the
use of the present City Hall Park by the Indians for an encampment.
Fig. 65 illustrates a most interesting find of a pre-Columbian pot on
Manhattan Island.
Mr. Reginald Pelham Bolton has furnished the following notes on the Archaeology of Manhattan Island:
"
No other portion of our country is richer in archaeological remains
than the upper end of the island of Manhattan, now know as Washington
Heights. It was the specially prized hunting ground and residence of
the Wick-quas-keek clan of aborigines, the home of a number of the best
known of the patentees of the Township of New Harlem, of which it
formed a part, the scene of a number of military engagements in the war
of the Revolution, including the assault and capture of Fort Washington
(Nov. 16th, 1776), and the camping-ground of thousands of Hessian and
British troops until 1783. It has only been developed within a very
recent period, and much of the material which is now being found has
thus been preserved.
"
The Indian remains are numerous; they include considerable shell
heaps, a number of shell pits, below which have been found burials of
men, dogs, snakes, fish, and turtles, many surface finds of
implements, ceremonials, and evidences of manufacture of arrow and
spear heads.
"
The Colonial remains have been found around the sites of old Dutch
homesteads, in the Inwood valley, chiefly those of the Nagel and
Dyckman families. Pewter, pottery, pipes, coins, household utensils,
and other objects have afforded quite an insight into the domestic life
of the Dutch and Early English periods of occupancy of the region.
"
In military remains the region is particularly rich. The numbered
buttons of nearly all the regimental corps of the British army engaged
in the Revolution have been found, with accoutrements, weapons, and
missiles of great historical interest and value. The habits and life
of the soldiery have been traced by the remains of their food,
utensils, pikes, cutlery,
