$6 



NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



thrown in. This refuse consisted of broken earthenware, bones 

 of animals, molluscan shells, discarded stone implements and other 

 materials of this character. Often by accident objects of interest 

 and value, such as entire flints, bone implements, trinkets, etc., 

 were swept into the fire pit. A new fire was built and the process 

 repeated till the pit was filled and abandoned. Such pits, there- 

 fore, are places in which the archeologist may find many things 

 of interest bearing on the life and arts of these ancient peoples. 

 In almost all the Erie Indian sites the bones found are as tough 

 and hard as when the flesh was stripped from them but in this 

 instance the bones had badly decayed and their condition is pre- 

 sumptive evidence of greater age and earlier occupancy than in the 

 neighboring sites. While the pottery taken from Burning spring 

 seems in many ways similar to other styles of Erie pottery both 

 in composition and design critical study and comparison may show 

 differences in many respects. The pipe pottery is very distinct 

 in form and design from any Erie pipe pottery from later sites 

 in which European articles are also found, the bowls are slender 

 and more capacious. The designs on the earthen pots are numer- 

 ous and display much ingenuity in ornamentation by means of 

 dots, single lines, parallel lines, oblique lines and dashes. Speci- 

 mens showing fabric marks are numerous; also those showing 

 imprints made by a cord-wound stick. Pottery tempered by mix- 

 ing with clay, pulverized flint, quartz, mica schist and shell sand 

 is among the specimens. 



The stone implements taken are numerous and varied but of 

 the usual types obtained from similar sites. These include hammer- 

 stones, anvils, grinding stones, mullers, matetes, pestles, celts, net 

 sinkers, scrappers, perferators, knives, spears, triangular and 

 notched points, blunt blades, rejects, broken points and chips, 

 in fact an extensive collection of various objects and the waste 

 and accidents incident to their manufacture. 



It is noteworthy that the flint articles found at this locality are 

 of a different type from those obtained in the site at the mouth 

 of the Cattaraugus creek and the material is also different, no 

 jasper or fine quality of flint being found, the rock used being 

 without exception the local flint and chert. It would seem, there- 

 fore, that these different types of implements were made by different 

 peoples. 



Three skeletons were found in pits on the eastern side of the 

 fort but these were so far decomposed that restoration or preser- 

 vation was impossible. Each grave pit contained a smaller in- 



