NO. 7 INDIAN OCCUPANCY IN VIRGINIA — BUSHNELL 7 



EVIDENCE OF AN EARLY PERIOD OF OCCUPANCY 

 As previously stated, it is evident that several distinct groups 

 of tribes, belonging to different linguistic families, entered and be- 

 came established in the piedmont country during late prehis- 

 toric times, the centuries immediately preceding the arrival of the 

 European colonists. This may be termed the late, or recent, period 

 of occupancy by native tribes, and many of the artifacts now en- 

 countered scattered over the surface of village and camp sites in the 

 valleys of the James, the Rivanna, and streams northward, were un- 

 doubtedly produced during this period. Some of the objects made 

 of chert and diabase have become slightly weathered, but others re- 

 veal the flaking as fresh, and the edges as sharp, as when newly 

 chipped. However, other specimens discovered on the same area 

 and under identical conditions are deeply weathered, appear to be 

 much older, and consequently are believed to have been made and 

 used during an earlier period of occupancy. The approximate age 

 of the objects attributed to the early period can only be estimated by 

 considering the appearance and density of the weathering of the sur- 

 faces. Unfortunaitely, no stratified accumulation of ancient camp 

 refuse has been encountered. All objects have been recovered from 

 the surface and under similar conditions, so that they would have 

 been equally exposed to, and affected by, the elements. 



The gradual wearing away of the outside of a specimen, as a 

 result of the weathering, tends to smooth and reduce the sharpness 

 of the fractured edges and chipped surfaces. In some instances the. 

 weathering has been so great that it is now difficult to determine the 

 exact extent to which an object had been flaked when originally pro- 

 duced from a pebble or bit of rock. 



One specimen was discovered in 1928 which proves conclusively 

 and indisputably the existence of two distinct and long separated 

 periods of occupancy in that part of Virginia. It is an axlike object 

 made of diabase, so plentiful in the region, and was recovered from 

 the surface of a cultivated field near the remaining portion of a very 

 large burial mound, believed to mark the site of the Manahoac town 

 of Stegara, on the right bank of the Rapidan, in Orange County, a 

 short distance east of the Greene County line. A photograph of this 

 interesting specimen is reproduced in plate 2, lower figure. When 

 the artifact was newly made, the surface was a lustrous black, and 

 the position of each flake was clearly defined. Now, however, the 

 greater part of the surface is deeply weathered, and it has changed 

 to a light brownish color. The surface has been worn away to such 



