about four inches thick, which in cross section of 

 the pit showed as an arch over the whole mass. 



The bones which made up the mass were in no order. Most 

 of the skulls were piled in a heap, sometimes three deep, at the 

 southwestern edge of the mass. A few more were scattered 

 throughout the heap. There seemed to be some arrangement 

 of some of the long bones into bnndles, though these bundles 

 were not always apparent, and were in no order relative to one 

 another. A few small heaps of the smaller bones were 

 included in the mass. In a few cases typical bundles of bones, 

 consisting of the long bones with the skull and pelvis at each 

 end were noted. 



Twenty-eight lower jaws were counted. This hardly 

 represents the entire number of individuals buried here, as some 

 jaws were badly broken and others were so much decomposed 

 as to be if not unrecognizable, at least uncountable. 



Many articles were found scattered throughout the bone 

 mass. Nearly every skull was accompanied by a few wampum 

 or glass beads, which usually lay under it. Some of these beads 

 were scattered singly. Some were originally upon a belt which 

 had been laid upon the bottom of the pit under the heap of 

 skulls. A small brass kettle, scraps of a large one, a bone comb, 

 shears, knives, a few iron bracelets, whetstones, and a button 

 were found scattered amongst the bones. A clay kettle, broken 

 into four parts, was taken from four different places in the heap 

 of skulls. 



In every detail this bone pit is precisely similar to one 

 which I had discovered and exhumed a month previously at 

 Orangeport, Niagara County, N. Y. , save that in the Orange- 

 port ossuary no articles of any kind accompanied the bones. 



