Ohio History Journal

separated only by a shallow trough three or four feet wide, the

bottom of which is about a foot above the general level of the

ground. There were various depressions in both walls, and one

or more may originally have been gateways, but which ones were

actually so used cannot now be determined. This inclosure lies

on a flat elevation the surface of which is from fifteen to twenty

feet above the level of a swamp of some seventy acres.

Signs of occupation, as revealed by excavation lasting one

week, were rather sparse. Black soil, intermixed with ashes and

animal bones, covered the entire interior of the inclosure to a

depth varying from six inches to a foot. Artifacts were found

in this soil, and in irregular pits from one to three feet in depth

which contained no observable strata.

A trench through both walls on the east side brought to light

in the outer wall two vertical pointed areas of dark soil which

were taken to be the remains of posts forming part of a log

stockade. The tops of these post-molds began two feet beneath

the surface of the wall, one extending downward two feet, and

the other a foot and a half. The posts indicated by these molds

were about seven inches in diameter, and over most of their

length were not more than two inches apart, providing they were

in erect positions.

No flint projectile points were found on this site, and arti-

facts of all types were scarce, indicating a rather limited occupa-

tion. Halves of five bird-bone beads and two entire specimens

range in length from two to three and one-half centimeters. Three

are shown in Figure 2, A. The one at the left has nine notches.

Five deer antler-tips show use, probably as flint-chipping tools as

the tips are blunt or polished, and the bases are not perforated.

One is shown in Figure 2, B. C is another type of flint-chipping

tool with both ends missing. Only one entire bone awl is repre-

sented in this collection. It is a section of the leg-bone of a deer,

and is split longitudinally (Figure 2, D.). E and F have polished

surfaces, but the points are missing. Three other pieces of bone

show various signs of use. One has a polished surface, another

is part of the leg-bone of a bird which has been cut squarely off

at one end, and the third has a narrow incised line near one end.

G is the tip of a chisel, or perhaps a flint-chipping tool, of antler.

In Figure 10, G is a sandstone discoidal which was found in a

field about 500 feet to the north of the inclosure, on the surface.

It may not belong to Boice Fort.

In the thirty-six potsherds found at least three separate ves-

sels are represented. In Figure 3, A is a section of the rim of a

shell-tempered pot with notches or narrow scallops in the lip, each

scallop having three grooves parallel to the sides of the pot (Fig-

ure 7, 0; cross-section, Figure 7, A.). Nine sherds, including this

rim-fragment, apparently belong to the same pot. The sherd

illustrated is 9mm. thick, and the thinnest of the remainder is

4mm. The paste is nearly black on the outer surface and light

brown on the inner. The chief feature of this vessel is the por-

ousness of the paste. There are cavities of various shapes and

sizes up to 4mm. in diameter on both surfaces, and they show up

also in the broken edges. The tempering is fine and evenly dis-

tributed. The outer surface is roughened by the vertical marks

of a cord-wrapped paddle, the impressions extending to the edge

of the lip.

Another vessel, grit-tempered, is represented by two sherds.

Figure 3, B, is a portion of the rim. The lip has a low scallop

with five notches extending a short distance down the inner sur-

face at the scallop. On the outer surface similar notches extend

down the same distance on each side of the scallop. The outer

surface of these sherds bear irregular paddle marks. The cross-

section of the illustrated rim-sherd is shown as B in Figure 7.

The third vessel is also grit-tempered, and is represented by

six body-sherds. The paste is light brown throughout, and on

both surfaces. No sherd is more than 4.5mm. thick, and the outer

surfaces are roughened by shallow paddle marks, in lines about

2mm. wide, roughly parallel. The remaining sherds are grit-tem-

pered.

One grit-tempered body sherd (Figure 3, C.) has lightly in-

cised horizontal lines above a row of punctate marks, and a diag-

onal paddle mark.

with outer and inner layers of light brown from 2 to 3mm. thick,

and a central layer of black from 3 to 5mm. thick. The fragments

of ground shell are not of uniform thickness. This sherd is a

portion of the rim which has a wide, low scallop. There are cir-

cular depressions in the lip from 4 to 6mm. in diameter and from

3 to 5mm. apart. The outer surface, which is dark brown, bears

the vertical marks of a cord-wrapped paddle, from the lip down-

ward. At the shoulder this paddle mark has been smoothed over

in several horizontal uneven streaks. In cross-section (Figure

7, C.) the thickest point is at the shoulder, where this measure-

ment is 10mm.

The bone bead (Figure 14, F.) was found eighteen inches

from the sherd, and is of a type not found on any of the other

sites herein described.

Burrill Fort. This fortified promontory is in Sheffield town-

ship, Lorain County, on French Creek one-quarter of a mile from

its entry into Black River. It is described by Squier and Davis

in Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley on page 39. The

promontory (Figure 9.) is 348 feet long and 123 feet wide, and

projects into the valley flat of French Creek where the stream

divides into two branches. The surface is level, and about forty-

seven feet above the beds of the two branches, which are about

twelve feet wide. Two walls with outer ditches traverse the neck

of the promontory on the southeast. They are 128 feet long,

and the distance from the inner edge of the outer wall to the

edge of the ditch adjoining the inner wall is thirty-seven feet.

There are several depressions in each wall, but none was definite

enough to be described as a gateway. The walls are eighteen feet

wide and from one and one-half to two feet in height.

Signs of occupation were not profuse. Excavations lasting

a week disclosed several depressions in the surface, irregular in

outline and from two to three feet in depth. These were filled

with dark gray soil which contained artifacts of various types,

animal bones, and a small amount of charcoal and ashes. No

strata were observed.

and nearly black, to light reddish brown or gray. The tempering

material is coarse and unevenly distributed. These sherds range

in thickness from 5 to 14mm. Thirty-one are over 9mm. thick.

Inner surfaces are relatively smooth except for the protrusion of

particles of tempering material, which is mainly quartz. The

outer surfaces are mainly paddle-marked, deep in many cases

(Figure 12, H.) and in parallel lines, or sometimes in lines

crossing one another at angles (Figure 12, I.). On one sherd

the paddle marks cross to form a diamond-shaped pattern, and

a few show impression with a cord-wrapped paddle. One sherd

has a countersunk hole in the edge.

National Tube Company Site. Three-quarters of a mile west

of Burrill Fort is an uninclosed village site on a hill the level top

of which is thirty-five feet above the level of the water in Black

River, in Sheffield township, on land belonging to the National

Tube Company. This hill, formerly separated from the mainland

by a swamp which probably was an old channel of Black River,

is now an island formed by the dredging of this swamp.

The area of occupation was confined to the highest part of

this artificially-formed island, and comprises about one acre. The

bluff is nearly perpendicular on the east and south, and slopes

gently to the water's edge on the remaining borders. The soil

is about a foot thick, with the weathered and broken surface of

the limestone directly beneath. One day was spent in excavation.

Projectile points and other flint types are shown in Figure 13,

A-E. Two scrapers of the "keeled," or "thumb-nail" type are

shown as B (longitudinal cross-sections, Figure 7, P.). The three

leaf-shaped forms to the right in row C are probably scrapers, as

the longitudinal cross-section is that in Q, Figure 7. The two at

the right in row D are six and ten millimeters thick, while the

other three are thin and well made. The three forms E were

probably used as punches or drills. In addition to the illustrated

specimens there are seven broken pieces indicating triangular

unnotched forms only one of which is as thin as five millimeters.

Another specimen is a "blank" of light-colored chert, rectangular

in outline, 4cm. long and 14cm. thick.

PREHISTORIC SITES IN NORTHERN OHIO            231

Of bone artifacts there are but six, the two awls shown in

Figure 14, B, C, and four bird-bone beads, one of which is shown

as E, Figure 14.

Grit-tempered potsherds have a slight majority over those

tempered with shell. The paste of this series of sherds is quite

similar to that of the general run of potsherds from the sites that

have been previously described, with the exception of seven rim-

sherds representing two pots. Two of these are shown in Figure

15, A, B. The surfaces of both are of red material, slightly

gritty, but this red does not show on outer surfaces except where

there are breaks, as there is a thin coating of black, perhaps re-

sulting from the stains of use and handling. A has a laminated

structure, with a central layer of black paste 3 to 4mm. thick

enclosed in outer layers of the red paste with an average thick-

ness of 2mm. Both have the cross-section, B, Figure 8.

The complete range in type of decoration is shown in Figure

15. A-E and H have the crimped pattern, consisting of depres-

sions in a ridge of clay added to the rim just below the lip. F is

without decoration, and has a cross-section as shown in Figure

8, A. G has a band of lightly-incised horizontal lines and deeper

vertical punctate lines, with a cross-section as in Figure 8, G. In

J there is a similar band of parallel lines, slightly deeper. I,

another body sherd, shows two groups of parallel lines at an

oblique angle. A and B are grit-tempered, and the rest of the

sherds in Figure 15 are tempered with shell.²   None of these

rim-sherds exhibits the paddle mark, but it is found on most of

the body sherds. Eight rim sherds not illustrated exhibit the same

features as A and B in Figure 15, and while they do not match

at the edges, they may belong to one or the other of those two

vessels. Three have notched lips, and the lips of three others

are without that feature. The inner surfaces of the remaining

two are missing, and the paste is gray. The lips are plain. One

more sherd from this site is grit-tempered, with a cross-section

as in Figure 8, F. The paste is dark gray, and the outer surface

is black.

2 Cross-sections of sherds in Figure 15 not already given are as follows: C, as in

B, Figure 8; D, as in C, Figure 8; E, as in E, Figure 8; H, as in D, Figure 8.

White Fort. In Elyria township, Lorain County, three or

four miles south of the two sites just described, there was for-

merly a large semi-circular earthwork on the farm of Robert

White. The open side bordered the edge of a perpendicular bluff

the top of which is seventy-five feet above the water-level of

Black River. Only about seventy-five feet of the wall, in a wood-

lot, have been preserved. The remaining portion was in what is

now a cultivated field, and can be distinguished only as a light

band of color in the soil. There is a shallow ditch on the west side

of the portion of the wall in the woodlot. The wall here is from

one to two feet in height and about ten feet wide. At the

edge of the bluff, within the area fortified, there is a spring.

A single day was devoted to excavation, in the wall and in

the inclosed area. No evidence of occupation was found other

than artifacts and animal bones. The only flint points found are

shown in Figure 13, G and F. G is black, and at the base, which

is missing, the specimen is 7mm. thick. F is light gray, and of a

type not found on the other sites herein described. Of bone

artifacts there are only the split animal-bone awl in Figure 14,

D, and a small bird-bone bead. Half of a round hammerstone of

loosely-textured granite, with a pit on one side, was found at a

depth of six inches near the inner edge of the wall.

The twelve fragments of pottery, all body sherds, are grit-

tempered. The paste is from dark to light brown, and tempering

particles are coarse. In Figure 3, E and F show the only two

decorated sherds found. The lines on E are slightly waved. The

design on F is punctate, possibly by the roulette method.

Conclusion.

An examination of the list of traits in the table (page 233.)

makes it apparent that at least four of these sites, Burrill, Boice,

Madison, and the uninclosed hilltop site on the property of the

National Tube Company, are related. With the exception of

rouletted patterns on potsherds, antler-tip flint-chippers and dis-

coidal stones, all the artifacts in this list were found on the Reeve

village site near Willoughby, and this site was tentatively attrib-

uted to the Iroquois.3  Among the chief features providing the

basis for this identification are beads and awls of bone, triangular,

leaf-shaped and truncated flint points, roughly flaked celts, pot-

tery with the crimped pattern and incised horizontal and diagonal

lines, and shell tempering. Two or more of these traits are found

at Burrill and Boice Forts, and at the National Tube Company

site, and in the absence of artifacts representative of other cul-

tures these are sufficient to ally these sites with the Reeve village

near Willoughby. As for Madison Fort, its similarity to Burrill

Fort, with transverse walls and ditches, indicates the probability

of a similarity between the builders of the two sites.

Burrill Fort is brought very close to the Reeve site by the

presence, in addition to the traits above mentioned, of notched

bone beads, notched and stemmed projectile points, keeled

scrapers, slate gorgets, and the scratched stone of ferrous car-

bonate. A piece of the latter is shown in Figure 19 of the Reeve

report, and is identified in the Appendix as slate. But the two

specimens from these sites are of the same shade of red on the

outer surface, and both bear irregular scratches. A further re-

semblance of Boice Fort to the Reeve site is seen in the presence

of the bone flint-chipper shown in Figure 2, C, and the potsherd

with grooves in the scallops (Figure 3, A; compare this with B

in Figure 27 of the Reeve report).

The presence of the roulette pattern at Burrill and White

Forts ties the two more closely together, and suggests the

influence of "Algonkian" or Woodland types of pottery decora-

tion, which become more frequent as one proceeds westward in

northern Ohio. White Fort, in fact, may have been the site of

an "Algonkian" occupation.

Burrill, Boice and Madison Forts, and the National Tube

Company site, may be classified along with the Reeve site4 in the

Middle Mississippi phase of the Mississippi basic culture. White

Fort and the Painesville site appear to belong to the Woodland

phase, although the artifacts from these two are so few that posi-

3 Greenman, "Excavation of the Reeve Village Site," loc. cit., 9.

4 Ibid., 8-9.

tive identification cannot be made. On the evidence available at

present the Conneaut oval hilltop fortification might be assigned

to either one.

Catalog.

Boice Fort. Accession Number 1014.

1.   7 bird-bone beads, two whole and five fragmentary.

Three shown in Figure 2, A.

2. 36 fragments of pottery.

3.   1 sandstone discoidal, found about 500 feet north of

the inclosure. Figure 10, G.

4. 19 animal and bird bones.

5.   5 deer antler prongs, worked.  3-8cm. long. One

shown in Figure 2, B.

6.   2 pieces worked bone, one polished, one with an in-

cised line near end.

7.   1 bone flint-chipping tool, 6.5cm. long, ends missing.

Figure 2, C.

8.   3 bone awls, two of bird-bone (Figure 2, E, F.), and

one of animal bone, split (Figure 2, D.).

9.   1 end of an antler chisel or flint-chipping tool (Figure

2, G.).

Painesville Site. Accession Number 1019.

1.       1 fragment of the rim of a vessel. Figure 3, D.

2.             1 bone bead, animal bone (Figure 14, F.). 9mm.

long, 12mm. outside diameter. Walls 2-3mm. thick.

Burrill Fort. Accession Number 1016.

1.       3 notched projectile points (Figure 10, C.).

2.            4 triangular unnotched projectile points (Figure 10,

A.).

3.       1 stemmed scraper (Figure 10, D, right.).

4.        1 keeled scraper (Figure 10, D, left.).

5.       2 ornamental forms, one slate gorget (Figure 10, E.),

and a piece of red stone bearing scratches (Figure

10, F.).

6.   1 bone awl, notched at blunt end (Figure 14, A.).