Early habitation by American Indians The area was first inhabited during the Stone Age by nomadic Algonquian peoples.Kirby, C.D. (1976). The Early History of Gowanda and The Beautiful Land of the Cattaraugus. Gowanda, NY: Niagara Frontier Publishing Company, Inc./Gowanda Area Bi-Centennial Committee, Inc. An Algonquian earthwork mound from the first or second Stone Age is located on a farm in the area of Rosenberg along Zoar Valley near Gowanda. The mound is believed to be about 3,500 years old. Artifacts including spearheads, copper heads, and stone implements of a crude nature have been excavated from the site. In the latter half of the 14th century, Iroquoian-speaking peoples traveled to the area and lived along Cattaraugus Creek. They were proud, considering themselves to be "chosen people". Other tribes lived in the area around this time. The powerful nations of the Iroquois Confederacy defeated the Erie people (also an Iroquoian-speaking tribe), driving them out of the area or assimilating captives by adoption in certain clans. About this time, the Five Nations of the Confederacy coalesced as distinct peoples. They made a pact of cooperation rather than warfare. They controlled much of present-day New York state west of Albany and the Hudson River.
Early habitation by American Indians The area was first inhabited during the Stone Age by nomadic Algonquian peoples.Kirby, C.D. (1976). The Early History of Gowanda and The Beautiful Land of the Cattaraugus. Gowanda, NY: Niagara Frontier Publishing Company, Inc./Gowanda Area Bi-Centennial Committee, Inc. An Algonquian earthwork mound from the first or second Stone Age is located on a farm in the area of Rosenberg along Zoar Valley near Gowanda. The mound is believed to be about 3,500 years old. Artifacts including spearheads, copper heads, and stone implements of a crude nature have been excavated from the site. In the latter half of the 14th century, Iroquoian-speaking peoples traveled to the area and lived along Cattaraugus Creek. They were proud, considering themselves to be "chosen people". Other tribes lived in the area around this time. The powerful nations of the Iroquois Confederacy defeated the Erie people (also an Iroquoian-speaking tribe), driving them out of the area or assimilating captives by ad.option in certain clans. About this time, the Five Nations of the Confederacy coalesced as distinct peoples. They made a pact of cooperation r:ather than warfare. They controlled much of present-day New York state west of Albany and the Hudson River.