Antiquities of New York

Antiquities of the State of New York was first published by the Smithsonian as one of series of "Contributions to Knowledge" in 1851.

Readers can (with great effort) occasionally find rare original copies that range in price from $150 to $300 per copy. Now with our exact softcover replica, you can get this 360 page reprint of the original in its entirety.

E.G. Squier was among the first to explore and survey the ancient earthworks of Western New York. Such defensive walled enclosures dotted the countryside by the hundreds in the early 1800s, but have since been all but wiped out by farming and urbanization.

Squier documented and illustrated in beautiful woodcut reproductions close to 100 of these walled enclosures which belonged to a race of people whom he estimated to have last inhabited the region well before Columbus, over a 1,000 years ago.

Who were these people and what fearsome enemy caused them to build these hundreds of protective enclosures as the last bastion of defense, which obviously failed to accomplish its desired objective?