BUFFALO SOCIETY OF NATURAL SCIENCES 461 



From an aesthetic point of view, Seneca ornament reached 

 its climax in the carved bone combs which have been found on 

 all the later sites. In all these the craftmanship is excellent, 

 and in most the design, whether elaborate or simple, is well 

 chosen and well composed. So good is the design that it has 

 been doubted whether these combs are of Indian make, yet all 

 evidence seems to bear out the fact that they were made by 

 Indians, and in some cases by the identical persons that wore 

 them. There is no doubt that they were adapted from common 

 European hair combs, which are frequently found associated 

 with them. I know of no bone comb having been found on a 

 Stone Age Seneca site. But that the combs were made by the 

 Senecas in their own towns is certain. Mr. Hamlin took from a 

 grave on the Marsh farm an unfinished comb, which had cer- 

 tainly been buried with its maker. 



Although it is possible that the Senecas were led to apply 

 design to these combs through seeing ornamental European 

 combs, there can be no doubt that the designs themselves are 

 thoroughly Indian. Though rude in detail their composition is 

 well-planned but simple and their motifs are essentially aborig- 

 inal. The design is usually perforated through the thin bone 

 plate utilized, and is almost always confined to animal and 

 human derivatives. Some of the animals may be symbolic. 



Aboriginal bone combs have been found on the Dann farm, 

 from which come some remarkable specimens, now in the collec- 

 tion of Mr. Dann; from Victor (Gandogora); from the Beal farm; 

 from the Bunce cemetery; from the Marsh and DeEong farms 

 (Gandougarae); and from the Fox farm. Probably some come 

 from the Factory Hollow and the Warren sites. 



- Very similar ones are found on the Niagara Frontier. Three 

 fine ones came from Grand Island and another from Port Col- 

 borne. These are in the museum of the Buffalo Society of 

 Natural Sciences. 



The Senecas used stone very little for ornament. They 

 occasionally secured small specimens of catlinite which they 

 worked up into small pendants and beads. One catlinite pen- 

 dant in the possession of Mr. Frank Hopkins of Victor is carved 

 to represent a human face. Mica was rare, but a few pieces 

 have been found in a grave. 



They utilized both brass and iron as ornaments. They bought 

 from the traders strings of tiny brass beads, and several of these 



