NO. 12 MONACAN TOWNS IN VIRGINIA BUSHNELL I3 



Consequently the discovery of other sites along the course of the 

 James, where the dead had l)een Iniried in shallow pits scattered 

 through the village, suggests that some other tribe or tribes may have 

 preceded the Monacan. Numerous signs of Indian occupancy have 

 been encountered on Elk Island, a large island in the James a short 

 distance below the mouth of the Rivanna, but there is no reason to 

 believe it was ever occupied by the important village of Rassawek. 

 The burials discovered on the island do not appear to have been of 

 Monacan origin ; however, related Siouan tribes could have occupied 

 this and other sites in the valley of the James. 



MONAHASSANUGH 



As Mooney has so clearly shown, the Monahassanugh of Smith 

 were the Tutelo of later narratives. To quote from his interesting 

 work' (p. 37) : " The Tutelo and Saponi tribes must be considered 



together. Their history under either name begins in 1670 



Monahassanugh and Nahyssan are other forms of Yesa'\ the name 

 given themselves by the last surviving Tutelo, and which seems to 

 have been the generic term used by all the tribes of this connection 

 to designate them as a people." And again (p. 31) : " In Nahyssan 

 we have the Monahassanugh of Smith, the Hanohaskie of Batts, and 

 the Yesang of Hale. The last is evidently the generic root word, the 

 pfl-efix Mo, Mona, or Na in the other forms probably giving a specific 

 local application to the common term. Thus from Lederer's statement 

 that Sapon was a Nahyssan town we understand that the Saponi were 

 a subtribe or division of the people who knew themselves as Yesang." 



The ancient village of Monahassanugh is believed to have stood 

 on the left bank of the James, about ih miles up the stream from 

 Wingina, in Nelson County. The river is here bordered on the 

 north, or left bank, by broad fertile bottom lands which extend for 

 some miles above and below the site ; while on the opposite side 

 cliffs rise abruptly, steep, rugged and broken. The site resembles 

 that of Mowhemcho or Monacan Town, although the relative position 

 of the cliffs and low ground is reversed, the former being on the left 

 bank of the river and the latter, which was occupied l)y the village, 

 on the right. 



Stone implements have been found scattered over much of the 

 low ground, arrowheads of white quartz and of brownish quartzite 

 have been recovered in vast quantities. Numerous fragments of 



* Mooney, James, The Siouan tribes of the East. Bull. 22, Bur. -Vnier. Eth- 

 nol., Washington, 1894. 



