36 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 94 



This must be accepted as a highly speciaHzed form, and until a name 

 is suppHed, it may be referred to as a pentagonal type of point, or 

 blade, attributed to an early culture. Very few examples have thus 

 far been recorded. Like the Folsom points, however, they may be 

 widely scattered east of the ^lississippi, although not numerous in 

 any one locality. Examples have been discovered in the northwestern 

 part of Louisiana, in a region where many Folsom points have like- 

 wise been found, but the relation of the two types, if any actually 

 exists, has not been determined. To learn the distribution of the 

 pentagonal type would be of interest in connection with the study of 

 the Folsom points.'" 



SITE AT SKINKERS FORD 



Skinkers Ford is an old crossing of the Rapidan between 2 and 

 3 miles down the river from all that remains of Governor Spotswood's 

 settlement at Germanna, adjoining Fox Neck and Indian Town, which 

 will later be described. The ford is near the middle of a great bend 

 in the river, and immediately below it is an ancient fish trap that oc- 

 cupies the entire stream bed from bank to bank. This will be termed 

 the lower trap, to distinguish it from the upper trap, which extends 

 across the river a little more than half a mile above. 



The site gives the impression of being very extensive and of having 

 been occupied and reoccupied by different tribes through generations. 

 When in its native state, with dense forests covering clififs and ravines 

 and reaching to the river banks, it would have been one of the most 

 desirable locations for a native settlement in the entire valley of the 

 Rapidan. Fish were undoubtedly plentiful, as suggested by the pres- 

 ence of the traps, and wild game was always to have been encountered 

 in the surrounding wilderness. Although an additional water supply 

 was of no great importance, because of the proximity of the river, 

 several springs of sufficient size to supply the wants of many people 

 flow from beneath the clififs that border the low ground. 



Both sides of the Rapidan had been occupied, but only that part of 

 the site on the left bank of the river, extending between the two fish 

 traps, will be described at this time. However, the entire area is 

 worthy of careful examination, and possibly the right bank, being 

 the higher, would prove to be the more interesting. 



The entire site is shown in plate 14. This is a view up the river, 

 the camera being pointed about northwest. At the time the photo- 



■" The specimen just described is in the private collection of F. M. Aldridge, 

 Fredericksburg, Va. 



