70 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 182 



over long periods of time; thus, their usefulness as "index fossils" 

 has been destroyed. It is only when found in context that they are 

 useful, and such instances in Virginia are exceedingly rare. 



Scrapers vary both as to size and form. All are characterized by 

 a plane or slightly curved under surface (ventral face) surmounted 

 by a doi^sal keel or flatness, displaying one or more abruptly retouched 

 edges, and being unif aced and ovate, elliptical, lunate, subtriangular, 

 trapeziform, or irregular in outline. Maximum thickness is not con- 

 lined to any particular portion of the scraper. Wherever the "snub- 

 nosed" end appears considerable wear is shown. 



The presence of scrapers would tend to indicate certain technological 

 knowledge of the preparation of pelts into leather goods for the manu- 

 facture of clothing and other articles. 



It is my belief that Stewart's (1946, p. 45) definition of a scraper 

 is an excellent one. He defines a scraper as : 



A primitive tiling called a scraper is crude and not at all eloquent until you 

 realize that it iwints to much else. It means not only a scraper, but a thing 

 to be scraped, most likely a hide ; therefore it means a growing ability to kill, 

 to take the hide and cure it. That is just the beginning, for a scrai)er also 

 shows a knowledge of how to scrape, and a desire for scraping, and enough 

 leisure (beyond the struggle to get food) to allow time for scraping. All this 

 means self restraint and thought for the future, and it implies a certain con- 

 fidence in the ways of life, because no one would be liable to go to all the trouble 

 of scraping if he did not have the reasonable hope of enjoying the results of 

 his work. 



Scrapers can be divided roughly into two classes, end and side 

 scrapers. End scrapers are further subdivided into keeled, large 

 tear-drop, small triangular steep-sided, large planoconvex, and flat. 

 Side scrapers are subdivided into large flake, double-ended plano- 

 convex, thick pointed, single edged flake, double edged flake, and 

 prismatic flake (classification after MacNeish, 1954). 



Most end scrapers are neatly made and occur on especially prepared 

 flakes, the results of hinge fractures (pi. 19). The scraper end, 

 opposite the bulb end, is neatly trimmed and one or more edges are 

 retouched. Some are trimmed down one or more sides as well as 

 retouched on both ends, forming a tool with either a rounded or ogival 

 double working surface. As a rule, retouching occurs on all edges. 

 The percussion bulb of the ventral surface indicates that flakes were 

 utilized and pm'posefully struck off in the manufacture of scrapers. 



One outstanding specimen is noteworthy in that well-controlled pres- 

 sure chipping has been used starting along the edges and running 

 diagonally up to a central keel covering the entire dorsal surface of the 

 specimen. The steep snub-nosed worldng edge lias a number of 

 smaller retouched chips giving the scraper a keener blade. The 

 chipping is very reminiscent of the collateral Yunia type and may 

 or may not be equally as old. The entire surface of this particular 



