Advertise with Text Links and Banners
New York City Mafia - Five Families: Bonanno, Colombo, Gambino, Genovese, Luchese
NY Metro Workout
La Cosa Nostra
The Malcontent
The Indians of Manhattan Island
and Vicinity
By Alanson Skinner
American Museum Of Natural History
Editor, Edmund Otis Hovey
New York, Published by the Museum, September, 1909
The Types of Indian Relics Found in and about New York City
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 vessels may be divided into the following groups according to
shape:
- Conical, pointed bottom, slightly swollen sides, circumference largest at the
mouth, - the typical Algonkian pot of this area, Fig. 14a.
- Like number 1, but much rounder and broader, Fig. 14b.
- Bottom pointed, sides slightly swollen, neck slightly constricted, Fig. 14c.
- 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. 14d.
- Rounded bottom, somewhat constricted neck, lip sometimes flaring, or even
turning down and back, Fig. 14e.
The intermediate types are as follows:
- Rounded bottom, constricted neck, narrow raised rim or collar, Fig. 14f.
- Like number 61 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 intervals, Fig. 14g.
- The Iroquoian types are as follows:
- Mouth rounded, collar or rim heavy, with humps or peaks at intervals, angle
notched, neck constricted and bottom rounded; can stand by itself, an unknown
feature in local Algonkian vessels, Fig. 14h.
- Same as number 7, but with mouth square, and humps at every angle. Much
less common than the preceding, Fig. 14i.
In size, the vessels range from small toy-like pots to jars of very large capacity. 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 fibre or some other substance that disappeared in firing are rarely found.
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, rendering 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 Bowmanis Brook site at Mariner's Harbor, Staten Island fragments of a
typically Algonkian pot were obtained which bore at intervals, rude raised faces. .
With the sole exception of a rather well-modeled clay face, apparently broken from
the
FIG. 14. POTTERY FORMS OF THE COASTAL ALGONKIN
bowl of a pipe (Fig. 15b) found at Port Washington, Long Island, by Mr. M. R.
Harrington, this brief statement concludes the list of pottery life forms reported
from. this area, although others may yet be found here, since some interesting
objects have been collected in immediately adjacent territory.
The forms of decoration consist of stamping with a stamp, roulette or paddle,
and incision (Figs. 16 and 17.) Occasionally, but very rarely,
stucco work occurs. Under stamping we can enumerate the following processes:
- Impression with the rounded end of a stick (rare).
- Impress ion with the end of a quill, or hollow reed, leaving a circular depression
with a tiny lump or nipple (rare) in the center.
- Impression with a section of a hollow reed, making a stamped circle (rare).
- Impression with finger nail (doubtful, but perhaps used on 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.
FIG. 15. TYPICAL ALGONKIAN POTTERY PIPE AND FRAGMENT OF AN EFFIGY PIPE FROM
PORT WASHINGTON, L.I.
Under the head of decoration by incision we can enumerate the following:
- Incised decoration, probably made with a stick.
- Incised decoration, possibly made with a flint object (only one specimen at
hand).
The paddle was frequently used to finish the sides and bottom of the pot by
imparting an appearance of pressure with fabric when the clay was wet.
- . 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, and vessels, either Algonkian or Iroquoian,
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 inch or less on the inside. This
only occurs in the typical Algonkian forms, and is never seen when incised
ornamentation is used. The rims of Iroquoian vessels are never ornamented on
the interior, nor is stamping so frequently practised on vessels of this class. The
intermediate forms, at least the first of the two mentioned, are frequently
ornamented on the interior
Fig. 16. Incised Designs From Pottery Vessels
a, b and d, designs from Iroquoian vessels; c, designs from an Algonkian vessel; e, design from a vessel of the Irquoian type from a Connecticut rock-shelter, introduced here for
comparison.
of the lip. This internal decoration is much more common in the southern portion of
this area than elsewhere in the vicinity.
In design, we must of course, give up all thought of trying to obtain symbolism, if
such there were, for there are no sources now - left upon ~which to base our
assumptions. Certain conventional 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"
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 ofmaterial, it
cannot be determined. whether the designs on the Algonkian
FIG. 17. INCISED DESIGNS, FROM ALGONKIAN VESSELS.
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.
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 ,remains and apparently Dot 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 exposed to the action of the weather, are often as thickly covered
with grease as when they were broken and cast aside.
www.nyclittleitaly.com
Featured Listing Advertising Program
Business name, Web Site Link and a brief description or motto runs for one month in the Page (or Pages) of your choice. Rates are as low as $15 per listing. GET NJ serves over 4,000 visitors each day!
The Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, and The Central Railroad Terminal
Visit Liberty State Park!
|
Questions? Need more information? Contact us at:
www.GETNY.com
P.O. Box 3362
Jersey City, NJ 07303
info@GETNY.com
|