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SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 82 



a short distance south of Damon, Albemarle County. It is about 2 

 miles in a direct line north of east from Schuyler, and between 5 and 

 6 miles northwest from the nearest point on the left bank of the James. 

 Schuyler is on the banks of Rockfish River, some 6 miles above its 

 mouth, in Nelson County. Since 1926 the surface has been stripped 

 and quarries have been opened on the site, thus destroying traces of 

 the work done by Indians before the coming of Europeans to this 

 part of Virginia. 



When visited in 1926 ' great masses of soapstone outcropped on 

 the surface. These followed a general direction from southwest to 

 northeast and had a dip of about 60° to the southeast. The broken, 

 irregular surface was heavily timbered, and evidently the entire region 

 had changed little in appearance during the past centuries. Near by 



Fig. 8. — Fragment of an unfinished flat-bottomed soapstone vessel, i natural size. 

 (U. S. Nat. Mus. Cat. No. 332025) 



were several large springs. For i ,000 feet or more along the ridge it 

 was possible to trace the pits, dug by Indians generations ago, from 

 which quantities of soapstone had been removed. Twenty or more 

 excavations were thus discovered and probably others were so filled 

 with the accumulated mold and moss as not to have been distinguish- 

 able. The pits varied from 10 to 30 feet in diameter and appeared 

 to have been from 2 to 4 feet in depth. Some were quite distinct ; 

 others may have been joined beneath the mass of mold and thus in 

 reality have been parts of a large excavation. 



The surface surrounding the pits was covered with pieces of the 

 stone, some large, others small, which had been removed from the 

 quarries and evidently rejected as being unfit for use. But only a 



*Bushnell, David I., Jr., Ancient soapstone quarry in Albemarle County, 

 Virginia. Journ. Washington Acad. Sci., Vol. 16, No. 19, November 18, 1926. 



