232 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 182 



TOLLIFERO COMPONENT 

 (44Ha6) 



SITE LOCATION AND DESCRIPTION 



Around and under the ruined old Tollifero home on Occaneechi 

 Island, in Halifax County, Va., is an old Indian village site (44Ha6), 

 together with an accompanying burial area. The site occupies an 

 area roughly 200 feet long by 63 feet wide and lies about midway down 

 the length of the island on the Dan Kiver side. 



Long before the excavations started, the site was penetrated, in 

 the 18th centuiy, by the foundation for the house and for trenches to 

 hold water pipes and drainage tile. During this same interval a num- 

 ber of pits were also dug to dispose of accumulated trash around the 

 house. All of these activities had to be segregated and taken into ac- 

 count when the site was dug to investigate the aboriginal remains. 

 Just because a white man's object lay alongside that of an aboriginal 

 artifact did not necessarily denote contemporaneity. 



The long axis of the Occaneechi Island, at this point, is east and 

 west, with the Roanoke River flowing along its northern shores and 

 the Dan River along its southern shore. Starting 80 feet away from 

 the edge of the Dan River we dug a 30-foot wide trench northward, 

 at the rise of the secondary terrace, toward the old Tollifero house. 

 The first 5-foot section of the trench was sunk to a depth of slightly 

 over 7 feet, at which time we hit water level. Between the bottom 

 of the cultural layer and the water table we found a stratum of clean 

 river-deposit«d sand that measured between 38 and 42 inches in thick- 

 ness (figs. 51,52). 



Beneath the present humus layer, which averaged around 0.5 foot 

 in thickness, there appeared the top of the aboriginal deposit, which, 

 when sectioned, averaged between 2.0 to 2.4 feet in thickness in its 

 densest area with an occasional object occurring 6 to 7 inches beneath 

 this. The midden, as a whole, consisted of the ubiquitous potsherd, 

 broken stones, stone chips, projectile points, broken bones, mussel 

 shells, and a dark brown humic-laden soil mixed with ash and charcoal 

 bits. As stated above, a number of white man's objects were found 

 which could be dated the same as the house ruins that rested directly 

 above the remains laid down by the Indians. 



In searching the area we came across a number of bowl-shaped mid- 

 den pits. Some contained nothing but a heavily laden humus soil 

 mixed with a number of mussel shells which were well on the way to 

 complete decomposition. Others contained nothing but mussel shells 

 with practically no soil mixed with them. Still others contained 

 numerous potsherds, broken bones, and broken stones, all typical of an 

 Indian midden pit. 



