pip. ?fo^" 2^5T JOHiT H. KERR RESERVOIR BASIN — ^MILLER 33 



at 78°39'48" longitude, 36°42'47'' latitude. The area was covered 

 with quantities of quartz and quartzite workings, and after a search 

 of the area was made we were able to salvage two fragmentary quartz- 

 ite points Vihich did not differ from similar artifacts found through- 

 out the basin area. 



Site Ji.IfCh5. — On a small ridge 75 feet from the east bank of the 

 Roanoke River at 78°40'24'' longitude, 36°43'28'' latitude in the 

 Clarksville Magisterial District was a small village site 200 feet long 

 by 50 feet wide. This site was rather low and surrounded by swamps, 

 and during high water it was often completely inundated. The area 

 was last planted in corn, but apparently the soil was too poor to pro- 

 duce a profitable crop or high water drowned out the corn, for it never 

 matured. Although the field was not tested, a number of sand- 

 tempered sherds were recovered. 



HALIFAX COUNTY, VA. 



Site Ji-Ii-Hal. — At the head of Occaneechi Island were the remains of 

 a village site that had been destroyed by various freshets of the Roa- 

 noke. The whole southern half of the site was gone when it was first 

 visited by the Survey group, and the northern section consisted of 18 

 inches of clean river-deposited sand, loam, and humus superimposed 

 over 24 inches of cultural material. 



When the Survey party first visited the site the latter part of March 

 1947, they tied their boat to a large tree root on the edge of the island. 

 Three weeks later, after a severe storm, the site was revisited, and all 

 evidence of the tree root and 6 feet of the island had disappeared. 

 This demonstrates the changing nature of the island. When one stops 

 to consider how much this island's contour has changed in the past 

 250 years, one can readily account for all of the changes that must 

 have taken place since the abandonment of the village by the Indians. 



Local inhabitants tell how the talus of the island has grown some 

 200 feet within the past 50 to 60 years. Apparently there is some sort 

 of river action that periodically destroys this talus and then rebuilds 

 it, as the overall measurement of the island has varied but little. 



A number of sand-tempered sherds and a small copper pendant were 

 recovered from the surface of the island in the vicinity of the site. 

 All were secondarily deposited by the river, and were out of context. 



The metal pendant of copper may have been a trade object or it may 

 have been of native manufacture. If it is of the white man's manu- 

 facture, it is the only evidence of his contact with the occupants of 

 this site. Coming from the surface of the site does not mean that it 

 was deposited upon the site by the aboriginal occupants, for it may 

 have been carried in by local agencies and lost while there. No other 

 evidence of any trade material from this site was fomid. None were 

 reported by local collectors. 



