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NYSAA Bulletin No. 26 — Croton Point Midden Excavation — Passage 4 (part 9)

Louis A. Brennan et al. (1962) 223 words View original →

[Louis A. Brennan et al. (1962)] On the north shore of Lake Ontario, Bay of Quinte’ Component, a Point Peninsula Focus burial mound contained several natural concretions and fossils in addition to various burial offerings (Ritchie, 1944, p. 178). Fossil brachiopods stained with red paint were among a large collection of artifacts recovered from cache pits at a site south of Trenton, New Jersey, resembling Orient culture components (Ritchie, 1944, pp. 232-3). Projectile points have been recovered throughout the eastern states containing fossil remains of coral, crinoids, and trilobites. Some of these artifacts have a single cross section of a fossil located centrally in the face of the blade suggesting the intentional ornamental plan of the maker. The northeastern woodlands have contributed many Indian legends dealin g with magic and sorcery relative to stone, some of harboring demons or , benevolent spirits, others of humans transformed to stone through witchcraft and most curious, the legendary beginnings of various natural phenomena. One such story graphically relates the origin of the glacially deposited boulders of the Connecticut coast (Jenkins, 1912, p. 316). It tells how the Indian version of Satan ordered the native residents of coastal Connecticut to vacate their lands. On the advice of their women the Indians consented; with the proviso they would be paid for their losses. This was not acceptable to the devil and he attacked them.