NO. 7 INDIAN OCCUPANCY IN VIRGINIA — BUSHNELL I3 



have been used this far up, although they could have ascended some 

 distance from the mouth of the river. According to tradition an an- 

 cient trail followed the course of the stream. 



Very few arrowheads have been found on the Berkeley farm, al- 

 though they appear to be comparatively numerous on broken ground 

 nearer the Hardware. But as a very large proportion of the region 

 is exceedingly rough, rocky, and heavily timbered, it is not possible 

 to examine the surface carefully or satisfactorily. No trace of a 

 camp site has been discovered. 



About 200 feet south of the Berkeley residence, near the public 

 road, is a slight depression in which it is said a spring formerly 

 flowed. A large cedar is now growing on the eastern edge of the 

 depression. Within 20 feet of the cedar, eastwardly, many quartzite 

 blades have been discovered within a limited space of not more than 

 4 or 5 feet. These undoubtedly constituted part of a cache of blades 

 which had been deposited just below the surface, lost or forgotten, 

 later to be disturbed and scattered by the plow. Fifty or more speci- 

 mens have been found during the past few years, 24 of which are 

 now in the United States National Museum (U.S.N.M. No. 339706.) 

 All are of the same general form, although some are rather more 

 elongated than others. Typical examples are shown in plate 4, to- 

 gether with a view of the spot where the cache occurred. The ma- 

 terial is grayish brown quartzite, probably derived from pebbles and 

 boulders found in the vicinity. 



The Indians of Virginia often secreted their possessions in some 

 secure, secluded spot, away from their habitations, where they would 

 remain until desired. Strachey mentioned this custom among the 

 natives with whom he came in contact and with whose manners and 

 customs he became familiar. He wrote (p. 113) :*^ " Their corne and 

 indeed their copper, hatchetts, howses, beades, perle, and most things 

 with them of value, according to their owne estymacion, they hide, 

 one from the knowledge of another, in the grownd within the 

 woodes, and so keepe them all the yeare, or untill they have fitt use 

 for them . . . and when they take them forth, they scarse make 

 their women privie to the storehowse." The cache of quartzite 

 blades just mentioned undoubtedly owes its origin to the custom re- 

 corded by Strachey. 



One other cache is believed to have been discovered, but the spec- 

 imens were not seen by the writer. This was said to have consisted 



^ Strachey, William, The historic of travaile into Virginia Britannia. Hak- 

 luyt Society, London, 1849. 



