368 



ARCHAEOLOGY OF POTOMAC REGION MASON. 



west and just above the line of cascades wandered the Mannahoacs 

 and Mouacans, of unknown stock, but for many reasons believed to be- 

 long to the Dakotans. 



Only a few years after the white occupation of the Potomac Valley 

 did the Indians remain. Save such miserable remnant as are now to 

 be seen at Pamuukey, in Virginia, they were driven off by the early set- 

 tlers, leaving but two foot-prints — the shell-heaps and the dwelling sites. 

 The Chesapeake Bay is salt water and is the home of the oyster, where 

 the supply of this valuable food product is still abundant. The brack- 

 ish water of sufficient saltness to suit the oyster extends up the Poto- 

 mac River to within 50 miles of Washington. Consequently, from the 

 point named to the mouth of the river, wherever there was a cove 

 adapted to the abundant growth of the oyster, there camped the Indians 

 and left shell-heaps, which in some places are of enormous extent. It 

 is fortunate that we have among our scientific explorers in Washington 

 Dr. Elmer Reynolds, who has lost no opportunity in examining the 

 Potomac shell-heaps. A map of a portion of the Potomac, prepared by 

 Dr. Reynolds to show the frequency of the shell-heaps along those por- 

 tions of the river favorable to the growth of the oyster, is here given. 



ShellHeaps 



• OF THE- 



Iower Potomac 



In the fresh- water portion of the lower Chesapeake drainage — that is, 

 in the region between salt water and the cataracts — stone implements 



it is remembered that the whole country hereabouts furnished abun- 

 dant natural food supply. All the old local historians go into ecstasies 

 over the shad, herring, sturgeon, wild duck, turkey, and deer, not to 

 mention the great variety of small game, grain, fruit, and maize. To 

 one accustomed to exploration among the mounds of the Ohio Valley or 

 in the West Indies the stone implements are in appearance disappoint- 

 ing. While here and there polished axes are found, the polished im- 

 plement is the exception, not the rule, especially on higher ground. 



