LXXIV REPORT OF THU BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY 



During FebruavA' Professor Holmes dii'ected the exploration, 

 by Mr William Dinwiddle, of an aborig-inal steatite quarry near 

 Clifton, Virg-inia. This quarry was found especially instruct- 

 ive b)^ reason of its large size, the great number of partly 

 completed utensils found within the opening and in the neigh- 

 boring dump heap, and the excellence of its preservation. 



In April Professor Holmes, accompanied by Mr McGee, 

 Ethnologist in Charge, repaired to an interesting site near the 

 mouth of Pass creek, not far from LuraA', Virginia, for the pur- 

 pose of collecting additional data relating to a noteworthy series 

 of stone art products, to which attention was called during the 

 preceding fiscal year by Mr Gerard Fowke. 



A considerable additional collection was made and an abo- 

 riginal cemetery, from which a typical collection of mortuary 

 pottery was taken, was discovered in a neighboring field. 

 The stone art products in this locality are of exceptional inter- 

 est, as the "turtleback" forms are rejects from the manufacture 

 of celts. The rejects hitherto studied by Professor Holmes 

 represent, exclusively or pi-edominantly, narrow-pointed instru- 

 ments, such as spearpoints or arrowheads, while those found 

 at the mouth of Pass creek represent predominantly the manu- 

 facture of broad and thin pointed objects. A sufficiently com- 

 plete series of rejects and nearly completed forms to illustrate 

 all stag-es in manufacturin"- was broug-ht together. 



Mr McGee extended the observations from this locality up 

 Pass creek with the purpose of discovering the original source 

 of the pebbles and cobbles used bv the primitive artisans, and 

 was rewarded by finding, well toward the headwaters of the 

 stream, a large mass of intrusive rock, from which the pebbles 

 were originally derived. This part of the study also proved 

 of exceptional interest, as it indicated the delicacy with which 

 the Indian manufacturer adjusted himself to his en\nronment; 

 in situ the rock is too massive and obdurate for working by 

 primitive metliods; in tlie uj)per reaches of the stream the 

 bowlders derived from parent ledges are too large for reduc- 

 tion without the use of metal; below the confluence of Pass 

 creek with the Hawksbill tlie pebbles are too small and too 

 scant for profitable working; while just above the confluence, 



