File:Indians of Manhattan Island and vicinity - (1921) (14784751585).jpg

Identifier: indiansofmanhatt00skin_0 (find matches)
Title: Indians of Manhattan Island and vicinity /
Year: 1921 (1920s)
Authors: Skinner, Alanson, 1886-1925.
Subjects: Manhattan Indians Indians of North America
Publisher: (New York) : American Museum of Natural History
Contributing Library: Columbia University Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: The Durst Organization

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^ thecoil process, which consisted of the following steps: The Indians firstsecured clay of a suitable quality, which was mixed with pounded shell orstones to make it tougher and more durable. It was then worked intolong rolls, and the Indians, beginning at the bottom, worked the pot upby adding coil after coil, blending or smoothing the coils with a smoothstone until they did not show from either the interior or exterior surface.When the pot was completed, it was decorated by stamping or incisingdesigns about the exterior of the rim.
Text Appearing After Image:
CROSS SECTION OF A SHELL PIT The upright case at the end contains an exhibit from the remnants ofthe Algonkin and Iroquois Indians of New York State and New England,while a map showing the location of most of the Indian villages ofGreater New York and vicinity and an actual section of a typical shell-heap, as well as photographs and labels describing the opening and exca- INDIANS OF MANHATTAN ISLAND L5 ration of the sites, are near at hand. Specimens typical of those foundin 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 bed- ofrefuse marking the sites of ancient villages, camps, and isolated wigwams.Wherever the fresh water joins the salt, especially where open water forfishing 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,

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