Sum 05 Travel 19-25
5/17/05
10:26 PM
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Summer Travel Special On the Trail of the Iroquois By Rachel Dickinson
The interior of the Seneca Bark Longhouse at Ganondagan State Historic Site. The longhouse is 60 feet long by 20 feet wide. Its dimensions are based on a 17th-century longhouse excavated in 1965.
eautiful Upstate New York is the traditional home of the Iroquois. Once a confederation of five Indian nations—the Mohawk, Cayuga, Oneida, Onondaga, and Seneca (later, six, when the Tuscarora joined)—Iroquois villages and towns stretched from present day Quebec City to Warren, Pennsylvania, and from Albany to Toronto. Today, a significant number of the Iroquois remain in New York State, while others reside in various parts of the United States and Canada. There are prettier ways to cross the state than I-90 (often referred to as “the Thruway”), but it will take you through the traditional home territories of the five nations—Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca—in an expeditious fashion.
JACK KIDD
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american archaeology
Begin at the New York State Museum in Albany, which has an extensive collection of Iroquois artifacts. A significant portion of the first floor of the museum is given over to an explanation of historic Native American culture in the state. In a series of life-sized dioramas, visitors learn about many aspects of Iroquoian life from hunting to agriculture to social structure. Each diorama has a touch screen that gives you a more in-depth explanation of a particular artifact. For example, I knew about the “three sisters” system of agriculture (planting corn, bean, and squash together) but seeing hills of life-sized stalks of corn with beans growing up around the stalks holding them upright and then squash plants trailing about between the hills made me want to go home and replant my garden. 19
