22 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 82 



specimens have thus remained since they were lost or abandoned by 

 the last inhabitants of the village — ^believed to have been the Saponi, 

 who left the site some time before the year 1670, although some 

 may have lingered behind. About 70 years later colonists entered the 

 valley of the Rivanna. The ground has now been cultivated for many 

 years and, undoubtedly, numerous objects both large and small have 

 been broken by the plow, but some of unusual interest have been 

 discovered within the past few years. 



The material collected on the surface consists of objects of stone, 

 both chipped and polished, and numerous fragments of pottery, many 

 of which bear the imprint of textiles. No specimens made of shell, 

 bone, or metal have been discovered, and nothing of European origin 

 to suggest contact with the colonists has been encountered on the site. 



Many of the stone implernents, or weapons, are crudely made, but 

 with edges worn and polished as a result of much use. These are 

 seldom broken or incomplete although a number of fragments of well 

 made polished celts have been found, as well as more perfect speci- 

 mens with only the cutting edge battered or fractured, suggesting 

 rough usage. Perfect or complete objects of the finer workmanship 

 are not found. This fact is difficult to explain unless the better pieces 

 were carried away when, as it is believed, the majority of the people 

 of the village moved to another locality during the latter part of the 

 17th century. The crudely chipped implements may have been made 

 by the last native inhabitants of the site, thus representing the close 

 of the stone age in this part of Virginia. 



The material collected on this very interesting site is now in the 

 United States National Museum and will be briefly described. 



A very unusual specimen is shown in plate 3, the photograph being 

 exact size; material, greenish gray chlorite schist. It was found by 

 the writer on the surface near the center of the site, October, 1928. 

 This suggests a human head with a pointed base ; extreme height 

 3^ inches, width if inches, thickness from front to back i^ inches. 

 The material is comparatively soft and the surface of the stone has 

 probably become smooth and somewhat worn away during the years 

 since it was made, thus losing some of its sharpness and detail which 

 it might otherwise have possessed. The true meaning or purpose 

 of the object is not known, but it at once suggests Beverley's 

 reference to an idol which he discovered in a temple belonging to one 

 of the Algonquian tribes of Virginia, probably about the year 1700. 

 The various parts of the idol were found with the exception of the 

 head, which had been removed and secreted. This small stone head, 

 although found on the site of a Siouan village, may have been some- 



