6 AMERICAN MUSEUM GUIDE LEAFLETS 



articles of Indian manufacture in their homes as curiosities. The other 

 portions of this case exhibit the clothing and weapons of the Iroquois. 



The first table section (2A) is devoted to an exhibition, as comprehensive 

 as possible, showing the life of the natives in prehistoric times by means of 

 specimens obtained from the ancient village and camp sites. Here may be 

 seen bones of the various animals, fish and shell-fish upon which the Indians 

 depended for subsistence; fragments of nuts, corn, roots and other food 

 products preserved by charring and obtained from ancient fireplaces, and 

 such implements as arrow points of antler and stone, net-sinkers of stone 

 and stone hoes for tilling the fields — all illustrative of primitive methods of 

 bunting and agriculture. Implements exhibited in the same case show the 

 preparation of animal and vegetable food with primitive utensils, while 

 close by are tools used by the Indians in preparing skins. The manufactures 

 of the Indians are illustrated in the immediately adjacent section (2B 

 A progressive series of implements shows the making of an arrow point from 

 a simple quartz pebble such as might be picked up anywhere on the shore, 

 with the various stages leading to the finished point; the tools employed are 

 also exhibited. Implements of stone for pecking, grooving and polishing; 

 hatchets and axes; pottery fragments, and household utensils, such as 

 hammers, axes, adzes and gouges, will be found at hand. 



In the other side of this table case (2B) there is an exhibit from Man- 

 hattan Island, made up of specimens principally collected by Mr. Alexander 

 ('. Chenoweth in the rock-shelters and village sites at Inwood, showing as 

 fully as possible the life of the prehistoric Manhattan Indians. The exhibit 

 illustrating, by means of models, the manufacture of pottery is especially 

 noteworthy. From the appearance of fragments now to be found on the 

 sites of the ancient Indian villages of this vicinity and the methods of modern 

 Indian pottery makers, we may safely conclude that most, if not all, of the 

 earthenware manufactured in this locality was made by the "coil" process, 

 which consisted of the following steps. The Indians first secured clay of a 

 suitable quality, which was mixed with pounded shell or stones to make it 

 tougher and more durable. It was then worked into long rolls, and the 

 Indian, beginning at the bottom, worked the pot up by adding coil after coil, 

 blending or smoothing the coils with a smooth stone until they did not show 

 from cither the interior or exterior surface. The potter's wheel was not 

 known to the aborigines in the olden days. When the pot was completed, 

 it was decorated by stamping or incising designs about the exterior of the rim. 



In the next table case (3A) are to lie seen implements and remains from 

 the shell heaps marking the long-forgotten Indian villages at Shinnecock 

 Hills. Long Island. This exhibit, which is one of the most complete of it- 

 kind, gives a rather adequate picture of the ancient life of these people 



