FIFTH REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR I908 



55 



Plattsburg. At Dresden, Washington co., a camp site was dis- 

 covered and excavated, about 150 specimens of pottery and flints 

 being - collected. 



In June investigations were made in Madison and Onondaga 

 counties. . Fifteen sites in the Pompey group were examined and 

 six near the Madison-Onondaga county line. All of the sites men- 

 tioned indicated that they had been dug into from time to time 

 during a period of more than 50 years and the specimens that were 

 found have been scattered. 



On June 22 work was commenced on the High Banks site a 

 mile and a half from Lake Erie on the Cattaraugus creek in the 

 Cattaraugus Reservation, Erie county. The High Banks site 1 is 

 an interesting one archeologically and several collectors have en- 

 deavored to lease it for excavation. It is situated on a natural 

 knoll perched upon the edge of the alluvial bluff that overlooks the 

 Cattaraugus valley. It is a spot well adapted for fortification or 

 refug~e. At the base of the bluff are copious springs. An old 

 trail runs down the steep bank to the flood plain of the creek but 

 at its lower end has been washed away by the stream. A swale 

 is yet visible along the bottom of the bluff and is plainly an old 

 arm of the stream now 2000 feet to the southwest. From the 

 top of the bluff human bones, pottery and old refuse material have 

 fallen out with each spring's landslide and the old inhabitants tell 

 of a large number of skeletons which rolled down the bank during 

 1 881 to 1885 when a rapid current from the creek ran through 

 the swale and undercut the bank. 



Excavation soon revealed that the knoll top was covered only by 

 a village soil layer, there being no burials. Postholes were dug 

 over an area of five acres about the knoll for burials but none 

 could be discovered. The top of the knoll was covered by five 

 large refuse heaps, presumably the kitchen refuse of as many 

 lodges. These refuse heaps and the ground about them were ex- 

 cavated with great care and more than 600 good specimens taken 

 therefrom. These artifacts are familiar types of pottery, bone and 

 antler implements and ornaments, polished stone objects, chipped 

 stones, cut brass, worked iron, shell articles, glass beads and frag- 

 ments of European pottery. There are also a number of articles 



' The High Banks site is situated on the farm of the late Ruth Stephen- 

 son. Ruth Stephenson was Red Jacket's stepdaughter and Red Jacket's 

 bones rested in her house for some time before their reinterment in For- 

 est Lawn, Buffalo. The Indians have several legends about the site and 

 still regard it with superstition. 



