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AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

THL INDIANS OF MANHATTAN

ISLAND AND VICINI Y

BY ALAN5ON 5KINNLR

GUIDL LAFL1 SLRILS No. 41

POPULAR PUBLICATIONS

OF THE
AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

HANDBOOKS

These deal with subjects illustrated by the collections rather than with the objects

themselves.

NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS OF THE PLAINS. By CLARK WISSLER, Ph.D.,
Curator of Anthropology. October, 1912, -145 pages, maps and illustrations.
Paper, 25 cents; doth 50 cents.

This gives an account of the Material Culture, Social Organization,
Religion, Ceremonies, Arts and Languages of the Plains Indians of North
America.

INDIANS OF THE SOUTHWEST. By PUNY EARLE GODDARD, Ph.D., Associate-
Curator, Department of Anthropology. March, 1913, 190 pages, maps and
many illustrations. Paper, 25 cents; cloth, 50 cents.

A resume of our present knowledge of these interesting Indians. Among
the subjects treated are the Spanish Conquest, Cliff Dwellings, Native-
Weaving, the Potter's Art and the Hopi Snake-dance.

ANIMALS OF THE PAST. A popular account of some of the Creatures of the
Ancient World. By FREDERIC A. LUCAS, Sc.D., Director of the Museum.
250 pages with 41 illustrations by Charles R. Knight and Joseph Gleeson. Paper
35 cents.

This, now revised as one of the series of Museum Handbooks, tells of
mammoth and mastodon, of the giants among birds, the sea lizards and the
huge dinosaurs.

ILLUSTRATED GUIDE LEAFLETS

These describe some exhibit, or series of exhibits, of special interest or
importance, or may deal with the contents of an entire hall.

SOME OF THE LEAFLETS

NORTH AMERICAN RUMINANTS. By J. A. ALLEN, Ph.D., Curator of Mam-
malogy and Ornithology. Revised edition, February, 1904. Price, 10 cents.

Describes the rapidly disappearing large game of North America, such
as the Bison, Elk and Mountain Sheep.

THE METEORITES IN THE FOYER OF THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF
NATURAL HISTORY. By EDMUND OTIS HOVEY, Ph.D., Curator, Depart-
ment of Geology and Invertebrate Palaeontology. December, 1907. Price,
10 cents.

Univ. Librar, > Univ. Calif., Santa Cruz

AMAHIKAN INDIAN CHIEF FROM THE HUDSON RIVER BELOW ALBANY

Note his war club, the shape of which is common in his region, the thunderbirds painted or tattooed
on his face and his belt embroidered with dyed deer's hair. His totem, the Tortoise, is at his feet.
This man and the three Mohawk Chiefs shown following formed a party which visited England in 1709.

From an engraving in the possession of the New York Historical Society.

INDIANS OF MANHATTAN ISLAND AND VICINITY.

By Alanson Skinner,

Department of Anthropology.

INTRODUCTION.

THERE is no subject which
makes a more forceful appeal
to the student, the historian,
or even the general reader, than that
of tne native inhabitants of what is
now Greater New York; yet there is
no subject upon which it is more
difficult to obtain information, for our
Colonial ancestors have left us but few
accounts of their observations, and
these are in tomes that are rare and
difficult of access.

The aborigines themselves have so
nearly passed into oblivion, that no
help can be obtained from their
scattered and degenerate remnants in
exile in the west, so that we must turn
to two sources for our knowledge;
the writings of the first white settlers,
already mentioned, and the archaeo-
logical remains, the imperishable
objects of stone, clay, bone and antler,
which the vanished red men have left
behind them on their ancient dwelling
places.

The writings of the Colonists tell us
that in appearance the Manhattans
and their neighbors were tall and well-
built, with black hair and eyes and
not unpleasing faces. Their dispo-
sition is noted as mild, except when
aroused, when they are said to have
been very greedy of vengeance.

The men shaved their heads, or
rather burned off their hair with hot
stones, leaving often a standing roach

of stiff black hair two or three inches
high and as many broad, running from
the forehead to the nape of the neck,
and the lock which hung from the
crown was generally allowed to grow
much longer. This was the famous
scalplock, which the warrior culti-
vated in defiance of the enemy, who
might take it if he could. Sometimes
they wore a roach of red dyed deer
hair, exactly similar to those worn by
the Sauk, Fox, Menomini, and other
tribes of the Central West today.
Our Indians did not wear the feather
war-bonnet so characteristic of the
Sioux and other tribes of the Great
Plains, and which is now always
placed upon the Indians in the con-
ventional drawings picturing the
sale of Manhattan Island.

The Manhattans and their neigh-
bors, unlike the Indians west and
north of them, wore no shirts or coats.
Instead, they covered the upper parts
of their bodies with robes made of
dressed deer leather, of wolf, wildcat,
or bear fur, or of the shimmering
feathers of the wild turkey, neatly
attached to a netted fabric. So closely
and carefully were these feathers
applied that they are said to have shed
the rain.

The men also wore loin cloths or
breechclouts of dressed leather, and
leggings and moccasins of the same
material. The moccasins of all the

i-y.M *

^J/ t. v,' ///./,-/,", • •• ' .

A MOHAWK CHIEF FROM THE MOHAWK VALLEY

Observe his tattooing and his belt embroidered with dyed deer's hair. His totem, the Bear, is
shown at his side.

From an engraving in the possession of the New York Historical Society.

INDIANS OF MANHATTAN ISLAND

Indian tribes east of the Mississippi
had one point in common, they were
soft-soled, but west of the Mississippi
region the tribes of the prairies used
hard flat soles of rawhide for their
shoes.

In addition to this costume the
warriors wore necklaces of dyed deer
hair, of native copper or shell beads,
or wampum ; and often they hung over
their chests pendants of stone or
gorgets, such as are still to be found
occasionally upon the sites of their
old camps. They also painted their
faces with various pigments, especially
red and black, which they obtained
from limonite and graphite fragments.
To this day one may find in the debris
of an abandoned Indian lodge bits of
these paint stones showing the striated
markings of the stone scrapers with
which the color was removed for use.
The Manhattans, being a part of the
Delaware tribe, an important group of
the Algonkin stock, probably followed
the ancient Delaware custom of tattoo-
ing their bodies, with designs represent-
ing their dreams and warlike exploits.

Old paintings of the Delaware show
us that they wore their knives, and
even their tobacco pipes and pouches,
suspended from their necks. The
reason for wearing their knives in this
position, old Indians of some of the
central western tribes declare, was so
that they could be more readily seized
at a moment's notice. Besides his
deerskin tobacco pouch, with its dyed
hair and porcupine quill embroidery
and leathern fringe, each warrior
carried a war club, carved of wood,
with a ball-shaped head set at right
angles from the handle, and a six foot
bow and quiver of flint, bone, or antler
tipped arrows.

The women were differently clothed
from the men. They often wore their
hair in a braid over which they drew a
"square cap," ornamented with wam-
pum. Presumably this hair dress was
similar to that used by the Winnebago
and Sauk and Fox women of the
middle west today, examples of which
may be found in the cases in the Wood-
land Hall under the various tribal
designations.

The women, like the men, were
naked to the waist, save for the robe,
which was shifted from side to side,
according from whence the coldest
wind blew. They wore, however, knee
leggings instead of the hip length style
of the warriors, and wrapped about
their waists a single square piece of
fringed leather, which was open at one
side exactly like a modern sheath skirt.
Sometimes these skirts were not made
of leather, but instead were of cloth
woven from Indian hemp, such as was
also used to make bags. The women
covered their gala costumes with
wampum beads, and quill or hair
embroidery, so that some of the old
chroniclers declare that a dress of this
sort was often worth "above 300
guilders." Of course the women, like
the men, protected their feet with
dainty soft-soled moccasins.

The houses or wigwams of the Man-
hattan and their neighbors were never
the conical shaped, leather covered,
painted tipis so often shown in illus-
trations. Lodges of that type were
only found in the Great Plains area,
and northward up the Mackenzie
River and thence eastward about
Hudson Bay and Labrador. The
Manhattan lodges were of bark, and
they and the other local tribes com-
monly built either square or semi-

A MOHAWK CHIEF FROM THE MOHAWK VALLEY.

His totem was the Wolf, which is shown beside him.

From an engraving in the possession of the New York Historical Society.

INDIANS OF MANHATTAN ISLAND

globular houses of poles arched over
and set in the ground, covered with
bark, mats made of rushes, with corn
husks, or sedge grass. Such houses
looked very much like wooden bowls
turned upside down. In the center of
each wigwam a hole was dug in the
earthen floor to hold the fire so that
the sparks might not fly up and ignite
the dry walls of the lodge.

In such fire holes, marking the sites
of abandoned Indian houses, archae-
ologists may still find fire-cracked
stones, wood ashes, the split bones of
deer and other animals broken open
to extract the marrow, oyster shells,
fragments of earthen kettles, stone
and bone implements, and all the dis-
carded debris of the household utensils
which were thrown away by their
extinct owners. Sometimes in such a
place whole articles are to be had,
hidden there perhaps during a sudden
attack, and never recovered by the
owner. There too, in winter, when the
frozen ground outside made digging
impossible, the bodies of the dead
were sometimes buried in the useful
fireplace, and the lodge either
destroyed, or set up elsewhere. In
proof of this skeletons have often been
found in these forgotten fireplaces.

The interior furnishing of a round
lodge was simple enough. A bench
ran all around the inside of the wall,
and on this the inhabitants sat and
slept. Poles swung horizontally from
the roof, supported strings of braided
corn, and baskets or bags of food, and
other paraphernalia. A hole was left
in the roof, directly over the hearth,
for the smoke to escape.

Another kind of house, and one that
was probably used most frequently
in the summer, was a square lodge,

made of poles and bark, with a pointed
or rounded roof in which a long slot
was left at the ridge for the escape of
smoke. Such a house was commonly
occupied by a number of related fam-
ilies, and corresponded in many ways,
with the long tenements of the Iroquois.
None of the houses, and few of the
villages of the local Indians were ever
defended by palisades or trenches.

We are told by the old writers, and
archaeological investigation confirms
them, that the household utensils of
the Indians were pottery vessels,
nearly always, curiously enough, made
with a pointed bottom, so that they
had to be propped up with stones when
in use, calabashes or gourds for water,
spoons of shell and wood, wooden bowls
laboriously made by burning and
scraping knots or burls of trees, and
bone awls and other tools.

The Indians derived their live-
lihood by farming a little, for they
raised corn, beans, pumpkins,
squashes, melons, and tobacco; but
mostly by fishing, oystering, and clam
gathering. They also were good
hunters, as the bones of various ani-
mals, so common on their old kitchen
refuse heaps, abundantly prove. How-
ever, from the vast heaps of oyster,
clam, mussel, and other marine shells,
that may be found scattered about the
old Indian camping grounds, it is obvious
that the sea furnished most of their food.

They caught fish in seines and gill
nets, by harpooning, and by shooting
with the bow and arrow; they killed
deer and other game with the bow and
arrow, often hunting in large com-
panies. This was, with the waging
of war, the duty of the men; the women
tended the fields and probably built
and owned the lodges.

A MOHAWK CHIEF FROM THE MOHAWK VALLEY.

Note the wampum belt. His totem, the Wolf, is shown beside him.
From an engraving in the possession of the New York Historical Society.

INDIANS OF MANHATTAN ISLAND

In their fishing, and for traveling by
water, our Indians used canoes some-
times made from heavy elm-bark, but
more often hollowed out of logs.
Roger Williams says of the Narrag-
ansett and their neighbors:

Obs: Mishoon, an Indian Boat, or Canow
made of a Pine or Oake, or Chestnut-tree:
I have seene a Native goe into the woods with
his hatchet carrying onely a Basket of Corne
with him, and stones to strike fire when he
had felled his tree (being a Chestnut) he made
him a little House or shed of the bark of it,
he puts fire and followes the burning of it
with fire, in the midst in many places: his
corne he boyles and hath the Brook by him
and sometimes angles for a little fish: but so
hee continues burning and hewing untill he
hath within ten or twelve dayes (lying there
at his work alone) finished, and (getting
hands), launched his boate with which after-
ward hee ventures out to fish in the Ocean.

Obs. Their owne reason hath taught
them, to pull off a Coat or two and set it up
on a small pole, with which they will saile
before a wind ten, or twenty mile &c.

******

Obs: It is wonderfull to see how they will
venture in those Canoes, and how (being oft
overset as I have myself e been with them)
they will swim a mile, yea two or more safe
to Land: I having been necessitated to passe
Waters diverse times: with them, it hath
pleased God to make them many times the
instruments of my preservation, and when
sometimes in great danger I have questioned
safety, they have said to me: Feare not, if
we be overset I will carry you safe to Land.'

"!" Collections of the Rhode Island Historical
Society, vol. 1, pp. 98-99, Providence, 1827.

The NEW YORK TIMES for July 16;
1906, writes:

Cherry Hill was the centre of an excited
crowd all day yesterday when the news got
about that some workmen had dug up an old
Indian canoe in an excavation at the corner
of Cherry and Oliver Streets.

Men, women, and boys and girls flocked
to the spot, and so blocked the streets that
the police of the Oak Street Station had to
be sent there to keep order.

The lower part of Oliver Street is made
ground, for in the old days the waters of the
East River used to wash above the Cherry
Street line.

Workmen from the New York Edison Com-
pany had made an excavation about eight
feet deep when they came to what seemed to
be a big log near the bottom. They dug
around this and disclosed to view what the
police and all others who viewed it said was
half of an Indian canoe. Then the workmen,
who don't take much interest in anything
pertaining to the American Indian, promptly
got an axe and chopped away until they got
out the timber in sight, leaving the other
half still buried in the mud.

In doing this they split the canoe into three
pieces, and, followed by an admiring crowd,
it was carried to the corner of Frankfort and
Pearl Streets, and deposited on a pile of dirt
under the Franklin Square elevated station,
where the night watchman could keep his
eye on it until to-day, when the workmen
expect to get the other half and piece the
canoe together.

It is supposed that the canoe was lying in
the mud a hundred years ago or more, when
the river front was filled in to make more land.

The part saved is about 7 feet long and 3 feet
wide, and 14 inches deep, and tapers to an
abrupt and rounded end, which is sharp,
somewhat like the Indian canoes of the West-
ern Indian. The whole was hewn from a
solid log of white pine about fourteen feet
long.

PART OF DUGOUT CANOE.

Found at Cherry St., New York. The only known fragment of a canoe used by the Indians of
Manhattan.

10

AMERICAN MUSEUM GUIDE LEAFLETS

The Indian children, shortly after
birth, were bound to a stiff board,
which served as a cradle, and there they
were kept until they were able to wralk
and run about. This served the double
purpose of making their backs straight
and also of keeping them out of
mischief.

The religion of the Manhattan and
their neighbors was a nature worship,
pure and simple. They believed that
there were deities who dwelt in the
four quarters of the compass, that the
sun and moon, the thunder and the
winds were various supernatural
beings. That these were all controlled
by a supreme god whom they called
' 'Kickeron," or ' 'Kickerom" was their
conviction. They thought that the
earth was populated by the descend-
ants of a woman who fell from the sky
and who would have been lost in the
sea, save that a gigantic tortoise which
afterwards became the earth, caught
her on his back. They were also in
fear of a terrible evil power, a horned
snake, to whom they made sacrifices
by burying objects in the ground in its
name.

The Manhattans and their neighbors
also believed in a future existence, plac-
ing their Elysian fields in the south-
western skies, where they believed the
souls of their dead journeyed. It was
for this reason that they placed food
and implements in their graves with
the bodies, so that the wandering soul
might lack nothing necessary to its
comfort on the trip.

The religion of the Indians was
marked by periodic ceremonies, one of
which has come down to the present
day among the modern remnants of
the Shinnecock of Long Island and the
Mohegan of Connecticut. This is the

"June Meeting," which was formerly
a ceremony held for the green corn.
The Delaware in Oklahoma and Canada
still perform a number of other annual
ceremonies.

The old writers tell us that each
Indian had some such name as ' 'Buck's
Horn," "Wildcat," or "Rattlesnake,"
and that when he died it was con-
sidered sacrilegious ever to mention
his name again. It is also knowrn
that polygamy was practised by the
local Indians.

So much for the ethnology of the
Manhattan and their neighbors. Let
us now turn to their archaeology as set
forth by the specimens on view in the
entrance of the Woodland Hall.

On entering the Eastern Wood-
land Indian Hall the visitor will find
that the first table sections are
devoted to an exhibition, as com-
prehensive 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 field, all
illustrative of primitive methods of
hunting 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.

A progressive series of implements

INWOOD ROCK-SHELTER. MANHATTAN.

FINCH'S ROCK HOUSE.

11

12

AMERICAN MUSEUM GUIDE LEAFLETS

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. Imple-
ments 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 upright cases there is an
exhibit from Manhattan Island, made
up of specimens principally collected
by Messrs. Alexander C. Chenoweth,
W. L. Calver, and R. P. Bolton, in the
rock-shelters and village sites at In-
wood, showing as fully as possible the
life of the prehistoric Manhattan
Indians.

In another table case are to be seen
implements and remains from the

methods of cutting bone and antler
employed by these Indians. Bone
was cut by notching or grooving it
with a stone knife or flake, and then
breaking it at the groove. Antler was
worked in the same way, but it is very
probable that the Indians boiled antler
in order to make it more pliable and
easily cut.

From the appearance of pottery
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

IK.

DIAGRAM OF A TYPICAL SHELL DEPOSIT.

shell-heaps marking a long-forgotten
Indian village at Shinnecock Hills,
Long Island. This exhibit, which is
one of the most complete of its kind,
gives a rather adequate picture of the
ancient life of these people and is
especially valuable for the number and
variety of primitive manufactures
shown. One of the most interesting of
the sections demonstrates, by means of
a series of specimens, the primitive

then worked into long rolls, and the
Indians, 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 either the interior or
exterior surface. When the pot was
completed, it was decorated by stamp-
ing or incising designs about the
exterior of the rim.

The upright case at the end contains

INDIANS OF MANHATTAN ISLAND

13

an exhibit from the remnants of the
Algonkin and Iroquois Indians of New
York State and New England, while
a map showing the location of most of
the Indian villages of Greater New
York and vicinity and an actual section
of a typical shell-heap, as well as
photographs and labels describing the
opening and excavation of the sites are
near at hand. Specimens typical of
those found in the shell-heap are also
exhibited.

Of all the traces left by the aborigines
along the New York seacoast, the most
abundant and familiar are the shell-
heaps. These are beds of refuse mark-

cultivation have generally made it level
with its surroundings (Fig. 3). Very
often, unless the land be plowed, no
shells whatever show on the surface,
and the only way of finding out the
conditions of things below the sod is
to test with a spade or a crowbar. If
shells are present, their crunching soon
gives notice of the fact. Sometimes
shell-heaps have been located by shells
thrown from animal burrows, or washed
out by the rain, or in banks broken
down by the surf. Some have been
found fronting on the open Sound,
but such cases are rare. These deposits
consist of large quantities of decayed

\\\\\\N\

Ye//ow Loam.

CROSS SECTION OF A SHELL PIT.

ing the sites of ancient villages, camps
and isolated wigwams. Wherever the
fresh water joins the salt; especially
where open water for fishing, and a
spring for drinking come together in
happy combination, there is generally
to be found some such evidence of
Indian occupation.

The typical "shell-heap" is not a
heap at all, for leaf mold, the wash
from neighboring high ground, and often

oyster, clam, and other marine shells
mixed with stained earth, with ashes,
charcoal, and fire-cracked stones to
mark the spots where ancient camp
fires blazed. Among the shells are
. usually scattered antlers of deer, bones
of animals, fishes, and birds, quantities
of pottery fragments, and broken
implements; in short, the imperishable
part of the camp refuse left by the
Indians. Now and then, perfect imple-

14

AMERICAN MUSEUM GUIDE LEAFLETS

ments and ornaments that had been
carelessly lost in the rubbish or hidden
for safe-keeping are discovered.

Shell-heaps vary from a few inches
to four feet in depth, and in area from
a few square yards to several acres —
all depending on the length of time the
settlement was occupied and the
number of dwellings comprising it.
Deep shell-heaps are often divided into

feet deep by three feet wide. It is sup-
posed that they were used as ovens or
steaming holes and afterwards filled
up with refuse. Some contain human
skeletons, which may have been inter-
red in them during the winter season
when grave digging was impossible.
These pits generally contain more of
interest than the ordinary shell-heap.
The closely packed regular masses of

MAP GIVING THE LOCATIONS OF SHELL DEPOSITS.
Those marked ~ have been explored by the Museum.

layers, the lowest of which are, of
course, the oldest. Under and near
most of these deposits may be found
scattered "pits" or fire holes, which
are bowl-shaped depressions in the
ground filled with layers of
stained earth, shells, and other refuse,
with an occasional layer of ashes.
Some pits are as large as ten feet wide
by six feet deep, but the average is four

shells form a covering which tends to
preserve bone implements, charred
corn, and such perishable articles from
decay in a way that the looser shells of
the general layers fail to do.

Shell-heaps, while abundant along
the seacoast, are seldom found inland,
except on salt creeks or other streams
having access to salt water. They
may be seen all along the east shore of

INDIANS OF MANHATTAN ISLAND

15

the Hudson River at more or less
frequent intervals as farupasPeekskill;
on Croton Point and between Nyack
and Hook Mountain on the west shore
they attain considerable size. There
are a few small deposits, however,
composed mainly of fresh water clams
(Unio) situated on fresh water lakes
in the interior of Westchester County.
There are many shell-heaps on Staten

cemeteries of the Indians hold much of
interest to the archaeologist.

Although most of the natives in the
vicinity of Greater New York did not
place objects in the graves with their
dead, some graves at Burial Ridge,
Tottenville, Staten Island, when
opened for the Museum in 1895, were
found to contain a great many interest-
ing and valuable remains. With the

••••••••1

INDIAN SKELETONS PIERCED BY ARROW POINTS, TOTTENVILLE, STATEN ISLAND.

Island . Shell-heaps occur or did occur on
Constable Hook, New Jersey, and at
intervals between there and J ersey City
along the western shore of New York
Bay. The accompanying map gives
the location of the important known
shell deposits in the vicinity of New
York City.

Besides the shell-heaps, the ancient

skeleton of a child there was a great
deposit of utensils, both finished and
unfinished ornaments, such as beads,
pendants, and the like, a stone pipe
and a number of other objects, while
not far away the skeletons of three
Indian warriors were exhumed, in and
among whose bones there were found,
as shown in the cases devoted to the

BONES PUNCTURED BY ARROW POINTS, FROM SKELETONS FOUND ON STATEN ISLAND.

16

17

archaeology of Staten Island, twenty-
three arrow points of stone, antler and
bone.

This is an exhibit which excellently
indicates the use of the bow in Indian
warfare. In the first skeleton, it was
found that two arrow points of antler
and one of bone had pierced the body
and lodged near the spinal column.
Another point of argillite had been
driven between two ribs, cutting a
notch in each. A bone arrow point had
struck the shoulder and was resting
against the scapula. Among the bones
of the right hand, an arrow point of
antler was discovered, and there was a
similar one near the left hand. Another
antler point was lying in the sand just
beneath the body and had, no doubt,
dropped from it when the flesh wasted
away. The most interesting wound of
all was one where an antler-tipped
arrow had ploughed through one side
of the body and fully one-third of the
point had passed through one of the
ribs, making a hole, in which it
remained. The second warrior was
also terribly injured. The left femur
showed an elongated puncture near the
lower end, probably made by an arrow
point. Among the ribs was the tip of
an antler point, and another of yellow
jasper was among the ribs on the
left side of the body. Three other
points were among the bones. The
third skeleton was likewise an example
of old-time bow play. There was an
antler point among the ribs on the left
side. The end of one of the fibulae was
shattered by a stone arrow-head, and
a second point had lodged between two
ribs. Beneath the sternum was a
flint point, and the right shoulder
blade showed a fracture near the end,
caused by a blow of some hand imple-

ment or an arrow. Near the base of
the skull, the end of an antler arrow-
head was discovered, broken perhaps
by its impact with the occiput. Two
bone points were near the lower bones
of the left leg. A second point was
found upon search among the left
ribs; under the vertebrae was the base
of another antler point, and two
broken points were found beneath the
body.

The positions in which several of the
points were found certainly speaks well
for the great force which propelled
them. The long bows of the local
Indians must indeed have been formid-
able weapons. Taking into consider-
ation the number of arrows which
must have been imbedded in the
bodies of the warriors, it is perhaps
probable that the majority of the pro-
jectiles were driven into the victims
at close range after death.

In a small square case will be found
the model of a rock-shelter and
typical objects found in such places.
These rock-shelters, as the name im-
plies, are protected spots in rocky
ledges, which Indians once made more
or less permanent places of abode.
Many such shelters exist in the vicinity
of New York, two or more having been
discovered at Inwood, Manhattan.
The most important rock-shelter so far
discovered is the so-called Finch Rock
House reproduced in a model. The
original is near Armonk, Westchester
County, New York. One point of
special interest is the fact that the
Finch shelter contained two layers
bearing relics separated by sand as
shown in the drawing. As no pottery
was found in the bottom layer, it has
been inferred that we have here the
remains of two different races of

18

AMERICAN MUSEUM GUIDE LEAFLETS

Indians, the older not yet advanced to
the pottery-making stage. This con-
clusion, is, however, far from final, for
the whole arrangement may be due to
accident.

In the table cases opposite those
devoted to the Algonkin some sections
are used to show the life history of the
Iroquois tribes of western New York,
and the following section shows, as

well as possible, the culture of the
Five Nations and objects used by the
Indians of New York State obtained
from European traders after the advent
of the settlers.

With the Iroquois exhibit is a special
exhibit showing typical wampum
beads, belts, and implements illustrat-
ing the prehistoric manufacture of
wampum on Long Island.

VERTICAL SECTION OF REFUSE IN FINCH'S ROCK HOUSE, ABOUT MIDWAY OF THE CAVE

TYPES OF INDIAN RELICS FOUND IN AND ABOUT NEW YORK CITY.

HAVING now taken a general
view of the exhibit, the vis-
itor may be interested in
a study of the several kinds of
relics found in this locality. As these
types are somewhat unlike those
found in near-by regions, we conclude
that the Indians formerly living here
had habits and customs different from
those of their neighbors. For want of
a better name, these long-extinct
tribes have been called collectively
the New York Coastal Algonkin. The
term Algonkin designates the language
they spoke, while the adjectives define
their habitat.

Under the designation New York
Coastal Algonkin, the writer includes
the tribes along the coast from Totten-

ville, Staten Island, the extreme sou-
thern point of the state, to the Connec-
ticut boundary on Long Island Sound,
including to a certain extent the shores
of New Jersey immediately adjacent
to Staten and Manhattan Islands, the
east bank of the Hudson River as far
north as Yonkers, and exclusive of
Long Island except the western end.
From the examination of the remains
of the New York Coastal Algonkin area
preserved in many collections, both
public and private, it becomes obvious
that the objects found may be roughly
divided into three groups: articles of
stone, articles of bone and antler, and
articles of clay, shell, and metal. The
first group is, from the imperishable
nature of its representatives, naturally

16 IT 18

y ,.

If Utr*

33

35 36 37

j ?,& 2.9

, 45 48

4 ••Hi**

58 59

TYPES OF ARROW POINTS.

19

20

AMERICAN MUSEUM GUIDE LEAFLETS

the largest and comprises a number of
sub-groups to be briefly described and
commented upon in this paper.
Examples of this type will be found in
the table cases previously mentioned.
For the following descriptions and
historical notes the author has largely
drawn on Mr. James K. Finch's and
his own contributions to Volume III
of the ' 'Anthropological Papers of the
American Museum of Natural His-
tory" (New York, 1909).

CHIPPED ARTICLES.

Arrow Points. Two general types
of arrow points may be recognized:
these are the stemmed or notched, and
the triangular forms. The former are
by far the most abundant, and while
these are usually made of the nearest
local rock possessing the necessary
conchoidal fracture, in some cases they
are of material brought from a long
distance. Specimens made of pink
flint resembling stone from the Flint
Ridge of Ohio, and of jasper found
to the south of this region have been
recorded. Blunt arrow points are
rare, the Indians probably preferring
wooden arrows for this type. Many of
the so-called "blunt points" found in
collections appear to be scrapers made
over from broken arrow points of a
large size.

The triangular type has long been
regarded by the local collectors of this
vicinity as being the type used in war,
the argument being that as it has no
stem, it was necessarily but loosely
fastened in its shaft and, if shot into
the body, would be very liable to be-
come detached and remain in the flesh
if any attempt were made to withdraw
it by tugging at the shaft. While it
was no doubt perfectly possible to

fasten a point of triangular shape to
the shaft as firmly as a notched point,
the discoveries of Mr. George H.
Pepper at Tottenville, Staten Island,
where twenty-three arrow points were
found in and among the bones of three
Indian skeletons, tend to strength this
theory. While the majority of points
found there were of bone or antler, all
those made of stone were of this type;
indeed, most of the bone points were
also triangular in shape. However,
it is well to bear in mind that arrow
points of triangular type were used for
every purpose by all the early Iroquois
tribes of New York.

Spear Points and Knives. None of
the early accounts of contemporary
European writers seem to mention the
use of spears (other than bone or antler-
headed harpoons) by the Indians here-
abouts, and it is probable that the
larger arrow-point like forms found
were used as knives or cutting tools.
They are usually notched or stemmed,
rarely triangular, and occasionally
round or oval. They vary in size, but
it must be remembered that one tool
may have had various uses, and that
drills, knives and scrapers may often
have been combined in one implement.

Scrapers. Scrapers were probably
used in dressing skins, in sharpening
bone implements, wood-working, and
for various other purposes. These are
usually mere flint flakes chipped to an
edge on one side. Nevertheless,
notched and stemmed forms requir-
ing some care in their making do occur.
Broken arrow points were occasionally
chipped down to serve this purpose.
A single serrated scraper has been
found. These are very rare in both
the Algonkian and Iroquoian areas of
New England and the Middle Atlantic

KNIVES AND SCRAPERS

21

22

AMERICAN MUSEUM GUIDE LEAFLETS

States. One very large stemmed
scraper, of a type more common in the
far west, also comes from this locality.
Drills. These are usually chipped
tools presenting an elongated narrow
blade and a considerably swollen or
expanded base, suitable for grasping
in the hand. In some cases the base
was absent and those were probably
hafted in wood. Specimens whose
blades have a square or rectangular
cross-section are very rare. The find-
ing of cores left in half-drilled objects
shows the use of a hollow drill, and it
has been suggested that a hard hollow
reed used with sand and water on a
soft stone would produce this effect.
To bear out this assertion, it has been
reported that a half-drilled implement
has been found outside this area on the
upper Hudson in which the remains of
the reed drill were found in the cavity
left by its action.

ROUGH STONE ARTICLES.

Hammerstones. These vary from
simple pebbles picked up and used in
the rough, showing merely a battered
edge or edges acquired by use, to the
pitted forms. They are generally mere
pebbles with a pit pecked on two
opposite sides, perhaps to aid in grasp-
ing with the thumb and forefinger.
Some have battered edges, but many
have not, suggesting, when round and
regular, a use as gaming or "Chunke"
stones, or as implements used only in
pounding some rather soft substance.
Hammerstones, pitted on one side only,
and others with many pits on all sides,
occur. These latter may have had some
special use, and are not to be con-
founded with the large flat, slab-like
stones having pits only on one side,
found in other regions, and perhaps

used as receptacles for holding nuts
while cracking them. While these are
common in the Iroquoian area, they
are unknown here.

Large stones, single or double-
pitted, resembling over-sized hammer-
stones occur. These may have been
used as anvils in chipping flint or for
like purposes.

Grooved clubs or mauls, also showing
use as hammers are found. These are
rare and are usually either rough
pebbles, grooved for hafting, as in the
case of the grooved axe, or grooved
axes, the blades of which have become
so battered, broken, and rounded by
wear as to preclude their further use
for chopping.

Net-sinkers. On all sites near the
water, either salt or fresh, net-sinkers
show the prevalence of fishing. These
are of two types. In one case a pebble
is notched on opposite sides of either
the long or broad axis; in the other, a
groove is pecked around the entire
pebble in the same manner. The latter
type is comparatively scarce, as the
former, being more easily and quickly
made, was just as useful to the savage.
The modern Cree and Ojibway, resid-
ing in the forests north of the Great
Lakes, still use pebbles for this purpose,
but those observed by the writer wrere
not notched or worked in any way.
Occasionally, sinkers notched on both
axes are found in this region.

Hoes. These are usually ovoid
implements, chipped from trap rock,
sometimes notched to facilitate haft-
ing, and sometimes not. They usually
show a slight polish on the blade,
caused by friction with the ground.
This type of stone hoe is the form
mentioned by early writers; but per-
haps hoes of shell, bone, or tortoise

ZC!

jff ^

33

DRILLS, SCRAPERS AND OTHER OBJECTS.

24

AMERICAN MUSEUM GUIDE LEAFLETS

shell, and wood were used also. None
of these, however, are still in existence.

Hand Choppers. Pebbles chipped to
an edge on one side, for use as hand
choppers, occur. These are occasionally
pitted on both sides.

Grooved Axes. For the purposes of
this paper, the writer, while aware that
many grooved axes are well made and
polished, has decided to include them
under the head of "Rough Stone
Articles," as by far the greater majority
of the grooved axes and celts from this
region lack the polish and finish belong-
ing to other articles later to be described.
Grooved axes are of two sorts: a, those
made of simple pebbles, merely modi-
fied by grooving and chipping or peck-
ing an edge; and b, axes which have
been pecked and worked all over and
sometimes polished. The latter (6) may
be said to include :

1. Groove encircling three sides of
blade, one side flat.

2. Ridged groove encircling three
sides of blade, one side flat.

3. Groove encircling three sides of
blade, longitudinal groove on flat side.

4. Groove encircling three sides of
blade, longitudinal groove on flat side
and opposite.

5. Groove encircling blade.

6. Ridged groove encircling blade.
A seventh type, having a double

groove encircling the blade, may occur
in this territory, but has never been
reported. A specimen from the Hudson
River region, just north of the area
here dwelt upon, is in the Henry Booth
Collection in this Museum. While most
worked stone axes have been pecked
into shape, a few have been fashioned
by chipping, but these seem to be rare.
Grooved axes were hafted in various
ways. During the summer of 1908,

the Eastern Cree living in the vicinity
of the southern end of Hudson Bay
told the writer that their ancestors,
who made and used such axes, hafted
them by splitting a stick and setting
the blade in it, then binding the handle
together with deerskin (probably raw-
hide) above and below the split. No
specimens of the grooved axe in the
original haft seem now to be extant
from any locality in the East. From
the battered appearance of the butts
of these axes, it may have been that
they were sometimes used in lieu of
mauls or hammers. It is possible that
they may have been used in war. It
is generally supposed that in cutting
down trees, making dug-out canoes and
other kinds of wood-working, fire was
used as an adjunct to the stone axe,
the former being the active agent . The
process of burning and charring having
gone on sufficiently, the stone axe was
used to remove the burned portion.
However, some stone axes seem sharp
enough to cut quite well without the
aid of fire.

Celts. Ungrooved axes or hatchets,
usually called celts, are frequent
throughout this area; but are nowhere
as abundant as the grooved axe,
especially near the southern border of
the region. The grooved axe seems to
have been the typical cutting and chop-
ping tool of the local Algonkin. The
widespread idea that the celt was some-
times used unhafted as a skinning tool,
has no historic proof, but may possibly
have some foundation. The Cree of the
southern Hudson Bay region use an
edged tool of bone for this purpose, a
fact which is somewhat suggestive,
although the implement differs in shape
from the celt. Celts with one side flat
and the other beveled to an edge may

TYPES OF STONE AXES AND CELTS.

25

26

AMERICAN MUSEUM GUIDE LEAFLETS

have been used as adzes. From the
worn and hammered appearance of the
polls of some celts, it is possible that
many of these implements were used
as wedges in splitting wood, after
constant manipulation in their chop-
ping capacity had permanently dulled
their edges.

The celts of this region are, as a
general thing, poorly made, a pebble of
suitable shape having an edge ground

broader than the butt, although some
exceptions have been found. The
forms are as follows: a, rough stone
celts, pebbles with one end ground to
an edge, but otherwise scarcely worked ;
and b, worked stone celts, which
include the following:

1. Wedge-shaped, poll narrower
than bit, and angles rounded.
Common.

2. Like number one, but with bit

HAFTED CELT FROM A POND AT THORNDALE, DUTCHESS CO., N. Y.

Length of celt 16.6 cm.

on it with little or no preliminary shap-
ing. More rarely, however, they were
carefully worked all over by pecking
and polishing, as in the case of the
grooved axe.

In type, aside from the general
division of rough and worked celts, we
may add that most celts in this region
have slightly rounded polls, the bit

much broader than poll. Cross-
section oval. Very rare.

3. Like number one, but one side
flat, other beveled at one end to
make a cutting edge.

4. Like number two, but with cut-
ting edge flaring, broader than
body. "Bell-mouthed type."
Very rare.

INDIANS OF MANHATTAN ISLAND

27

North and west of this region, we
find the Iroquois territory where most
worked celts are angular, having almost
invariably a rectangular cross-section
and squared butt. Types 1 and 3 also
occur, but the celt with the rectangular
cross-section seems most typical of the
Iroquoian region. Many small celts,
made of flat fragments or chips of
stone, are also found in this area, and
these could scarcely have had a use as
chopping tools.

In the Niagara watershed and
extending eastward as far as the
Genesee Valley, an angular adze-like
form having a trapezoidal cross-section
occurs. It is found principally in what
was the territory of the Attiwrandaronk,
Kah-Kwah, or Neutral Nation (an
Iroquoian tribe, early annihilated by the
Five Nations). It also occurs, as has
been stated, on the sites of villages of
the Iroquois proper, but is not abund-
ant. South of the Iroquois in Central
Pennsylvania, another form which does
not occur in this region is the chipped
celt, usually of flint or other hard stone.
This form is, however, frequent in the
country about the headwaters of the
Delaware.

In the "American Anthropologist,"
Vol. 9, No. 2, p. 296 et seq., Mr. C. C.
Willoughby has figured and described
the celts of the New England region
with remarks on the methods of hafting
employed. These seem to be two in
number, and consist, in the case of the
larger forms, of setting the blade
through a hole in the end of a club-like
handle, the butt or poll projecting on
one side and the blade on the other as
in one which was found in the muck of a
pond bottom at Thorndale, Dutchess
County, New York, a region once in
the Mahican territory. Smaller celts

were set into a club-like handle, the
butt resting in a hole or socket.

Adzes. These seem to be of two
kinds, the first and most simple being
celt-like, but flat on one side, the other
side being beveled to an edge on one
side. The second form differs in hav-
ing a groove, which is not infrequently
ridged. Occasionally, adzes with two
parallel grooves occur. They were
probably hafted by taking a stick at
one end of which projected a short arm
at right angles with the shaft, laying
the flat side of the blade against this
arm and binding it on with sinew,
thongs, or withes. The groove, of
course, was of aid in securing the blade
to the handle. Adzes of stone, hafted
in this manner, have been obtained on
the North Pacific Coast. The celt
adze seems not uncommon, but the
grooved adze is rare, neither form
being nearly so abundant as in the New
England region.

Gouges. The stone gouge is rare,
and seems always to be a plain, single-
bladed affair without the transverse
grooves so frequently seen in New
England specimens, and hereabouts is
always easily distinguished from the
adze. Less than half a dozen specimens
have been seen by the writer from this
entire area, although probably quite
as much work in wood was done by the
New York Coastal Algonkin as by the
New England Indians.

Pestles. The long pestle occurs
throughout the region of the Coastal
Algonkin of New York, but is nowhere
as abundant as in New England.
They seem always to have been used
with the wooden block mortar here-
abouts, and are mentioned by the early
writers as part of the household equip-
ment of the natives. They do not seem

28

AMERICAN MUSEUM GUIDE LEAFLETS

to have been used by the Iroquois to
the north and west of this area either
in early or later times. The wooden
pestle of dumb-bell shape seems to
have been preferred by them. The
latter is used by the Canadian Dela-
ware and may have taken the place of
the long stone pestle to a great extent
in this region.

Mutters, Grinders, and Polishing
Stones. These are frequent, and consist
merely of rounded pebbles, shaped and
worn by use, probably most often in
crushing corn. They are mentioned by
De Vries as being used by the Indians
with a flat stone slab for grinding corn
when traveling. Some seem to have
been used for polishing stone imple-
ments, but it seems hard to draw the
line, as the appearance gained from
friction would be quite similar. Such
mullers and their attendant slabs,
used for preparing corn meal have
within a few years been collected in
use among the Oneida Iroquois of New
York, one specimen being in the Ameri-
can Museum collection.

Sinew Stones. These are pebbles
showing grooves along the edges,
popularly supposed to have been worn
there by rubbing thongs and sinews
across the edges to shape them. They
occur generally, but are not common.

Stone Mortars. These are common,
but rather local, some sites having none
at all, and others a good many. One
locality on Staten Island is notable for
the numbers found there, whereas they
are rare elsewhere in that vicinity.
They may be divided into the following
types:

1 . Portable mortar, hole on one
side.

2. Portable mortar, hole on both
sides (New Jersey type).

3. Portable slab mortar or metate,
used on one or both sides.

4. Boulder mortar, one or more
holes, immovable.

The first two types are the most
abundant, the third is not uncommon,
but the fourth is very rare, only one or
two being reported. As above stated,
De Vries claims that the portable
mortars were used in bread-making
while the Indians were traveling, but
certainly the majority of those found
are far too heavy for this purpose.

Pigments and Paint Cups. Frag-
ments of pigments such as graphite
and limonite, showing the marks of
scratching with scrapers, are found,
which have apparently supplied the
material for painting. Worked geodes
are common on many sites. These
show traces of chipping in some in-
stances and may have been paint cups.
There is a tiny pestle-shaped pebble in
the Museum collection from West-
chester County, which is said to have
been found with a geode of this type.
The popular theory is that such geodes
were used as "paint cups" and this
seems probable.

Stone Plummets. These are very
rare, in contrast to their abundance in
the New England region. They consist
usually of small worked egg-shaped
stones, grooved at one end, probably
for suspension. The writer has seen
but one from this area. Their use is
problematic.

Semilunar Knives. Knives of rubbed
slate, similar in appearance to the ulu,
or woman's knife of the Eskimo, are
found, though rarely, in this region.
While sometimes ascribed to Eskimo
influence or contact, it is possible that
this form (which occurs throughout New
England), judging by its distribution,

BANNER STONES, GORGETS, AND AMULETS.

29

30

AMERICAN MUSEUM GUIDE LEAFLETS

may have been native to the Eastern
Algonkin also. The Eastern Cree still
use knives of this type as scrapers.
Like most other forms common in New
England, it is less abundant in the
southern part of this area.

Stone Beads. Various pebbles gen-
erally perforated naturally are to be
found on some sites, and may or may
not have been used as beads or pend-
ants. On Staten Island, at Watchogue,
Mr. Isaiah Merrill once owned a
number of square beads of pinkish
steatite (?), all but one of which have
been lost, and which he claims were
found on his farm.

Gorgets. Two types of the gorget
occur. These are the single-holed
pendant form, which is the less abund-
ant of the two, and the double-holed
type. The latter is flat, rectangular in
shape, and generally well polished. It
usually has two perforations a short
distance from the middle. The modern
Lenape of Canada claim to have used
these as hair ornaments. Probably the
two-holed variety is typical of the
Algonkian peoples of this region, the
single-holed form, on the other hand,
is the most abundant on old Iroquoian
sites. Specimens of the latter have been
obtained in use among the Canadian
Iroquois, and some of them are in the
Museum collections.

Amulets. Certain problematic ar-
ticles of the "bar" and even "bird
amulet" type have been found, but
these are probably exotic in origin and
are not characteristic of the archae-
ology of the region in question.

Banner Stones. These beautiful pol-
ished stone implements of unknown use
may be divided into three great classes,
with several sub-types as follows :

1. Notched banner stones.

2. Grooved banner stones.

a. Groove on both sides.

b. Groove on one side.

3. Perforated banner stones.

a. Plain.

b. Butterfly.

All three types seem equally abund-
ant, but the notched banner stones
appear to be the oldest form and occur
under circumstances pointing to great
relative antiquity. They are found,
however, on the more recent sites as
well. Both the notched and the grooved
banner stones are usually more rough
in appearance than the perforated
type, and the writer has never seen a
polished specimen of the first class. On
the other hand, the grooved variety
frequently exhibits the high degree of
finish characteristic of the perforated
forms. Banner stones grooved only on
one side are less common than the
other forms. While the latter class is
generally made of slate, steatite, or
some similar soft and easily worked
material, the notched and grooved
forms, especially the former, are often
formed either from naturally-shaped
pebbles or chipped roughly into shape.
Implements, usually naturally-shaped
stones with little working, without
notches, grooves or perforations, but
greatly resembling the notched and
grooved banner stones in shape, are not
infrequently found on aboriginal sites
hereabouts and may have served as
banner stones. There seem to be
neither records nor plausible theories
as to their use.

Pipes. Stone pipes, invariably
made of steatite, are very rare. Four
types have been noted as follows:-

1. Monitor or platform pipe, plat-
form not projecting before the
bowl.

31

2. Monitor or platform pipe, plat-
form projecting before bowl,
with or without tiny carved
stem or mouthpiece. Of the
latter, one specimen is known.

3. Trumpet -shaped stone pipe.

4. Rectangular stone pipe, human
face carved on front of bowl.

It may be remarked that more stone
pipes have been reported from the Indian
cemetery at Burial Ridge, Tottenville,
Staten Island, than from all the rest of
the area put together. The second
and third types are represented by one
specimen each from Burial Ridge and
from nowhere else in this region. Four
or five pipes of the first class have been
found there as well. The last class is
represented by a single specimen ob-
tained by Mr. W. L. Calver at Inwood,
Manhattan Island. Undoubtedly the
clay pipe was the most common form
used in this locality.

Steatite Vessels. These are not at
all abundant, though occurring almost
everywhere. They were doubtless all
imported from New England, as there
are no steatite quarries within the range
of the New York Coastal Algonkin.
The single form found is that common
in the east, an oblong, fairly deep vessel
with a lug, ear, or handle at each end.
Occasionally, such vessels are orna-
mented by rude incisions along the rim.

ARTICLES OF CLAY.

Pottery Pipes are common every-
where. They are usually manufac-
tured of a better quality of clay than
that used for vessels, and bear fairly
similar designs. They are susceptible
of division into the following classes:

1. Straight pipe, bowl expanding
slightly.

2. Bowl much larger than stem,

leaving it at an angle of forty-
five degrees. Stem round.

3. Same as number 2, but stem
angular and much flattened.

4. Effigy pipes, (represented by a
pottery human head apparently
broken from a pipe bowl,
obtained by Mr. M. R. Harr-
ington at Port Washington,
Long Island).

The straight pipe seems to have
been obtained only on Staten Island
on the north shore in the region occu-
pied by the Hackensack. While no-
where as abundant as upon the Iro-
quoian sites of central and western
New York, the clay pipe is rather
common and is a prominent feature
in the coast culture of New York.
It is more abundant perhaps in the
southern part of the area, but this
may well be due to the fact that data
from this region are more easily
accessible. The triangular-stemmed
"trumpet" pipe so common on the
Iroquoian sites is unknown in this
region.

POTTERY VESSELS.

The pottery of this region may all
be considered as being either the
native Algonkian in type or showing
Iroquoian influence with a third and
intermediate variety. Algonkian ves-
sels may be divided into the following
groups according to shape:

1. Conical, pointed bottom, slight-
ly swollen sides, circumference
largest at the mouth, — the
typical Algonkian pot of this
area, Fig. a.

2. Like number 1, but much
rounder and broader, Fig. b.

3. Bottom pointed, sides slightly

32

AMERICAN MUSEUM GUIDE LEAFLETS

swollen, neck slightly constric-
ted, Fig. c.

4. Identical with number 2, except
that just below the beginning
of the neck, occur small raised
lugs, ears or handles. This is
rare from this area, Fig. d.

5. Rounded bottom, somewhat

constricted neck, lip sometimes
flaring, or even turning down
and back, Fig. e.

The intermediate types are as
follows :

6. Rounded bottom, constricted
neck, narrow raised rim or
collar, Fig. f.

7. Like number 6, but with sides
more elongated and bottom
more oval than round, heavier
collar, generally notched angle,
with or without a series of small
humps or projections at inter-
vals. Fig. g.

The Iroquoian types are as follows:

8. Mouth rounded, collar or rim

heavy, with humps or peaks at
intervals, angle notched, neck
constricted and bottom round-
ed; can stand by itself, an
unknown feature in local Al-
gonkian vessels, Fig. h.

9. Same as number 7, but with
mouth square, and humps at
every angle. Much less com-
mon than the preceding, Fig. i.

In size, the vessels range from small
toy-like pots to jars of very large capa-
city. In general they appear to have
been made by the coil process, and are
tempered with pounded stone or fine
gravel, mica or burned or pounded
shell. Sherds showing tempering by
fiber or some other substance that dis-
appeared in firing are found rarely.
When vessels were cracked or broken,

a series of holes was bored opposite
each other on either side of the break
and the parts laced together, render-
ing the vessel capable of storing dry
objects, at least.

Life forms are exceedingly rare in
local ceramic art. From Manhattan
Island and Van Cortlandt Park, there
come a number of specimens showing
incised human (?) faces. This is not
an uncommon form on Iroquoian sites
in Central and Western New York.
On the Bowman's Brook site at Mar-
iner's Harbor, Staten Island, frag-
ments of a typically Algonkian pot
were obtained which bore at inter-
vals, rude raised faces. With the
sole exception of a rather wTell-modeled
clay face, apparently broken from the
bowl of a pipe found at Port Wash-
ington, Long Island, by Mr. M. R.
Harrington, this brief statement con-
cludes the list of pottery life forms
reported from this area, although others
may yet be found here, since some inter-
esting objects have been collected in
immediately adjacent territory.

The forms of decoration consist of
stamping with a stamp, roulette, or
paddle, and incising. Occasionally,
but very rarely, stucco work occurs.
Under stamping we can enumerate the
following processes :-

1. Impression with the rounded
end of a stick (rare).

2. Impression with the end of a
quill, or hollow reed, leaving a
circular depression with a tiny
lump or nipple (rare) in the
center.

3. Impression with a section of a
hollow reed, making a stamped
circle (rare).

4. Impression with finger nail

(doubtful, but perhaps used on

INDIANS OF MANHATTAN ISLAND

33

5.

6.

7.

some sherds from Manhattan

Island) .

Impression of the edge of a

scallop shell.

Impression with a carved bone,

antler, or wooden stamp.

Impression of a cord-wrapped

stick.

Impression with roulette.

finish the sides and bottom of the pot

by imparting an appearance of pressure

with fabric when the clay was wet.

11. Stucco. Occasionally, ridges

of clay placed on the rim for

ornament appear to have been

added after the shaping of the

vessel.

Ornamentation is usually external,

POTTERY FORMS OF THE COASTAL ALGONKIN.

Under of the head of decoration by
incision we can enumerate the follow-
ing :-

9. Incised decoration, probably
made writh a stick.

10. Incised decoration, possibly
made with a flint object (only
one specimen at hand).

The paddle was frequently used to

and vessels, either Algonkian or Iro-
quoian, are rarely ornamented below
the rim, although occasionally the
designs run part way down the side
in the case of the Algonkian forms.
Where decoration has been applied by
one of the stamping processes, and
more rarely by incision, it is sometimes
continued over the lip or rim for an

34

AMERICAN MUSEUM GUIDE LEAFLETS

inch or less on the inside. This only
occurs in the typical Algonkian forms,
and is never seen when incised orna-
mentation is used. The rims of Iro-
quoian vessels are never ornamented
on the interior, nor is stamping so fre-
quently practised on vessels of this
class. The intermediate forms, at
least the first of the two mentioned, are
frequently ornamented on the inter-
ior of the lip. This internal decoration
is much more common in the southern

patterns are the most common, but
other angular forms occur, and rows
of parallel lines encircling the vessel
are sometimes to be found. Stamping
and incision as decorative processes
never seem to occur on the same vessel.
Curvilinear decoration is exceedingly
rare, and not enough material is at
hand to show that patterns were used,
possibly these were scrolls of some
form. On account of the lack of mate-
rial, it cannot be determined whether the

TYPICAL ALGONKIAN POTTERY PIPE AND FRAGMENT OF AN EFFIGY PIPE FROM PORT WASHINGTON, L I.

portion of this area than elsewhere in
the vicinity.

In design, we must of course, give
up all thought of trying to obtain sym-
bolism, if such there were, for there are
are no sources now left upon which to
base our assumptions. Certain con-
ventional types of decoration seem to
have been in vogue, usually consisting
in rows of stamped or incised parallel
lines^and much more rarely of dots
regularly arranged in the same manner.
Zigzag, chevron, and "herring bone"

designs on the Algonkian vessels differ
from those on the Iroquoian, except in
a very general and unsatisfactory way.
The angle formed where the heavy
rim or collar leaves the constricted
neck of the Iroquoian vessel is almost
invariably notched, and as such collars
and angles do not occur on vessels of
the true Algonkian type, this feature
is necessarily absent from them. It
is noticeable that Iroquoian vessels
are usually decorated with incised
designs, rather than stamped patterns.

€>€>€>

INCISED DESIGNS FROM ALGONKIAN VESSELS.

INDIANS OF MANHATTAN ISLAND

35

INCISED DESIGNS FROM POTTERY VESSELS.

a, b, and d, designs from Iroquoian vessels; c and e, design from an Algonkian vessel; /, design from a
vessel of the Iroquoian type from a Connecticut rock-shelter, introduced here for comparison.

36

AMERICAN MUSEUM GUIDE LEAFLETS

Pottery is found abundantly on the
majority of the sites in this district;
but, while very much more common
than in the New England area, it does
not equal in abundance that from the
Iroquois country. It is rarely found
buried in graves with skeletons as in
the Iroquoian area; when sometimes
found in graves, however, it is usually
at some distance from the human re-
mains and apparently not connected
with them. Whole or nearly whole
vessels are exceedingly rare and the
number of those found up to date
may easily be counted upon the fingers.
Potsherds taken from pits or shell-
heaps, where they have not been ex-
posed to the action of the weather,
are often as thickly covered with grease
as when they were broken and cast
aside.

ARTICLES or METAL.

Beads. Beads of native metal, con-
sisting simply of pieces of hammered
sheet copper rolled into small tubes,
have been found, but they are very
rare. Copper salts, but no objects,
were found upon the bones, especially
on those of the head and neck of a
child 's skeleton at Burial Ridge, Tot-
tenville, Staten Island, which seemed
to predicate the use of copper beads.
A great many beads of olivella shell,
some of them discolored by copper
salts, were found about the neck of the
skeleton. A single celt of copper is
said to have been found in Westchester
County, probably on Croton Neck,
slightly above the limit of the territory
treated in this paper. ' A large number

1 Native copper occurs in the New Jersey trap
ridges, within a few miles of New York City, an
important source in Colonial times being near
Boundbrook 30 miles from the lower end of Man-
hattan Island. Bowlders of native copper occur
in the glacial drift.

of copper beads of the type described,
were found with a skeleton on Con-
stable Hook, Bayonne, New Jersey,
and are now in the hands of a private
collector in Brooklyn.

ARTICLES OF SHELL.

Wampum. Objects of shell are not
at all common, and notwithstanding
the coast region of New York was one
of the best known localities for wam-
pum manufacture on the continent.
Wampum beads are almost unknown
from local sites. With the exception
of completed beads, most of which may
have been taken into the interior, by
the Indians, wampum may be found
in all stages of manufacture. We refer
to the white wampum, for traces of
the "black" (blue) wampum made
from the hard clam or quahog are so
far not reported. The process of man-
ufacture may be shown by shells with the
outer whorls broken away in steps until
the innermost solid column is reached,
ground and polished at the end, and
needing only cutting off into sections
and perforations to make the finished
white wampum bead. These do not
occur on all sites, though they have
been found here and there throughout
the region. Ninety-six conch shells
with the outer whorls broken entirely
away were found in a grave at Burial
Ridge, Tottenville, Staten Island, about
the head and neck of a skeleton.

Pendants. Occasionally oyster and
clam shells, found unworked save for
perforations in them, may have been
pendants or ornaments, but certainly
have little aesthetic value.

Scrapers. Clam shells seem to
have been used as scrapers and some
are occasionally found with one edge
showing the effect of rubbing and wear-

INDIANS OF MANHATTAN ISLAND

37

ing. These are rare, however. Some
may have been pottery smoothers.
Clam shells have been reported which
contained central perforations and
were identical in appearance with some
shell pottery scrapers and smoothers
collected by Mr. M. R. Harrington
among the Catawba. Contemporary
writers mention the use of knives made
of shell.

Pottery Tempering. This was some-
times done with calcined and pounded
shells, but was uncommon, considering
the abundance of the material at hand.
Pounded stone or gravel seems to have
been more favored.

Pottery Stamps. The corrugated
edge of a scallop shell was frequently
used as a stamp for pottery, as may be
seen by examining the potsherds from
this region.

ARTICLES OF BONE AND ANTLER.

Objects of bone and antler, while
perhaps more abundant here than in
New England, are far less plentiful in
form and number than in the Iroquoian
area. Cut bones are frequent in most
shell pits and heaps. They were cut
probably with a flint knife, by grooving
the bone partly through on all sides,
and breaking.

Bone Awls. These utensils are the
most common of all bone articles in
this region and are found in almost
every part of the area. Some are mere-
ly sharpened slivers, but others show
a considerable degree of work, and are
well finished and polished. They are
usually made of deer or other mammal
bone, but sometimes from the leg bones
of birds.

In some instances, the joint of the
bone is left for a handle, but this is
often cut off. Grooved, perforated or

decorated bone awls are extremely rare
in this region. While it is generally
considered that these bone tools were
used as awls in sewing leather, as
by modern shoemakers, neverthe-
less, they may have served as forks in
removing hot morsels from the pot or
for a number of other purposes. The
latter supposition is supported by the
abundance of bone awls found in some
shell pits. The Eastern Cree of the
Hudson Bay region use a similar bone
implement as the catching or striking
pin in the cup-and-ball game.

Bone Needles. These are rare, but
found in most localities. They are
generally made of the curved ribs of
mammals and are six or eight inches
long, or even longer. They are gener-
ally broken across the eye, which is
usually midway between the ends. A
few with the perforation at one end
have been reported.

Bone Arrow Points, usually hollow
and conical in shape, have been found,
especially at Tottenville, Staten
Island, in the Burial Ridge. They
are rather rare, but this may be due
to the fact that conditions are not
suitable for their preservation in most
localities. Others are flat and triang-
ular in shape.

Harpoons. No actual barbed bone
harpoons, such as occur in the Iroquois
country have been reported from this
region; although the writer has seen
what appeared to be part of one from
Shinnecock Hills, Long Island, whence
comes a harpoon barb of bone, found
by the writer, now in the Museum
collection which was apparently made
to tie to a wooden shaft. While
neither of these forms seems to occur
within this region, several naturally
barbed spines from the tail of the sting-

38

AMERICAN MUSEUM GUIDE LEAFLETS

ray, found on the Bowman's Brook
site, at Mariner's Harbor, Staten
Island, may have been used as har-
poons or fish spears, for which purpose
they were admirably suited by nature.
Long, narrow, chipped stone arrow-
heads are generally called ' 'fish points "
but they do not seem peculiarly adapt-
ed for this purpose and the name is
probably a misnomer. No bone fish
hooks are reported from hereabouts,
though suggested by early writers.

Bone Beads and Tubes. While so
abundant on Iroquoian sites, tubes
and beads made of hollow bird or other
animal bones, polished and cut in sec-
tions, are very rare here.

Draw Shaves, or Beaming Tools,
made of bone, and probably used for
removing the hair from skins, were
made by splitting the bone of a deer's
leg, leaving a sharp blade in the middle
with the joints on either end as han-
dles. The writer has seen none from
this immediate region, but they are
reported by Mr. M. R. Harrington.
A number were obtained for the Mu-
seum by Mr. Ernst Volk in the Lenape
sites near Trenton, New Jersey. An
implement, evidently made of the
scapula of a deer, and perhaps used as
a scraper, was found in a grave at Bur-
ial Ridge, Tottenville, Staten Island,
by Mr. George H. Pepper.

Worked Teeth. Perforated teeth of
the bear, wolf, and other animals, so
abundant on Iroquoian sites never seem
to be found here. Beavers' teeth cut
and ground to an edge, occur, and may
have been used as chisels, or primitive
crooked knives, or both, as they were
till recently by some of the eastern
Canadian Algonkin. Other cut beaver
teeth may have served as dice or count-
ers in gaming.

Turtle Shell Cups. These are com-
mon, and consist merely of the bony
carapace of the box turtle (Terrapene
Carolina), scraped and cleaned inside,
the ribs being cut away from the cov-
ering to finish the utensil for use.

Antler Implements. Deer antlers
and fragments of antler, worked and
unworked, occur in all shell-heaps and
pits. When whole antlers are found,
they usually show at the base the
marks of the axe or other implement
used to detach them from the skull.
Cut antler prongs, prongs broken from
the main shaft and others partly hol-
lowed and sharpened show the process
of manufacture of antler arrow points.
These are characteristic of this area
and are usually conical in shape,
hollowed to receive the shaft, and with
one or more barbs; not infrequently,
however, they are diamond-shaped in
cross-section. The shaft fitted into
the hollow socket as in the case of the
conical bone arrow points. A large
number were found in and among the
bones of human skeletons in a grave
at the Burial Ridge, Tottenville,
Staten Island.

Cylinders, neatly cut and worked all
over, or cylindrical tines made of deer
antler only cut and rounded at the
ends, are not infrequent, and were
probably used as flaking tools in mak-
ing and finishing arrow points by pres-
sure. One broken cylinder or pin,
found on the Bowman's Brook site,
Mariner's Harbor, Staten Island, had
a rounded, neatly carved head. This
specimen, however, seems to be unique.

Pottery stamps, perhaps of antler or
bone, but which may be of wood, seem
to have -been used, judging by the dec-
orations of many pottery sherds. A
pottery stamp, carved from antler, was

INDIANS OF MANHATTAN ISLAND

39

found slightly east of this region, at
Dosoris, Glen Cove, Long Island, by
Mr. M. R. Harrington, and is now in
the Museum collection.

TRADE ARTICLES.

In spite of the frequent mention by
old writers of barter of European for
Indian goods, the amount of trade

porcelain, a few glass beads, Venetian
and plain, and some old pipes, notably
those stamped "R. Tippet" on the
bowl. All these articles are very rare
here, and for this no adequate expla-
nation can be given.

RESUME.
This area was inhabited during

LOCATION OF THE NEW YORK COASTAL ALGONKIN AND THEIR NEIGHBORS.

material found is small indeed. While
it is abundant in the Iroquoian area,
all that has ever been found here con-
sists of a few round-socketed iron tom-
ahawks, iron hoes, brass or copper
arrow points of various styles, a little

historic times by the following tribes:1
A. The Lenni Lenape, or Delaware,

1 On the map above, these tribes are shown
together with the Long Island and other neighbor-
ing tribes as indicated by Beauchamp in the map
accompanying his "Aboriginal Occupation of New
York," New York State Museum, Bulletin 32,
Albany, 1900.

40

AMERICAN MUSEUM GUIDE LEAFLETS

ranging from the Raritan River, in-
cluding Staten Island, to Saugerties
on the west bank of the Hudson.

Raritan or Assanhican.

Hackensack.

Tappan.

Aquakanonk.

Haverstraw.

Waranawankong.

B. The Wappinger Confederacy
ranging along the east bank of the
Hudson, eastward to Connecticut,
from Manhattan Island.

Rechgawawank or Manhattan.

Siwanoy.

Weckquaskeck.

Wappinger.

C. Montauk or Matouwack Con-
federacy.

Canarsie.

These tribes were surrounded on
all sides by neighbors of the same
stock, who differed somewhat in their
language and culture. On the south
and west, lay the Lenni Lenape, or
Delaware proper; on the north, the
Manhattan, and on the east the
New England tribes. Almost without
exception, these natives were displaced
early in the history of this country,
and have been long since expatriated
or exterminated. A very few mixed
bloods may yet be found on Staten
Island, Long Island, and in West-
chester County, but their percentage
of Indian blood is extremely low.

The remains of aboriginal life now
to be found, consist of shell-heaps,
occurring at every convenient point
along the coast, on the rivers, and,
more rarely, inland; shell, refuse, and
fire pits; camp, village and burial
sites ; and rock and cave shelters. With
one prominent exception,1 few or no

i Burial Ridge, Tottenville, Staten Island.

relics have been found in graves. The
typical interment was of the flexed
variety, but bone burials are not in-
frequent.

Dog skeletons complete and intact,
bearing the appearance of having
been laid out, are sometimes found
buried in separate graves. Some
writers have supposed that' these indi-
vidual dog burials are the remains of
"white dog feasts" or kindred prac-
tices, because the Iroquois even up to
the present day hold such ceremonies.
The white dog is entirely cremated by
the Iroquois, and so far as we have
been able to find out, there is no record
of such occurrences among the Coastal
Algonkin; hence, there seems no reason
to attribute this custom to them since
other Iroquois traits were so infre-
quent. It seems more probable that
such burials are simply those of pet
animals, interred as we today honor a
faithful dog.

Some of these dog burials may have
been sacrifices made to the Under-
neath Powers, such as horned snakes,
just as the Western Indians do today.

In Waessenaer's Historic Von Europe,
we read of the Mahikan who lived on

the Upper Hudson.

It appears that the Sickanamers before-
mentioned, make a sort of sacrifice. They
have a hole in a hill in which they place a ket-
tle full of all sorts of articles that they have,
either by them, or procured. When there is
a great quantity collected a snake comes in,
then they all depart, and the Manittou,
that is the Devil, comes in the night and
takes the kettle away, according to the state-
ment of the Koutsinacka, or Devil Hunter,
who presides over the ceremony.1

******

Our Indians may well have sacrificed
dogs and buried them for these mythi-
cal snake monsters.

Occasionally, the skeletons of dogs
and rarely of other animals have been

1 Documentary History of New York, III, 28-9.

INDIANS OF MANHATTAN ISLAND

41

found in graves associated with human
bones. The finding of arrow-heads
among the ribs of some of these, and
other circumstances, seem to point to a
practice of killing a favorite animal on
the death of its owner to accompany
or protect the spirit of its master on
the journey to the hereafter.

From their appearance and position,
many graves seem to indicate that
the dead may sometimes have been
buried under the lodge, especially in
time of winter, when the ground out-
side was frozen too hard to permit
grave digging. Others under the same
circumstances seem to have been
buried in refuse pits. The remains
further indicate that "feasts of the
dead," were also held at the time of
the interment, judging by the quantity
of oyster shells and animal bones in
and near the graves. Some graves
have rows or layers of oyster shells,
with the sharp cutting edge upward,
placed above the bodies as if to pre-
vent wild animals from disinterring
and devouring the dead.

An interesting fact, brought to light
by the rock-shelter work of Messrs.
Schrabisch and Harrington in their
explorations in New Jersey and West-
chester County, New York, is that
in the lowest and oldest refuse layers of
some of these shelters pottery does not
occur. It would be ill advised to infer
from this that the earliest occupants
were peoples of another culture from
the surrounding village dwellers, as the
other artifacts found are quite similar
to the implements of the latter. Many
reasons for this lack of pottery, such
as the more easy transportation of
vessels of bark or wood through the
mountains and hills, suggest them-
selves, though they are more or less

nullified by the presence of pottery in
the upper layers. The upper layer,
however, may have been made during
the period when the natives were
being displaced by Europeans and
at the same time subjected to Iro-
quoian raids, when the villages
would naturally be abandoned from
time to time, for refuge among the
cliffs and caves of the mountain fast-
nesses.

It has been suggested that the rock
and cave shelters are remains of an
older occupation by people with or
without the same culture as the later
known savages. The nature of the
finds does not support this view, for
the specimens obtained are often of as
good workmanship as the best to be
found in the villages and cemeteries
of the latter, while pottery, on the
other hand, occurs on the oldest known
Algonkian sites. It seems most prob-
able to the writer that, like the shell-
heaps, the rock and cave shelters form
but a component part, or phase, of the
local culture, perhaps a little special-
ized from usage and environment, but
contemporary with the villages, shell-
heaps, and cemeteries of the lowlands.

Mounds and earthworks do not
occur in the region under consider-
ation, nor does it appear that most of
of the Indian villages here were forti-
fied, unless they were slightly stock-
aded. A number of instances of this
are known historically, however, and
a few earthworks occur just beyond
this area.1

The remains found do not bear any
appearance of very great geological
antiquity. In a few instances, rock-
shelters, shell-heaps, and village sites

1 An earthwork at Croton Point on the Hudson
has been excavated by Mr. M. R. Harrington for
the American Museum.

42

AMERICAN MUSEUM GUIDE LEAFLETS

seem to possess a relative antiquity;
but the oldest known remains, in every
case, may be placed as Algonkian with
considerable certainty. No paleoliths
have been reported, and it would seem
from the comparative lack of antiquity
of the remains that the natives could
not have lived in this region for many
centuries before the advent of the
whites. The accounts of contempo-
rary writers prove conclusively that
these archaeological remains, if not
those left by Indians found here by the
early Dutch and English settlers, must
have been from people of very similar
culture. In culture, the local Indians
were not as high as the Iroquois, nor
perhaps as the Lenape or Delaware
proper from whom they sprang; but
they compare very favorably with the
New England tribes. Absence and
scarcity of certain artifacts such as
steatite vessels, the long stone pestle,
the gouge, adze, and plummet, and the

abundance and character of bone and
pottery articles show them to have
been intermediate in character be-
tween the Lenape on the south and
west, and the New England tribes on
the east and north; and consultations
of the old European contemporaries
show that this was the case linguistic-
ally as well as culturally. Examination
of the remains also shows that the
influence of the Lenape on the west,
and of the New England peoples on
the east, was most strongly felt near
their respective borders. Iroquoian
influence was strong, as evinced by the
pottery, and there is also documentary
evidence to this effect. Finally, as is
frequent throughout most of eastern
North America, the archaeological
remains may be definitely placed as
belonging to the native Indian tribes
who held the country at the time of its
discovery or to their immediate ances-
tors.

LOCATION OF ARCHEOLOGICAL REMAINS ON MANHATTAN ISLAND.'

THE first field-work done on Man-
hattan Island is of very recent
date. Doubtless many articles
of Indian manufacture and evidences
of Indian occupation were found
as the city grew up from its
first settlement at Fort Amsterdam,
but of these specimens we have
very few records. An arrow point
found in the plaster in the wall of
a Colonial house was, without doubt,
in the hands of some member of the
Kortrecht family; and Indian pottery
has been found in a hut occupied by
Hessian soldiers during the War of
Independence. The first specimens
to have been preserved, to the know-
ledge of those now interested in the

subject, were found in 1885, and con-
sisted of Indian arrow points dis-
covered in Harlem during excavation
for a cellar on Avenue A, between!20th
and 121st Streets. Some of these are
spoken of by James Riker- as being in
the author's cabinet. Riker also
speaks of shell-heaps near here.3 The
next specimens preserved were found
at Kingsbridge Road (now Broadway)
and 220th Street in 1886, and are in
the John Neafie collection at the Mu-
seum. These consist of an arrow point
and a few bits of pottery. The next
work was begun in 1889 by Mr. W. L.

1 By James K. Finch, revised by Leslie Spier.
= History of Harlem (1881), footnote, p. 137.
s Ibid, p. 366.

INDIANS OF MANHATTAN ISLAND

43

Calver of this city, and has led to the
discovery of much valuable material
which has been preserved.1

The following account of the work
is taken mainly from Mr. Calver 's
note-book : —

In the autumn of the year 1889,
while exploring the heights of Bloom-
ingdale (now called Cathedral Heights)
for any relics that might have remained
from the Battle of Harlem, Mr.
Calver discovered one arrow point at
118th Street, east of Ninth Avenue,
and immediately afterwards a circular
hammerstone. On a later trip to the
same locality, he found a small grooved
axe or tomahawk. In February, 1890,
while hunting for Revolutionary rel-
ics in the vicinity of Fort Washington,
he made a trip to the northern part of
the island in search of British regimen-
tal buttons, many of which were said
to have been found in that vicinity.
There he met an old acquaintance, Mr.
John Pearce, a policeman then on
duty there, by whom he was intro-
duced to Mr. James McGuey, a youth
residing in the vicinity of 198th Street
and Kingsbridge Road and, while
crossing the orchard at Academy Street
and Seaman Avenue, Mr. Calver saw
that the ground was thickly strewn
with shells which afterwards proved
to be of Indian origin.

The first Sunday in March, Messrs.
Calver and McGuey explored this
part of the Island for Indian
remains. At the junction of

1 In the Spring of 1890 Mr. Edward Hagaman
Hall began his investigations and at about the
same time Mr. Reginald PelhamBolton entered the
field of local research. In many instances these
gentlemen and Mr. W. L. Calver collaborated with
valuable results. In the preservation of the traces
of Indian occupation of Manhattan Island the
American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society
(formed in 1895 under the presidency of the late
Hon. Andrew H. Green, but now under that of Dr.
George Frederick Kunz) has done much pioneer
work.

Academy Street and Prescott Avenue,
they found an Indian potsherd the
importance of which Mr. McGuey
seemed to realize, for, a week later,
Mr. Calver met him again and was
presented by him with a number of
fragments of Indian ware. He assured
Mr. Calver that he had found it by
digging in an Indian graveyard. The
two men dug again at this place, and
found more pottery. They then went
to Cold Spring, a point on the extreme
northern end of the Island, and in a
shell-heap there they found more
Indian work. Mr. Alexander C.
Chenoweth an engineer, then on the
Croton Aqueducts, hearing of these
discoveries, obtained a permit from
the property owners and began to ex-
plore "The Knoll," at Dyckman
Street and Broadway, for Indian re-
mains. After having finished here,
he went to Cold Spring and made some
further discoveries. All his specimens
were purchased in 1894 by the Mu-
seum, and some of them are now on
exhibition.

Since this time, several interesting
relics have been found and, as the
work of grading streets and other ex-
cavation at this part of the Island are
carried on, more relics will probably
come to light.

The only Indian remains left on the
Island so far as known to the writer,
are situated at the extreme northern
end at Inwood and Cold Spring.
They consist of the so-called shell-
heaps or refuse piles from Indian
camps, and three rock-shelters at
Cold Spring. But we have evidence
to show that this was not the only
part of the Island occupied by the
Indians. Mrs. Lamb1 says that the

1 History of New York City, p. 36.

44

AMERICAN MUSEUM GUIDE LEAFLETS

Dutch found a large shell-heap on the
west shore of Fresh Water pond, a
small pond, mostly swamp, which was
bounded by the present Bowery, Elm,
Canal and Pearl Streets, and which
they named from this circumstance
Kalch-Hook. In course of time, this
was abbreviated to Kalch or Collect
and was applied to the pond itself.1
This shell-heap must have been the
accumulation of quite a village, for
Mrs. Jno. K. Van Rensselaer2 speaks
of a castle called Catiemuts overlook-
ing a small pond near Canal Street,
and says that the neighborhood was
called Shell Point. Hemstreet refers
to the same castle as being on a
hill "close by the present Chatham
Square," and says that it had once
been an "Indian lookout."3 Exca-
vations at Pearl Street are said to
to have reached old shell banks.
"The Memorial History of New
York"4 says that a hill near Chatham
Square was called Warpoes, which
meant literally a "small hill."5
According to the same authority,
"Corlear's Hoeck was called Naig-
ianac, literally, 'sandlands.' It may,
however, have been the name of the
Indian village which stood there, and
was in temporary occupation." This
is the only reference we have to this
village, but there are references to
another on the lower end of the Island.
Janvier6 says that there was an Indian
settlement as late as 1661 at Sap-

1 Mr. Edward Hagaman Hall, however, derives
the name from "Kolk" or "Kolch" a word still in
use in Holland and applied to portions of a canal
or inclosure of water. — Editor.

2 Goede-Vrouw of Manahata, p. 39.

s Hemstreet, Nooks and Corners of Old New
York, p. 46.

4 Bulletin, N. Y., State Museum, Vol. 7, No. 32,
p. 107, Feb., 1900.

6 James G. Wilson, op. cit., p. 52.

6 Evolution of New York.

pokanican near the present Ganse-
voort Market. According to Judge
Benson,1 Sappokanican ("tobacco
field")2 was the Indian name for the
point afterwards known as Greenwich.
"In the Dutch records references are
made to the Indian village of Sap-
pokanican; and this name * *was
applied for more than a century to the
region which came to be known as
Greenwich in the later, English, times.
The Indian village probably was near
the site of the present Gansevoort
Market; but the name seems to have
been applied to the whole region lying
between the North River and the
stream called the Manetta Water or
Bestavaar's Kill."3 Benton says that
the name of the village was Lapini-
can.4 Going back to the old Dutch
records might lead to finding the actual
names and other data regarding these
places.

Most of the specimens found on
Manhattan Island, as already stated,
come from the northern part. We
have a few from the central portion,
however. There are the arrow-heads
spoken of by Riker, and in the Webster
Free Library there is a fine specimen
of a grooved stone axe found at 77th
Street and Avenue B. Mr. Calver has
found an arrow-head at 81st Street and
Hudson River and specimens from the
site of Columbia College have been
recorded.

Doubtless the northern part of the
Island was inhabited for the longer
period; but it is probable that all
along the shore, wherever one of the
many springs or small brooks, shown

1 N. Y. Historical Society Collections, S. II,
Vol. II, Pt. I, p. 84, 1848.

2 All Hilse translations are doubtful.

3 Thos. A. Janvier, In Old New York, pp. 85-86.

4 New York, p. 26.

INDIANS OF MANHATTAN ISLAND

45

on old maps, emptied into the Hudson
or East River, there were small,
temporary Indian camps. It is likely
that these camps were used only in
summer, while the primitive occupant
of Manhattan retreated to the more
protected part of the Island, as at
Inwood and Cold Spring, during the
winter. Or it may be possible that,
as Ruttenber1 states, the villages on
Manhattan Island were only occupied
when the Indians were on hunting and
fishing excursions, while their per-
manent villages were on the mainland.
Bolton,2 however, says their principal
settlement was on Manhattan Island.
Fort Washington Point. There is a
small deposit of shells on the southern
edge of the point, in which the writer
found some small pieces of pottery and
a few flint chips, thus proving its
Indian origin. This was probably a
summer camp, as it was too exposed
for winter use.

Zerrenner's Farm. A favorable slop-
ing field at 194th Street and Broadway
now used for truck farming, was
utilized as a camp site. Camp debris
of varied character has been ploughed
up here. Perhaps the overhanging
rocks below Ft. Washington, between
194th and 198th Streets on Bennett
Avenue afforded the Indians some
shelter in winter.

Inwood Station Site. At the foot of
Dyckman Street and Hudson River,
there existed a large deposit of shells,
most of which were removed, when the
rocks on which they lay were blasted
away for grading the street. A few
arrow points and bits of pottery, as
well as several Revolutionary objects

1 Indian Tribes of Hudson's River, p. 78.

2 History of Westchester County, p. 25.

were found here. There are photo-
graphs of this deposit in the Museum.
Seaman Avenue Site. This site,
between Academy and Hawthorne
Streets, running through from Seaman
Avenue to Cooper Street, is the most
extensive village site from which
remains have been collected. It was a
British camp site during the Revolu-
tion, and a number of buttons, gun-
flints and bullets have been found there
as well as numerous Indian remains.
It seems to have been the workshop for
a red jasper-like stone of which numer-
ous chips but no finished implements
have been found. The shells at this
point were first noticed by Mr. Calver
in 1890. They may not all be of
Indian origin, as some may be due to
Revolutionary soldiers.

Harlem River Deposit. Mr. Calver
says, ' 'Extending from 209th Street to
211th Street on the west bank of the
Harlem River and almost on a line
with Ninth Avenue was another large
deposit of oyster shells lying just
beneath the top soil of the field. These
shells had nearly all been disturbed by
the plow and are interesting only for
their color, which was red. Pieces of
horn of deer and split bones of the same
animal were common among the shells ;
but, in spite of the apparent antiquity
of the deposit, there were, even in the
lowest strata of it, some small frag-
ments of glass which proved that either
the whole mass had been disturbed or
else the shells had been left during the
historic period. There are several
stone sinkers and hammerstones from
this spot in Mr. Calver's collection and
at the Museum.

Isham Park Site. On the knolls
along the south side of Isham Park,
and particularly in Isham 's Garden,

46

AMERICAN MUSEUM GUIDE LEAFLETS

about on the line of Isham Street and
Seaman Avenue, the soil is white with
small fragments of shells. A number
of arrow points, flint chips, hammer-
stones, sinkers, and potsherds have
been found here. On the knolls to
the south of this garden, an Indian bur-
ial, shell pockets with small deposits
of pottery, etc., and several dog bur-
ials, have been found. There are two
small shell-heaps, containing chips
and potsherds, in the Park on the
bank of the Ship Canal, and several
shell pockets were disturbed in exca-
vating 218th Street on the north side
of the Park.

Cold Spring. Cold Spring is sit-
uated at the extreme northern end of
Manhattan Island on the southern
shore of Spuyten Duyvil Creek. The
Indian remains consist of three rock-
shelters and three refuse heaps. The
rockshelter is a formation where the
overhanging rocks form a small cave
or shelter which the Indians used as
a dwelling place. All their rubbish,
such as oyster shells, broken pottery,
and broken arrow-heads, were dumped
near by, forming the so-called shell-
heaps. Messrs. Calver and McGuey
explored the shell-heaps; but Mr.
Chenoweth was the first to suspect the
existence of the shelters. There is
only one which is likely to have been
used as a dwelling place, the others
being places where food was stored or
shelters for fires used in cooking.
These shelters face east, and are at
the foot of Inwood Hill (formerly
called Cock Hill) which forms the
most northern part of Manhattan
Island. The largest one was formed
by several of the rocks breaking off
the cliffs above and falling in such a
manner that, by digging out some of

the earth from beneath them, the
Indians could make a small shelter.
Probably it was occupied by one fam-
ily, while the others lived in bark
wigwams near by.1 Another of the
shelters is simply an excavation under
the end of a huge fragment which
also dropped from the cliffs above,
and the third is a large crevice in
the foot of these cliffs. When Mr.
Chenoweth first explored them, all
these shelters were completely filled
with earth which had gradually worked
its way in since their occupation, and
much credit is due him for suspect-
ing their presence. In them he found
fragments of pottery and stone imple-
ments, together with the bones of
turkey and deer. The largest of
the refuse heaps is situated on a
rise directly in front of these shel-
ters. It consists of a layer of
shells, in places one foot thick, found
under a layer of fine loam, a black
earth which has been deposited since
the shells were scattered over the orig-
inal sandy yellow soil. The sheltered
position of this place made it an es-
pecially desirable camp site. The
hills to the south and west formed a
protection to the camp from winds,
and by Spuyten Duyvil Creek access
could be had to either Hudson or East
River; while the Cold Spring, from
which the place takes its name, fur-
nished an abundant supply of fresh
water.

Harlem Ship Canal. Formerly at
220th Street and Kingsbridge Road
was a large deposit of shells on the
westerly side of the road. This was
destroyed when the ship canal was put
through. As with the Inwood Station

1 Memorial History of New York, Vol. I, p. 33,
for picture of houses, and p. 30 for description.

INDIANS OF MANHATTAN ISLAND

47

site, no systematic examination of
this place was ever made. Mr. John
Neafie found some potsherds here in
1886, Mr. Chenoweth also has some
potsherds from here.1 Mr. Calver
says that this was a large deposit, and
that the peculiar thing about it was
that the shells were so wedged and
packed together that a pick would
hardly penetrate them. They lay
on the bare rock surface in cracks in
the rock; a condition common to this
neighborhood.

Shell Pockets at 211th Street. In
March, 1903, there was considerable
excitement over the reported discov-
ery of an Indian graveyard at 211th
Street.2 The graveyard proved to have
been that of some slaves, and was
situated on the western end of the rise
between 210th and 211th Streets, on
the eastern end of which is the old
Neagle Burying Ground. This dis-
covery was interesting because under
the negro graves several shell pockets
of undoubted Indian origin came to
light. The workmen, in grading
Tenth Avenue, cut into this hill to
obtain material for filling, and uncov-
ered the graves and pockets. It seems
almost certain that the deposits were
made some time ago; then the wind
blew the sand over the deposits to a
depth of four or five feet, and negroes
later used this place as a burial ground.
In support of this theory is the fact
that the pockets were four or five feet
under the surface, that the soil above
showed no signs of having been dis-
turbed, and that this rise is put down
on the Government maps of this sec-
tion as a sand dune.3 During the

i John Neafie collection, 20-2558; Chenoweth,
20-3498.

- Evening Telegram, March 14, 1903.
3 New York Geologic Folio.

summer of 1904, Mr. Calver with
Messrs. Hall and Bolton uncovered
nine or more pockets to the southwest
of the graveyard.1 These pockets
all seem to have been of the same pe-
riod as the others, and all appear to
have been on the original ground sur-
face, although those farther up the
hill were some four feet under the
present surface. In one of these
pockets, was found the complete skele-
ton of a dog2 in another, a turtle shell;
two others contained complete snake
skeletons; while a fifth held the frag-
ments of a small pottery vessel. The
pockets were small, being about three
feet in diameter and of equal depth,
showing no signs of having first been
used as fireplaces and then filled up,
though charcoal was scattered among
the shells. Almost all the relics from
Van Cortlandt Park were found by
Mr. James in pockets similar to these.
During Indian troubles in 1675, the
Wickquaskeek at Ann's Hook, now
Pelham Neck, were told "to remove
within a fortnight to their usual winter
quarters within Hellgate upon this
Island." River says, "This winter
retreat was either the woodlands be-
tween Harlem Plains and Kingsbridge,
at that date still claimed by these
Indians as hunting grounds, or Rech-
awanes and adjoining lands on the
Bay of Hellgate, as the words 'within
Hellgate' would strictly mean, and
which, by the immense shellbeds found
there formerly, is proved to have been
a favorite Indian resort."3 A little
later the Indians asked to be allowed
to return to their maize lands on Man-

1 New York Tribune, Oct. 30, 1904, and New
York Sun, Dec. 14, 1904.

2 All that could be saved of this skeleton has
been presented to the Museum by Mr. Edward
Hagaman Hall.

3 History of Harlem, p. 366.

48

AMERICAN MUSEUM GUIDE LEAFLETS

hattan Island and the Governor said
that they, "if they desire it, be admit-
ted with their wives and children, to
plant upon this Island, but nowhere
else, if they remove; and that it be
upon the north point of the Island
near Spuyten Duyvel."1

Mrs. Mary A. Bolton Post, in writ-
ing to the editor of "The Evening
Post," June 19th of the year of the
opening of the Harlem Ship Canal
(1895), speaks of some Indians who
were allowed to camp on the south
side of Spuyten Duyvil Creek on the
Bolton property in 1817. Ruttenber
says that the Reckgawanc had their
principal village at Yonkers, but that
on Berrien's Neck (Spuyten Duyvil
Hill) was situated their castle or fort
called Nipinichsen. This fort was pro-
tected by a strong stockade and com-
manded the romantic scenery of the
Papirinimen, or Spuyten Duyvil
Creek, and the Mahicanituk (Hudson
River), the junction of which was
called the Shorackappock. It was
from this castle that the Indians came
who attacked Hudson on his return
down the river.2 Some small shell
deposits occur on Spuyten Duyvil Hill,
but as yet this "castile" has not been
definitely located. The village site
at Yonkers, according to Mr. James,
is now covered by buildings; but
several relics found near the site years
ago are now in the Manor Hall at that
place (1904).

Judging from these references, we
might conclude that the territory
occupied by the tribe commonly known
as Manhattans including Manhattan
Island and that part of the mainland
which is west of the Bronx River north

1 History of Harlem, p. 369.

2 Ruttenber, pp. 77-78.

of Yonkers, and that these Indians
were a sub-tribe of the Wappinger
division of the Mahikan.

NOTABLE TYPES OF REMAINS.

Dog Burials. The first dog burials
were found by Mr. Calver in 1895.
The first burial was unearthed at the
summit of a ridge of soft earth at 209th
Street, near the Harlem River. The
ridge, which was about twelve feet
high, had been partly cut away for the
grading of Ninth Avenue. It was
at the highest part of the hillock that
a pocket of oyster and clam shells was
noticed, from which a few fragments
of Indian pottery which lay on the
face of the bank had evidently fallen.
The shells, upon inspection, were found
to have served as a covering for the
skeleton of a dog or wolf. Another
burial was found on May 18th within
fifty yards of the first burial. It had
been covered with shells just as the
first one, but had been disturbed by
workmen. Mr. Calver says: "The
two canine burials were situated at a
point just without the borders of the
Harlem River shell-heap and were
distinct from it. The shells were
found to be matched, hence it was con-
cluded that they were thrown in un-
opened or eaten on the spot. As the
skeletons were intact and the bones
uninjured, all probability of the ani-
mals having been eaten is disposed of. "
These burials are common in this
vicinity, Mr. Calver thinks they were
for some religious purpose, and suggests
a relation to the "White Dog Feast"
of the Onondaga of this state.1 How-
ever, it is known that the carcass of
the sacrificed dog was burnt by the

1 New York Herald, May 26, 1895.

INDIANS OF MANHATTAN ISLAND

49

Iroquois and the explanation given on
page 40 is probably correct.

Indian Burials. Notwithstanding-
all the efforts of various collectors,
the first Indian burials to be discovered
on the Island were due to the activi-
ties of Messrs. Bolton and Calver in
1904. The improvement of Seaman
Avenue, Inwood, at that time, uncov-
ered many relics of the long extinct
Indian inhabitants among which Mr.
Bolton saw unmistakable signs of

mass of oyster shells, some of which
were unopened, the skeleton reclined
on its right side, facing west. The
arms were flexed and crossed, the knees
bent and the head thrown back. No
traces of weapons were found, nor
were there any other objects found,
save a fragment of an animal bone.
"The location and position led to
further exploration, which, early in
1908, led to still more interesting dis-
coveries. Sunday, March 22nd, being

INDIAN BURIAL, MANHATTAN.

Indian graves. To quote from this
gentleman: "It thus became evident
that there were human interments
in the vicinity, and in August, 1907,
the first burial was discovered under
a shell pit in Corbett's garden. The
grading process had been extended
only about eighteen inches below the
sod, but had sufficed to destroy the
jaw of the skeleton which extended
upwards, as did also the foot bones.
The bones lay in and upon a close

the first day in the field for exploration
for the season for 1908, W. L. Calver
and the writer met at Seaman Avenue
and Hawthorne Street, Manhattan,
to discuss plans for further excavations
on this Indian village site. The rains
of the winter 1907-8 had washed the
west bank where the layer of oyster
shells and black dirt lay along the
hill, and a patch of red burnt earth
was observed, which on digging out,
disclosed a fireplace, evidently of the

50

AMERICAN MUSEUM GUIDE LEAFLETS

period of the Revolution, having some
large burnt stones, ashes, wood char-
coal, brick, broken rum bottles, a wine
glass nearly complete, a large open
clasp-knife with bone handle, a hoop-
iron pot-hook, various forged head
nails and a curious folding corkscrew.
Gold buttons of Revolutionary pattern
and an officer's silver button of the
Royal Marines, together with pewter
buttons of the 17th Regiment dis-
closed who had occupied the spot.

"At one part of this fireplace, we
came upon a pocket of oyster shells,
evidently Indian, about two feet deep,
and on removing some of these, had
the good fortune to uncover a human
thigh-bone. We worked carefully
into the shells and under the pocket,
gradually disclosing the complete re-
mains of a full-grown man lying on its
right side, feet to the north, head
facing east, knees doubled up, the
left arm extended down through the
thighs. The feet had been within the
area of the hole in which the Revolu-
tionary fireplace had been made, and
only one or two foot bones were found.
At a later period other foot bones were
found on the opposite side of the Rev-
olutionary fireplace, evidently having
been displaced in its construction.
The right arm was flexed, and the
hand was under the head, the latter
was intact and every tooth was in
place. Shells had been packed over
the body, and some around it. We
were much puzzled by a number of
human bones lying compactly together
by the skeleton, in a position that
would have been in its lap, had it been
upright.

' 'We removed the skull, covered
the remains, and on Sunday, March
29th, renewed the work. We went

carefully to work upon the cluster of
mixed bones in front of the large skel-
eton, and soon found them to be rather
compactly arranged in a rectangular
form about 14 by 26 inches, the long
bones parallel. The vertebrae abrupt-
ly ended parallel with the head of the
larger skeleton, and after working some
time, we found a skull placed below,
beneath the pile of bones in a vertical
position, facing north, the lower jaw of
which was disengaged, and was placed
sideways in front of the face. The
back of the skull was broken in, and
was black with marks of burning.
The lower jaw was burned, and some
of the teeth split by fire. The arm
and leg bones were charred at the
joints. Inside the skull was a burned
toe bone. Some oyster shells were
among the charred remains.

"A significant fact was that the
right arm bones of the large skeleton
were below the pile of burned bones.
This feature, and the compact arrange-
ment of the latter within the space
in front of and at the same level as the
large skeleton, seem to point strongly
towards an intentional arrangement
of these bones, in front of the large
corpse and to indicate the simultane-
ous burial of the two bodies. On ex-
amination, the large skeleton proved
to be that of an adult male, and the
dismembered remains those of a female
of about 35 years of age. No imple-
ments were found with the remains,
but a part of a stone pestle and a rude
celt lay under the sod among the oy-
sters above the large skeleton.

"On Sunday, June 14, 1908, another
burial was found about 20 feet north
of the above. This burial consisted
of an adult skeleton doubled up and
its back much curved, and was appar-

INDIANS OF MANHATTAN ISLAND

51

i I

LOCATION OF BURIALS, PITS AND SHELL-BEDS NEAR INWOOD.

1. Human remains. 2. Shell pit, deer antler. 3. Shell pit. 4. Shell pit, pottery. 5. Shell
pits. 6. Shell pit, sturgeon below. 7. Shell pit, sturgeon scales. 8, 9. Shell pits. 10. Human
remains. 11. Fire pit. 12. Shell pit. 13. Dog burial, puppy. 14. Shell pit. 15. Part of a jar.
16. Shell pit, fish and meat bones. 17. Shell pits. 18. Two dogs in shell pit. 19. Human skeleton,
1907. 19a. Female skeleton, 1908. 20. Human remains when house was built. 21. Small fire pits,
Revolutionary. 22. Large shell pit. 23. Large shell pit. 24. Shell pit. 25. Dog burial. 26, 27, 28.
Shell pits. 29. Two human skeletons, male and female. 30. Revolutionary fireplace "Royal Marines"
and "17th." 31. Skeleton and infant, female. 32. Skeleton (Chenoweth, 1908). 33. Revolutionary
fireplace, 71st, officers' buttons. D. Dyckman dwelling. R1, R=. Revolutionary fireplaces. R3.
Revolutionary well.

52

AMERICAN MUSEUM GUIDE LEAFLETS

ently that of a female of mature age.
Between the knees, the remains of a
small infant were laid, the skull of the
latter being fragmentary. The right
hand of the adult was below the infant
and the left hand around the throat.
The skull was intact and had nearly
all the teeth. One finger bone had
grown together at the joint in a crook-
ed position apparently due to disease.
On lifting the ribs of the right side, an
arrow-head of flint fell out between the
fourth and fifth bones. These skele-
tons lay about two and a half feet be-
low the grass, and a pocket of oyster
shells was over the head. The woman's
remains lay within a space about 31
inches long by 50 inches wide, flat
in the hard red sand bed facing
east.

"Shortly after these remains were
discovered, Mr. Chenoweth extended
the excavation previously made by
the explorers at the side of a large
oyster shell pit in the same bank of
sand, and uncovered a male skeleton
of which he preserved the skull. Some
small fragments of the skeleton were
afterwards found by the writer on this
spot. Contractors for the sewer in
Seaman Avenue also uncovered the
remains of a young female close to the
position of several of the shell pits
previously described.

' ' These interments have some curi-
ous features. The position of the
remains facing east, sometimes west,
the absence of weapons or other ob-
jects and the oyster shells packed with
or above them are subjects for inter-
esting discussion on which future
finds may throw much light, as also
upon the peculiar double burial and
the burnt state of the female re-
mains."

BIBLIOGRAPHY.

Anthropological Papers of the Amer-
ican Museum of Natural History, Vol-
ume III; Hudson-Fulton Publication,
' ' The Indians of Greater New York
and the Lower Hudson." New York,
1909.

This volume contains a series of
papers by Messrs. Finch, Bolton,
Harrington, Speck, Schrabisch, and
Skinner, dealing minutely with all
phases of the subject in a thoroughly
scientific and less popular manner than
the present volume. Especial atten-
tion is paid to the research in local
archaeology, with maps and notes on
most of the important sites. The
Museum also published a guide leaf-
let to the collection on exhibition.

Skinner, Alanson, The Indians of
Greater New York; Torch Press,
Cedar Rapids, Iowa, 1915.

A very full and thoroughgoing ac-
count of the history and ethnology
of the local Indians, containing many
sources not available at the time when
volume III of the Anthropological
Papers was published. The archaeol-
ogy of the locality is also written up
in a more popular style than the
preceding publication. These two
papers with the present guide leaflet
bring the subject of our local Indians
thoroughly up to date and summarize
the older authors.

Ruttenber, E. M., History of the
Indian Tribes of the Hudson River.
Albany, 1872.

A little old-fashioned in style, and
with a few errors, but brimful of all
sorts of useful information on the
subject.

Beau-champ, Rev. W. M., Bulletin
of the New York State Museum. Nos.
16, 18, 22, 32, 41.

INDIANS OF MANHATTAN ISLAND

53

Those list, figure, and describe the
types of chipped and polished stone
implements, and the pottery, shell,
hono, metal, and wooden utensils
found in New York State. Bulletin
32 contains a list of all the Indian
village and camp sites, shell-heaps,
rock and cave shelters, and cemeteries
then recorded from the entire State,
with a map upon which the locations
of these are plotted. This series is
invaluable to the student, especially
to one engaged in research work.

Farrand, Livingston, Basis of Amer-
ican History. Harpers: The American
Nation Nation Series; Vol. I.

"This volume contains a careful
review of the physical features of
North America, which is exceedingly
helpful to the student in understanding
the development of the various colo-
nies. This is supplemented by a survey
of the principal lines of communica-
tion— Indian trails, portages, water-
ways, and mountain passes — which
have been of the utmost importance
in determining the course of events
in American history * Of

particular value is Professor Farrand 's
able discussion of the American
Indians. Reasoning from a great mass
of collected data, he reaches sane
and conservative conclusions. The
author has made a point of condensa-
tion, and has supplied the want of a
thorough, systematic study of the
Indians in a small compass."

Heckwelder, J. G. E., History, Man-
ners, and Customs of the Indian
Nations who once inhabited Pennsyl-
vania. Philadelphia, 1876.

At the present writing this is the
most complete source of information
on the Delaware Indians from the

time of their migration from New
Jersey and Eastern Pennsylvania to
the Ohio Valley.

Harrington, M. R., "Some Customs
of the Delaware Indians;" the Mus-
eum Journal of the Museum of the
University of Pennsylvania, Vol. I,
No. 3; and "Vestiges of Material
Culture Among the Canadian Dela-
wares," American Anthropologist,
N. S. Vol. 10 No. 3, 1908, A Prelim-
inary Sketch of Lenape culture, Ibid
Vol. 15 P. 208.

The most recent account of the
Delaware, but merely preliminary
sketches, forerunners of a much larger
work based on personal archaeological
research about New York City and
ethnological study among the surviving
Delaware of Canada and Oklahoma,
which, when given to the public, will
be the dernier mot on the subject.

Brinton, D. G., The Lenape and
Their Legends; Philadelphia, 1885.
This work contains the Walum Olum
and its translation, in addition to a
mass of ethnological material. An
excellent treatise on the Delaware
Indians.

O'Callaghan, E. B., Documentary
History of New York. Four volumes;
Albany, 1863-7.

Contains, as its name implies, many
of the early documents relating to the
settlement of New York. A very
important work containing many of
the sources of the present volume.

De Vries, David Peterson, Voyages
from Holland to America; (trans-
lation) ; New York, 1853. A rare and
valuable work, to be obtained only in
the large public libraries. This is the
personal account of the good patroon's
own experience as an eye-witness and

54

AMERICAN MUSEUM GUIDE LEAFLETS

participator in the early Indian wars
in the New Netherlands. Written in
a naive, fluent and interesting manner.

Morgan, Lewis H., The League of
the Iroquois. In several editions.

A comprehensive study of the Five,
later Six Nations, especially of the
Seneca. One of the first careful scien-
tific studies ever made of any tribe, and
still a classic.

Parker, A. C., An Erie Indian
Village and Cemetery, Iroquois Corn
Foods, and other publications in the
Bulletins of the New York State Mu-
seum, Albany, N. Y.; in the same series
as those of Dr. William Beauchamp.

The first of the works mentioned is
the best published account of the
archaeological work on any one site
in the State, and should be read by
everyone intending to do research.

The second gives a valuable insight
into ancient Indian methods of cookery.

All of Mr. Parker's works are val-
uable because of his deep knowledge
of all things Indian and his experience
as State Archaeologist.

Furman, Gabriel, Antiquities of Long
Island, N. Y. 1874.

Tooker, W. W., Indian Place-Names
on Long Island, N. Y., 1911 (Knick-
erbocker Press).

THE THUNDERBIRD

Engraved on a fragment of pottery found at Shinnecock Hills, Long Island. The thunder-
birds were gods and patrons of warriors and it is one of their duties to guard mankind from the
evil horned serpents (page 10) that dwell under the earth or beneath the waters.

The collection, which represents about 500 falls, numbering some 2,000
specimens, includes the great "Ahnighito" meteorite, weighing 36^ tons,
brought from Greenland by Peary, the strange "Willamette" meteorite
and the "Canyon Diablo" which contains minute diamonds.

THE HABITAT GROUPS OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. By FRAXK M. CHAP-
MAN, Curator of Ornithology. February, 1809. Price, 15 ants.

These celebrated groups are designed to illustrate not only the habits
but also the haunts, or habitats, of the species shown. The backgrounds
are careful studies from nature and each represents some definite locality.
Twenty-two of these groups are shown in this leaflet.

THE BATRACHIANS OF THE VICINITY OF NEW YORK CITY. By RAYMOND
L. DITMARS, Curator of Reptiles, New York Zoological Park. October, 1905.
Price, 15 cents.

THE BIRDS OF THE VICINITY OF NEW YORK CITY. BY FRANK M. CHAP-
MAX, Curator of Ornithology. April-July, 1S06. Price, 15 cents.
THE EVOLUTION OF THE HORSE. By W. D. MATTHEW, Ph.D., Curator,
Department of Vertebrate Palaeontology. 63 pages, 39 illustrations. Price, 20
c< /<?.s.

The past geologic history of the Horse affords the most complete and
convincing illustration of evolution among mammals. This leaflet, based
upon material in this Museum, describes the successive stages in its evolution
from the four-toed "Eohippus no bigger than a fox" to the single-toed horse
of to-day.

THE INDIANS OF MANHATTAN ISLAND AND VICINITY. By ALAXSOX
SKINNER, Assistant Curator, Department of Anthropology. April, 1915.
Price, 20 cents.

BRIEF HISTORY OF ANTARCTIC EXPLORATION. March, 1910. Revised
March, 1915. Price, 10 cents.

A summary of the Exploration of Antarctic Regions, from the voyage of
Captain Cook in 1768-1777vdown to Mawson's expedition in 1913.
PLANT FORMS IN WAX. By E. C. B. FASSETT. November, 1911. Price, 10
cents.

Tells how reproductions of foliage and flowers, such as are used in the
bird groups, are made.

HOW TO COLLECT AND PRESERVE INSECTS. By FRANK E. LUTZ. Price,

10 cents
OUR COMMON BUTTERFLIES. By FRANK E. LUTZ and F. E. WATSON.

Describes and figures natural size about 40 species of our more common
butterflies. Price, 15 cents.

GUIDE TO THE COLLECTIONS
ILLUSTRATED

New Edition issued December, 1914, 127 pages,
65 illustrations, many full page. Price 25 cents.

These publications may be purchased in the Visitors' Room, near the
entrance, from the Attendants or from the Librarian.

AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

FOR THE PEOPLE

FOR EDUCATION

FOR SCIENCE

THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SANTA CRUZ

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To renew by phone, call 429-2756

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after due date are subject to billing.

DEC 11

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