NO. 7 INDIAN OCCUPANCY IN VIRGINIA — BUSHNELL II 



summits of projecting elevations that had formerly been bordered 

 by marshy land. And although many interesting localities may not 

 as yet have been revealed, it is certain that others of equal impor- 

 tance have been destroyed by natural causes. In a country of this 

 nature the native camps and villages usually stood on or near the 

 banks of streams, very often on the bordering low grounds which 

 were frequently overflowed. Two centuries and more have now 

 passed since large encampments stood on the banks of the Rivanna, 

 and during the intervening years the stream has often flooded the 

 adjacent lands. Several freshets of unusual volume during the past 

 century are known to have caused radical changes in the appearance 

 of the surface of the areas thus inundated; gullies were formed, 

 some parts of the surface were entirely washed away, and other sec- 

 tions were covered with sand and soil brought down by the currents. 

 Under such conditions all evidence of native camps and villages 

 would have been obliterated. However, such parts of some camp 

 sites as had occupied higher ground, approaching the bordering hills, 

 and had thus escaped the floods, may now be discovered. Traces of 

 such sites, preserved under these conditions, have been encountered 

 on the banks of the Rivanna both above and below the ancient site 

 believed to have been last occupied by the Saponi — the village of 

 Monasukapanough. Undoubtedly, many similar sites remain to be 

 discovered along the course of the Rivanna and other streams. 



The material discovered on this extensive site has been described, 

 and very little can be added to the account as already given. How- 

 ever, as evidence of two distinct periods of Indian occupancy may 

 now be recognized in this region, it is believed that certain crudely 

 made implements, deeply weathered and worn, which have been 

 found on the site should be attributed to the early period, antedating 

 by centuries the coming of the Siouan tribes to whom much of the 

 pottery and many of the more finished stone implements should 

 probably be ascribed. 



During the autumn of 193 1 a ditch was dug across the site of 

 the ancient settlements in the endeavor to discover a deposit of camp 

 refuse, but, unfortunately, without success. The ditch extended 

 from the left bank of the river to the foot of the rising ground, a dis- 

 tance of approximately 100 yards. It was near the middle of the 

 low ground — as distinguished from the encircling hills — and followed 

 the left bank of a natural ravine or gully, through which water had 

 flowed from a large spring that issues from the foot of the cliffs. 

 Some of the most interesting specimens recovered from the site have 



