Home / Louis A. Brennan et al. (1962) / Passage

NYSAA Bulletin No. 26 — Croton Point Midden Excavation — Passage 4 (part 7)

Louis A. Brennan et al. (1962) 201 words View original →

[Louis A. Brennan et al. (1962)] The stones not meeting the necessary requirements for further modification became hearth and boiling stones or were put to some other crude utilitarian use, such as hammers, anvils, and mullers. In the Park area, the Archery Range Site (Kaeser, 1962, pp. 4-7), Pelham Boulder Site (Lopez, 1956, p. 15), and the as yet undocumented Bartow midden have all yielded various stones containing molds or negative impressions of fossil mollusks, in association with cultural material diagnostic of the East River and Windsor aspects (Smith, 1950, pp. 116-187). Doubtlessly, the shore dwelling Indian held no interest in the families, genera, species, and chronological order of fossils which were discovered in his lithic work shops. However, the presence of recognizable mollusks and other aquatic animals in beach pebbles might have suggested to these shell-fish-gathering folk either a contemporaneous species inhabiting solid rock or, more akin to their religious, superstitious and mythological beliefs, pure evidence of the fearful powers of the malevolent demons whose placation was woven into their daily life. The aboriginal digging of cooking and grave pits in camp sites no doubt also brought to light occasional stones and concretions of grotesque and animal form which were probably regarded in a like manner.