- Park Ranger with the Monroe County [NY] Mendon Ponds' Visitor, 1963-1970; Curator of Anthropology, Rochester Museum a... morePark Ranger with the Monroe County [NY] Mendon Ponds' Visitor, 1963-1970; Curator of Anthropology, Rochester Museum and Science Center, 1974-1980; Native American specialist and Exhibits Planner, New York State Museum, Albany, c.1981-2007; and Collections Manager for the Rock Foundation of their Seneca Historic Archaeological Collection on loan to the Rochester Museum, 2008-presentedit
- Dr. Charles F. Hayes III, Dr. John P. Hart, and Dr. Sean Mooneyedit
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CONTACT BETWEEN THE PEOPLES of the New World and of the Old World had ideational consequences for both. The event of Contact, and more importantly the process of Contact, initiated the reciprocal redefinition of the mythical realities... more
CONTACT BETWEEN THE PEOPLES of the New World and of the Old World had ideational consequences for both. The event of Contact, and more importantly the process of Contact, initiated the reciprocal redefinition of the mythical realities which for centuries, if not millennia, had structured New World and Old World thoughts and behaviors about the other world. Neither the event nor the process of Contact are over. For the Iroquois, dwelling beneath the Great Tree at the center of Earth-Island, indirect knowledge of Contact at the eastern World's Rim and the indirect receipt of exotic trade goods emanating there, appear to have reified and reinvigorated the traditional ritual meanings and functions of light, bright (reflective), and white things. Not least among these were white marine shell and red, upper Great Lakes native copper, into whose meanings and functions were incorporated and assimilated analogous European trade goods of glazed ceramic, glass, and metal. This seemingly in...
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Among the earliest arrival s to the Genesee Country of western New York dur ing the late 18th and early 19t h centuries were craftsmen who were to supply many of the domestic needs of the grow-ing agr icultural and mill i ng communities... more
Among the earliest arrival s to the Genesee Country of western New York dur ing the late 18th and early 19t h centuries were craftsmen who were to supply many of the domestic needs of the grow-ing agr icultural and mill i ng communities of the region (Turner 1849; 1851). Among these men were brown earthenware or (redware) potters who fash-ioned simple lead-glazed earthenware vessels from local clay for the homemaker's table, pantry, and dairy. For the purpose of this study, the Genesee country region (Figure 1) is defined as Rochester-Mon roe County and the area of six surrounding
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Abstract: Fundamental concepts, themes, and dramatis personae from Northeastern Woodland Indian myth are reviewed for their insights into the archaeological, ethnological, and historical records of Indian-European contact and the contact... more
Abstract: Fundamental concepts, themes, and dramatis personae from Northeastern Woodland Indian myth are reviewed for their insights into the archaeological, ethnological, and historical records of Indian-European contact and the contact fur trade. This paper briefly reviews the cognitive role of colour in categorizing and semantically charging Indian biosocial experience; the consequent isomorphism of Indian aesthetic and ideational interests and values in material substances which manifest these colours; the Indian concept of wealth as well-being, of which these substances are primary material expressions; and, finally, the traditional ascription of such wealth to under-(water) world sources and keepers. These mythical realities – as paridigms for behaviour – are then compared for their congruence and interpretive value to the archaeological, ethnological, and historical records of the contact period fur trade. Abstract: Le présent texte examine des idées, des thèmes, et des perso...
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Arguments that Northeastern Woodlands Indans initially perceived European Contact on the Atlantic Cost in terms of their traditional "mythic" worldview.
Among contemporary American pottery collectors, "sewer tile pottery" is usually associated with manufacture in Ohio from the turn of the 20th century. However, the earliest signed and dated examples are several rustic-decorated pitches... more
Among contemporary American pottery collectors, "sewer tile pottery" is usually associated with manufacture in Ohio from the turn of the 20th century. However, the earliest signed and dated examples are several rustic-decorated pitches made by William Lyle, a Scottish born potter, who managed the Rochester NY sewer tile factory in the later 19th century. A Staffordshire type spaniel bank, and a humidor, were alto made there by a German worker, "Willem Hirsel"
paper looks at the convergence of Northeastern North American traditions of contact with the "other" and European records of contact. It also suggests that color and materiality - light, brigh, and white things, served to catalyzed... more
paper looks at the convergence of Northeastern North American traditions of contact with the "other" and European records of contact. It also suggests that color and materiality - light, brigh, and white things, served to catalyzed Native desires for European trade goods.
The role of the White Fire Dragon of Discord in the founding of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. This man-being creates and symbolizes the "Dark Times" of Haudenosaunee culture history to which a "hero" bears a "good message" to restore... more
The role of the White Fire Dragon of Discord in the founding of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. This man-being creates and symbolizes the "Dark Times" of Haudenosaunee culture history to which a "hero" bears a "good message" to restore order.
This is an early paper and discussion of the analogies of "Rites of Passage" with rituals of greeting at the Woods-edge and the World's Rim by which visitors are made "fit to enter."
Over the years I had compiled many references to uninvited and unwanted wampum belts at council being treated as snakes, or in Native thought, "Dragons of Discord." These are entities that disrupt social communications and for which in... more
Over the years I had compiled many references to uninvited and unwanted wampum belts at council being treated as snakes, or in Native thought, "Dragons of Discord." These are entities that disrupt social communications and for which in the origins tradition of the Iroquois Confederacy the Peace-maker provided a pole to cast them from the council fire.
This is the second revision prepared for popular distribution and discussion to answer the many questions received in my museum career of 40 some years. Its purpose is to provide the Euro-America side of the history of wampum, and... more
This is the second revision prepared for popular distribution and discussion to answer the many questions received in my museum career of 40 some years. Its purpose is to provide the Euro-America side of the history of wampum, and particularly to document the last remaining example of New York's wampum patrimony.
Combs featuring a crowned man on horseback holding aloft a sword are found on several Cayuga and Seneca archaeological sites dating from about 1660-1687. While often being attributed to the visit of Wentworth Greenhalgh in 1677, it is... more
Combs featuring a crowned man on horseback holding aloft a sword are found on several Cayuga and Seneca archaeological sites dating from about 1660-1687. While often being attributed to the visit of Wentworth Greenhalgh in 1677, it is more likely they were inspired my objects of Dutch or English material culture bearing a similar motif
This compilation demonstrates the analogies in the anthropomorphic forms of a mid-17th century Iroquoian ball-headed club, an early 17th century Cayuga archaeological antler figurine, and a mid-17th Susquehannock archaeological antler... more
This compilation demonstrates the analogies in the anthropomorphic forms of a mid-17th century Iroquoian ball-headed club, an early 17th century Cayuga archaeological antler figurine, and a mid-17th Susquehannock archaeological antler purported gaming piece.
This is a compilation of images which visually argue for the source of a four-rayed star motif that shows up in 17th century archaeological art which I identify as being derived from the plastron of the Snapping Turtle and which perhaps... more
This is a compilation of images which visually argue for the source of a four-rayed star motif that shows up in 17th century archaeological art which I identify as being derived from the plastron of the Snapping Turtle and which perhaps is a shared symbol of Light and Life.
This is a compilation of images derived from various sources which feature what I have termed "the lord of the manor" - an individual standing with his musket at his side.
A comparison of tattoo motifs among the Seneca and Northeastern Algonquians..
The name for the medicine gourd rattle in the Eastern Woodlands is onomatopoetic for the sound of the shaken gourd rattle. Some rattlesnake species derive their name from the rattles they carry also as anthropomorphic shamans and... more
The name for the medicine gourd rattle in the Eastern Woodlands is onomatopoetic for the sound of the shaken gourd rattle. Some rattlesnake species derive their name from the rattles they carry also as anthropomorphic shamans and warriors. Similar onomatopoetic names for the gourd rattle are also found among the Nahuatl.
Understanding Iroquois metaphor and figures of speech in the past and in the presentl
Inspired by Robert L. Hall's 1977 paper, AN ANTHROPOCENTRIC PERSPECTIVE FOR EASTERN. UNITED STATES PREHISTORY. ROBERT L. HALL, I set out in 1979 to visually compare the forms and effigy decorations of Great Lakes region smoking pipes and... more
Inspired by Robert L. Hall's 1977 paper, AN ANTHROPOCENTRIC PERSPECTIVE FOR EASTERN. UNITED STATES PREHISTORY. ROBERT L. HALL, I set out in 1979 to visually compare the forms and effigy decorations of Great Lakes region smoking pipes and warclubs to demonstrate their analogies in form and effigy decorations. These physical analogies would seem to underlie the peace - war metaphors of the calumet dance as shown in Joseph Francois Lafitau's engraving of the calumet dance which shows the combat between two men, one armed with a calumet pipe and the other armed with a warclub. These pipe and warclub forms and functions were inspired the pipe-tomahawk of the 18th and following century.
The illustrations were prepared by Gene Mackay, a remarkable artist whose detailed artifact drawings executed in pencil on mylar illustrate the many publications of the Charles F. Way Series in Seneca Archaeology, Rochester Museum and Science Center
The illustrations were prepared by Gene Mackay, a remarkable artist whose detailed artifact drawings executed in pencil on mylar illustrate the many publications of the Charles F. Way Series in Seneca Archaeology, Rochester Museum and Science Center
The paper discusses the history of Susannah Swan's "wampum bag." She was among the captives taken during a French and Indian raid on Haverill, Massachusetts in 1697. She was released two years later bring the bag with her. The bag is... more
The paper discusses the history of Susannah Swan's "wampum bag." She was among the captives taken during a French and Indian raid on Haverill, Massachusetts in 1697. She was released two years later bring the bag with her. The bag is one of the very rare decorated twined bags that survives from 17th century New England and is among the best documented. It descended in Sussanah's family; she herself probably retold the story of her captivity until her death in the mid-18th century. The oral traditional preserved the bag through the mid-19th century when a family member in southern Albany County, NY converted the bag into a sewing basket.
The North American Mountain Lion or "panther" in Huron-Wyandot and Seneca Myth, Ritual and Material Culture
... Lilian A. Clare (1928; reprint, New York, 1966); Carlos Castaneda, The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge (Berkeley, 1968). 6 Berkhofer, White Man's Indian, 33-71. ... Ibid., 27. 7 Ruth Beebe Hill, Hanta Yo: An... more
... Lilian A. Clare (1928; reprint, New York, 1966); Carlos Castaneda, The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge (Berkeley, 1968). 6 Berkhofer, White Man's Indian, 33-71. ... Ibid., 27. 7 Ruth Beebe Hill, Hanta Yo: An American Saga (Garden City, 1979). ...
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... man-beings and other-than-human man-beings.1 Among the latter are the grandfa-thers, keepers of precious substances or medicines of well-being and of the rituals associated with them, who habitually dwell at liminal places: in deep... more
... man-beings and other-than-human man-beings.1 Among the latter are the grandfa-thers, keepers of precious substances or medicines of well-being and of the rituals associated with them, who habitually dwell at liminal places: in deep springs, rivers, and lakes, in caves and ...
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Ethnographic and archaeological evidence is presented regarding the symbolic significance of rattlesnakes to Northeastern Native communities.
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This paper proposes that [white] shell serves as a ritual metaphor for Light and Life, for the biological continuity of Life in general and for the biological and social continuity of Human Life in particular. White shell contrasts with... more
This paper proposes that [white] shell serves as a ritual metaphor for Light and Life, for the biological continuity of Life in general and for the biological and social continuity of Human Life in particular. White shell contrasts with the ritual values of black or dark purple shell and with red [painted] shell. Sky-blue-green painted shell is ritually equivalent of white shell and the latter is ritually equivalent to "white metal" or silver. Light, Bright, and White things are ritually "good to think."
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This paper presents a circumstantial argument that Wendelaus Hollar's 1645 etching of "An American from Virginia," taken from life, was a Munsee from Manhattan, recently captured and taken to Amsterdam for exhibition by two Dutch veteran... more
This paper presents a circumstantial argument that Wendelaus Hollar's 1645 etching of "An American from Virginia," taken from life, was a Munsee from Manhattan, recently captured and taken to Amsterdam for exhibition by two Dutch veteran soldiers in New Netherland, Peter Cock and Peter Ebels.
Cultural Frontiers The "real reason" for Arent van Curler's drowning death on Lake Champlain in the summer of 1667,