14 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 89 



of a number of white quartz arrowheads found deposited in a fissure 

 in the rocky cHff on the right bank of the Rivanna about i mile 

 above the site of Monasukapanough and just below the bridge span- 

 ning the river. It was probably as described. 



HUNTING GROUNDS AND CAMP SITES BETWEEN THE JUNC- 

 TION OF THE BRANCHES OF HARDWARE RIVER 

 AND THE MOUNTAINS 



OLIVER SITE 



A short distance south of west of Red Hill station, near the cen- 

 ter of Albemarle County, begins a high, rolling tract of land, near 

 the eastern extremity of which is the home of W. R. Oliver. The 

 house is on the highest part of the farm, a small plateau which slopes 

 gradually to the south and southwest and ends rather abruptly a few 

 hundred feet northeast of the dwelling near the junction of, and be- 

 tween, the South Branch and the North Branch of the North Fork 

 of Hardware River. The so-called Middle Branch of the same stream 

 flows into the North Branch just above the mouth of the South 

 Branch. Thus within a very small space the three branches, coming 

 from different directions, unite to form a stream which joins the 

 James some 20 miles away. An ancient trail led up the valley of the 

 Hardware and is believed to have continued along the course of the 

 Middle Branch, on through the present Israel Gap, and thence to 

 have crossed the mountains westward over Rockfish Gap to the valley 

 beyond. The three branches, now small streams, were undoubtedly 

 somewhat larger in the past, when they were bordered in many 

 places by marshy tracts which have now been changed through culti- 

 vation, following the clearing of the forests. The entire region ap- 

 pears to have been a hunting ground for the Indians, and, although 

 rather small, isolated sites have been encountered where some ob- 

 jects of stone and many bits of pottery have been found on the sur- 

 face, no evidence of a large village has been revealed. 



Great numbers and varieties of projectile points have been re- 

 covered from the surface of the Oliver farm and from the adjacent 

 lands surrounding the junction of the three branches, and in describ- 

 ing the material the area must be treated as a whole. 



Quartzite pebbles occur on the slope facing the junction of the 

 North and South Branches, and between 400 and 500 yards westward 

 are outcroppings of white quartz in situ. These may have been the 

 sources of materials of which many of the objects discovered on the 

 site were made. Innumerable chips, some very small and others 



