Pap. S' 2^5"/' JOI^nsr H. KERR RESERVOIR BASIN — MILLER 93 



characteristic features have been so greatly altered by the process of 

 patination that the chipping scars have become modified and softened, 

 and the edges of the artifact dulled, and in some instances smoothed. 

 Patination has not only deeply penetrated the cortex of the artifact 

 but it has brought about a decrease in siliceous content, changing the 

 physical coloration of the original stone so completely that it is no 

 longer the original gray but a yellowish-gi'ay or a grayish-green 

 color. Only a few of the late varieties do not display any patination. 

 The latter are the small triangular points that are usually associated 

 with the Late Woodland cultures. 



If this alteration in the chert and rhyolite artifacts is significant 

 and it necessitates, according to geological standards, thousands of 

 years to bring about such extreme change in the actual composition 

 of the stone itself, then these artifacts must be assessed accordingly. 

 Whether petrologists would agree with this geological assessment is 

 not known. 



It is my opinion that absence of patina on an occasional point of 

 any type does not mean much except that it may have been protected 

 from chemical change in some manner, but when we find that all of 

 a certain type are deeply patinated and that all of another type, both 

 of equal sensitivity, are untouched or unaltered by patination, then 

 it must necessarily mean that there is a general age difference. It 

 Avould appear reasonable to suppose that the patination is purposeful, 

 since it is not only very thick but the edges and the fractured surfaces 

 which were once thin and sharp, have become dull and worn down 

 until they have become smooth by nature's agencies acting over vast 

 periods of time. 



It is next to impossible to separate the artifacts into absolute dis- 

 tinctive cultural assemblages, but the various foi-ms are interesting in 

 that they resemble other forms found elsewhere under circumstances 

 suggesting some antiquity. Included in the group are specimens that 

 resemble the Sandia, Clovis, Folsom, Manzano, Gypsum Cave, San 

 Jose, Borax Lake, Silver Lake, and many others. Most of these 

 forms were recovered from the middle or upper terraces of the Eoa- 

 noke River Valley, which in itself suggests that the original deposi- 

 tion took place at periods when the river and its tributaries occupied 

 a higher level and had not as yet cut down to its present bed level. 



An apparently seemingly early form may be characterized as being 

 slender, lanceolate in outline, and somewhat crudely formed. This 

 type has been called a "fish spear," which is suggestive of an early 

 generalized lithic culture that may have existed not only in the littoral 

 and upland sections of the Eastern United States but persisted over a 

 long period of time. During this interval certain types of stone tools 

 were manufactured, all having a number of common characteristics 

 that were modified slightly into local variations. None are sensitive 



