FIFTH REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR I908 227 



doors, the fire being built on a rude hearth of flat stones sunk 

 level with the ground. 



It seems probable from the evidence at my disposal 1 that similar 

 methods were once used by the New York Iroquois in making 

 pottery. As before mentioned the form of many Cherokee ves- 

 sels is quite like the style we know as Iroquois. Similar rims are 

 found in western and northern New York, as are potsherds show- 

 ing the overlapped method of coiling, while from the ash pits on 

 the early Mohawk site known as Garoga " in Fulton county, New 

 York I have unearthed with my own hands pottery bearing the 

 impress of the checkerwork paddle. 



But the ancient pottery of the Cherokee embraced forms still 

 more like the. Iroquois styles than are those of modern make, if 

 we can judge by the specimens found near the " Town House 

 Mound " at Yellow Hill on the Eastern Cherokee Reservation — 

 a mound which the Cherokee claim was made by their ancestors. 

 The pieces of rim and the single perfect vessel would not be con- 

 sidered intrusive or imported if found on an ancient Onondaga 

 site in Jefferson county, New York. They show not only the 

 spheroidal body, constricted mouth and projecting rim or collar, 

 but also exhibit a well developed neck of true Iroquois style which 

 is not clearly marked in the recent ware of the Cherokee. 



The carved paddle for decorating pottery seems to have become 

 obsolete among the Iroquois at an early date, for potsherds show- 

 ing its use are rarely if ever found on their later sites so far as 

 my knowledge goes. But such potsherds are not seen as a rule 

 on New York sites once occupied by Algonquin tribes, so it is 

 probable that here we have another link connecting the northern 

 Iroquois with the Cherokee. The blowgun, the nearly universal 

 possession of the southeastern tribes, seems also to have been 

 peculiar to the Iroquois in the north. Possibly such apparent trifles 

 may help us to trace the migrations of the Iroquois before they 

 reached the region of Lake Erie and the St Lawrence. 



It was perhaps fortunate that I was able to go to North Caro- 

 lina when I did, for Iwa Katalsta is old, and her health is failing, 

 while Jennie Arch can no longer make pottery worthy of the name. 

 The younger generation does not care, apparently, for pottery mak- 

 ing^ and the western Cherokees, from all I can learn, have aban- 

 doned the art. Hence it is probable that a few more years will 

 see the last of the Iroquoian potters. 



1 Iroquois Industries. 



