22 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 89 



Crossroads, and about i mile west of south from the Red Hill 

 School. Here is a comparatively level area a few acres in extent 

 and sloping down to the left bank of the stream, with a steep hill 

 rising from the opposite side. Many arrowpoints are now — and have 

 been in the past — collected from the surface. The majority are 

 made of white quartz and the usual grayish brown quartzite, similar 

 to those recovered from the sites previously described, but others are 

 made of materials less common, including jasper, chert, and argillite, 

 as well as varieties of quartzite seldom encountered in the region. 

 A view across the site is reproduced in plate 11, together with some 

 of the more unusual specimens found on the surface. The specimen 

 at the bottom of the plate, termed either celt or chisel, has a ground 

 cutting edge at the right and shows the effect of much use. 



Restricted areas, such as the one just described, where great 

 numbers of projectile points are scattered over the surface, are fre- 

 quently encountered near springs or on the banks of small streams in 

 this part of Virginia. The scarcity of material other than arrow- 

 points and the total lack of pottery or any indications of a camp 

 makes it evident that such sites were merely small hunting grounds 

 where game was sought. 



COOK SITE 



An ancient trail of great importance led from James River up 

 the valley of the Rockfish and thence over the mountain through 

 Rockfish Gap to the Shenandoah. Another trail is believed to have 

 led from Rockfish Gap across the intervening ridges and valleys to 

 Israel Gap, near the Sutherland site, and to have continued down the 

 course of the Hardware eastwardly, as has been mentioned else- 

 where in these notes. 



The coming together of several important trails necessarily made 

 this a place of considerable interest. 



The site to which reference is now made occupies the summit of 

 a rounded knoll at the end of a ridge, rising a short distance east of 

 the North Fork of Rockfish River, in Nelson County. It is on the 

 farm of Charles B. Cook, and is about i% miles west of south of 

 Avon post office. In one respect it is very unusual, for although it 

 appears to have been a camp of rather more permanent nature than 

 many, it occupied this exposed site, which, however, commanded a 

 wide view of the surrounding country, including the gap through the 

 mountains several miles away. No pottery was discovered on the 

 site. Stone implements were numerous, including several hammer- 

 stones, broken arrowpoints, and some beautiful specimens made of 



