16 STONE IMPLEMENTS [eth.ann.is 



and extending iij) the Potomac to Little falls, we liave a great native 

 fishing ground suiroiinded hy a ninltitiule of inhabiti-d sites from wliicli 

 our collectors have lilled their cabinets with curious objects of art. 

 The spot now the political center of the nation was thus in prehistoric 

 times a chief resort of the native peoples of the region. 



It may not then be too much to expect that the glim2)ses of aborigi- 

 nal life afforded by this study will prove of interest to the student of 

 history, and the numerous jdiasesof suburban scenery presented in the 

 ])hotographic views will doubtless be appreciated by future generations 

 of Washingtouians. 



Ill 



Until recently it was hardly suspected that the Fotomac-Chesapeake 

 province was so rich in ancient remains. The arts and industries of the 

 liistoric aborigines were extremely sim])le, and no striking monuments 

 or remains of any kind are found to tell of vanished i)eoples. Careful 

 exploration has, however, developed evidences of an intelligence and 

 enterprise hardly to be expected of tribes of indolent savages. The 

 use of stone by the prehistoric aborigines was limited to the manufac- 

 ture of implements and utensils, but their knowledge of the mineral 

 resources of the region was so extensive that no deposit of bowlders, 

 no ledge of tlakable stone, no dei)Osit of available stone of any kind, 

 seems to have escaped their attention. Quarrying and manufacture 

 were extensive, and the distributioti of the product extended in several 

 cases for a hundred miles or more beyond the source of supply. 



The historic tribes of the region were mainly of the Algoncjuian lin- 

 guistic stock, the stock of Powhatan and King Philip, and this notable 

 people may be connected by means of the art remains of their numer- 

 ous village-sites with the great body of ancient inhabitants whose 

 domain extended from South Caroliiux to Nova Scotia. There are 

 some traces of departure from ordinary Algonquian types of art, but 

 these are not decided enough to warrant the assumption that other 

 peoples of independent culture were directly concerned. The culture 

 status indicated by the remains here brought to the attention of 

 students is precisely that of the historic inhabitants encountered by 

 John Smith. 



IV 



The explorations embodied in this paper began in 1SS9 and con- 

 tinued with much interruption until 1894. It is evident from this that 

 the field has been but imperfectly covered, for the tidewater Chesa- 

 peake country comprises upward of L'0,000 scpiare miles of territory, 

 nearly every mile of which abounds in important traces of ancient 

 aboriginal occupancy. To visit all and examine all would require a 

 good part of a lifetime. Realizing this, the method was adopted of 

 passing rapidly over the various sections and selecting a few typical 

 exanii)les of each class of sites or groups of phenomena for minute 

 examination. The detailed studies made of tliese sites serve in a great 



