﻿NO. 5 SMITHSONIAN I-:X1MJ)KATI( )NS, I922 I43 



of this ancient community is among the finest in the Southwest, no 

 other prehistoric pe()])le within the horders of the United States hav- 

 ing surj^assed the ancient Donitians in the heauty of form and decora- 

 tion of their ceramic artifacts. 



INVESTIGATION OF PREHISTORIC QUARRIES AND WORK- 

 SHOPS IN PENNSYLVANIA 



Mr. John L. Baer, acting curator of American archeology in the 

 U. S. National Museum during the ahsence of ^Nlr. Neil ^U Judd, 

 curator, spent a part of April, 1922, and a numher of week ends 

 during the summer, along the Susquehanria River, where he investi- 

 gated a numher of prehistoric quarries and workshops for the Bureau 

 of American Ethnology. 



On Mount Johnson Island, one mile ahove Peach Bottom, Lancaster 

 Co., Pa., he has located a workshop where slate hanner stones were 

 made in quantity. These prehistoric objects, figures 137, 138, often 

 of finest workmanship, are peculiar to the eastern part of the United 

 States and their use has led to much speculation among archeologists. 

 During the past few years more than 300 broken and unfinished ban- 

 ner stones have been found here, from which a numl:»er of series have 

 been assembled showing all stages of development from the split 

 blocks of slate to finished banner stones. The series illustrated herein 

 has been placed on exhibition in the Pennsylvania case in the Archeo- 

 logical Hall of the U. S. National INIuseum. 



This workshop was conveniently located a short distance up the 

 river from a large vein of slate which crosses the Susquehanna. A 

 high cliff of exposed slate extends to within a few yards of the 

 water's edge on either side of the river. 



The large number of specimens broken in the early stages of manu- 

 facture, found at the island workshop, and the scattered specimens 

 showing more advanced work, picked up on nearby camp sites, indi- 

 cate that many of the unfinished banner stones were blocked out and 

 partly pecked at the workshop near the source of material and carried 

 to distant camp sites to be completed there. As there was a famous 

 shad battery on Mount Johnson Island, to which Indians from distant 

 points came for supplies of shad and herring, it is probable that 

 many of the slate banner stones scattered through Pennsylvania and 

 Maryland may have been made, or at least started, at this workshop. 



