pip. K' 2^5T' JOHN H. KERR RE'SERVOIR BASIN MILLER 65 



Sandia Cave, or from various Eden (Yuma) or Clovis sites. Whether 

 this artifact preceded this phase of human culture in the New World 

 and passed away before these cultures were developed or was sub- 

 sequent to these cultures has not been noted in the assemblages of 

 artifacts gathered from those sites. What is lacking, in this country, 

 is in-the-gromid stratigraphy from sites attributed to Early Man. 

 Until such finds are made and correctly reported upon, conjecture 

 must fulfill this aspect, but it must be taken with certain reservations. 



In the light of what has been gathered from the many sites in 

 southern Virginia the writer would venture to say that burins came 

 in as early as the fluted point and became passe by the time this cul- 

 ture became fully developed, thus putting the manufacture of burins 

 and their associated artifacts as early as the beginning of the fluted 

 point industry. 



Two microblades were found at the Grassy Creek site, 44Mc53, in 

 association with a microlithic scraper, laiife, burin, and perforator. 

 This assemblage was found beneath a pottery-bearing stratum. A 

 sterile stratum of river-deposited sand measuring 14 to 18 inches in 

 thickness separated the two cultural layers. Both blades were tri- 

 angular in outline, chipped from thin flakes of chert, and were formed 

 initially by pressure chipping and later retouched with this same 

 method all along the edges. The larger blade measured 20 mm. in 

 length while the smaller specimen measured only slightly over 16 

 mm. in length. The larger point is minus one of its shoulders while 

 the smaller is complete. 



Scrapers^ on the whole, are small and delicate, with the working 

 surface or edge occurring only at one narrow end of the specimen that 

 had been shaped by pressure chipping. The angle at which this chip- 

 ping was done determined, to a certain extent, the type of the scraper. 

 Scrapers, as a class, are characterized by being unifaced, retouched 

 along one or more sides of the dorsal surface while the ventral surface 

 is either flat or concave and composed of a single flake scar. 



A rectangular flake of chert, 31 mm. long, 15 mm. wide, and having 

 a maximum thickness of 4 mm., had one of its shorter squared edges 

 finely retouched to convert it into a microlithic scraper. The oppos- 

 ing end was also retouched into a graver point. MacNeish (1954, p. 

 244) illustrated a similar tool which he attributes to Early Man. 



"Wliile scrapers are much too ubiquitous to serve as horizon mark- 

 ers, their form has gone unchanged from Early Man periods up to late 

 potterymaking levels. The only time one can be sure as to the cul- 

 tural affiliation of any particular scraper is when it occurs in context, 

 such as the one indicated above. 



A small, ovate, unifaced micaceous schist flake, 44 mm. long, was 

 pressure chipped along one edge to form a knife. The opposing edge 

 was also retouched to a certain extent, while at the base of this edge 



