CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY, NEW YORK.
By James Sheward, of Dunkirk, N. Y.
Chautauqua County has furnished many indications of a former occupancy; but, as yet, we have found nothing to establish its probable antiquity.
I have some fragments of a piece of pottery, a jar or vase, found beneath the roots of a very old apple-tree in the town of Stockton. This tree grew in a valley, and was evidently quite old when it was blown down. The vase or jar was broken, but it was estimated, from the pieces found, to be about two gallons capacity. The pieces indicate that it was made principally from pounded quartz. The surface was smooth and impervious to water. The depth at which it was found I have been unable to ascertain with any certainty. Thus far I can find no evidence of a secular increase in the valley; consequently there are no data for a calculation of the period when the jar was abandoned. The fragments and description were given to me by Mr. F. McCullough, of Delanti, this county. Within the village of Frewsbury, town of Carroll, some years ago, a pine stump, which had been left standing for a long time, was pulled up, and under its roots were found two human skeletons. I saw some of the bones were parts of the skull, but was unable to determine whether the crania indicated round, flat, or oval-shaped heads. I could obtain no certain information as to the depth below the surface at which these bones were found, and none as to secular increase. The pine stump was very large and showed 580 cuticle layers or growths. The tree at the time it was felled was five hundred and eighty years old, and was probably cut down twenty years or more before the stump was pulled up. A period of six hundred years must have elapsed since that tree began to grow. How long those skeletons have been inhumed prior to the germination of the tree we cannot tell. At the first settlement of that section of our county the valley was a vast pine forest. Through this valley runs a creek or brook, tributary to the Conawauga, one of the tributaries of the Ohio. I have reason to think that a thorough exploration of this neighborhood would give valuable information.
In the town of Sheridan, on the farm of Mr. N. Gould, have been found, at various times, numbers of human bones. These bones indicated, by their number, size, and position, that the place where they were found was either a cemetery or had been the scene of a battle where large numbers of all ages and sexes had been killed. The craniological developments I know nothing about. In the vicinity of Mr. Gould's farm are yet to be found earthen fortifications, breastworks, and ditches. These fortifications are somewhat numerous and exten-
