The Saginaw Valley Collection 11 



Bed by the rivers, while in other places they are covered 

 with soil. From BUCh exposures e.moes COuld easily descend to 

 villages along the rivers, while to carry the material by trail to 

 inland settlements would have been laborious. The evident cs 

 from the numerous village sites and the burial-places, mounds 

 and other remains, indicate that the conditions of life in pre- 



>ric times were similar to those which existed when the 

 Indians were first met by white men. Fragments of pottery; 

 pebbles which have been burned and broken, probably while 

 used as supports for the round-bottomed pottery cooking- vessels; 



- and charcoal ; the broken bones and shells of animals; 

 arrow, knife, spear, scraper and drill points of chert; points 

 made oi bone for arrows or awls; celts or chisels; hammer-stones; 

 grooved axes; ornamental objects, etc. — all are to be seen in 

 this case. A number of such objects when found on the sur- 

 face of the ground at a particular place, especially if pottery is 



•nt, constitute the evidence which proves the spot to have 

 a village site. Charcoal and ashes alone are not conclusive 

 proof of a village site, since such remains may have been left by 

 white people of recent times. 



Par i hilar SITES. 



North Island Workshops.— At the western limit of Wild 

 North Island, on the northern side or highest part of 

 which chert implements were found in all stages of manufacture, 

 from the nodular masses occurring in the substratum of the entire 

 island to the finished chipped points for spears, arrows, knives 

 and similar objects. Here also were found chips, flakes and 

 other discarded fragments of the same material, — the waste from 

 the processes of manufacture,— indicating the site of an ancient 

 Itshop. Chipped implements of other material than chert 

 have not been obtained at this locality. 



Heisterman Island Village Site.— The highest portion of 



Heisterman Island is the northeastern side and there the sand 

 the marshes known as the Middle (irounds. 

 These marshes are frequented by fish, and wild fowl assemble 

 here in large numbers to feed on the wild rice. The rice done, 

 which does not border Other portions of the island, may have 



