Riv. Bas. Sur, 



Pap. No^' 25T' JO^EiN ^- KERR RESERVOIR BASLN MILLER 37 



However, excavations were made at the following sites ; Clarksville, 

 44Mcl4; Tollifero, 44Ha6; Hyco Eiver, 44Ha7; Grassy Creek, 

 44Mc53; Fields Island, 44Mc23; Easter Creek, 44Mc7; Pan Handle 

 Creek, 44MclO ; and Buffalo Creek, 44Mcl7. Testings were made in 

 the following: 44Mcl8; 44Mc21, called the Old Skipwith's Mellon 

 Patch at the head of Fields Island; 44Mc66; 44Mc72, Hundley Tract 

 No. 1 ; 44Hal, head of Occaneechi Island ; 44Ha5, caretaker's house on 

 Occaneechi Island ; and 44Mc62, second site on Plundley's Tract No. 1. 

 Those that were investigated represented a series of cultural stages 

 beginning with the remains of Early Man (Paleo-American) , develop- 

 ing through the Archaic, and ending with a series of Woodland 

 cultures. 



To better understand the significance of this, a brief summary of 

 the overall archeology of the area is being presented. At this time 

 most archeologists tend to group the cultures of south-central Vir- 

 ginia and the bordering section of North Carolina with the Middle 

 Atlantic Province in conformance with Holmes (1903), whose closest 

 generic relationship lies to the north and northeast, whereas the 

 Algonquian linguistic stock held sway over a considerable geographi- 

 cal area as well as for a long period of time. Kelative to this, the 

 area was used by earlier Paleo-American and Archaic groups who 

 roamed the wooded terraces and bottom lands, seeking out the various 

 animals whose existence governed their economy and movements. 

 Evidence now shows that these roving hunters and food gatherers 

 directed their attention to certain areas more than to others in which 

 were located concentrations of stone chips, as well as fragmentary and 

 discarded stone tools ; these occurred either in the reservoir area or on 

 the upland regions. In addition to this manufacturing discard, a 

 large number of stone tools were recovered from the surface, which 

 were either lost or eroded out of context. Certain ancestral forms 

 and archaic types of projectile points all attest to long occupancy of 

 the area. At the beginning, the main weapon, a dart, was developed 

 and used in combination with a throwing stick, or atlatl, which acted 

 as its propellent. Dart heads at this time were rather well made and 

 neatly chipped, but they grew heavier and larger as well as cruder 

 during the later phases just before the bow and arrow were introduced 

 along with the lighter and smaller projectile points. 



It was probably during the late phase of the Archaic that the bow 

 and arrow were introduced along with the art of pottery making, a 

 trait which later was to revamp their mode of living, changing them 

 from a roving to a sedentary-agricultural group. Pottery forms 

 were simple, never complex, and consisted of oUas, bowls, and later 

 dippers. 



House remains were evidently so meager and intangible that none 

 have been located that could be attributed to these early periods. In 



