Chapter I 

 INTRODUCTORY 



THE FIELD OF INVESTIGATION 



Previous to the year 1SS9 little arcUeologic work was done by tlie 

 Bureau of Ethnology in the Atlantic coastal region, save, perhaps, in 

 North Carolina, where a number of mouuds had been opened under 

 the direction of Dr Cyrus Thomas. A vast, though not an especially 

 attractive field, extending from New Jersey through Delaware, ]\Iary- 

 land, Virginia, the Carolinas, (reorgia, and Florida, had never received 

 careful or systematic attention, in ISIM) the Director of the Bureau 

 decided to begin the survey of this zone, and the first work undertaken 

 was an examination of the tidewater Potomac. Work was begun in 

 the District of Columbia; and with Washington as the initial jjoint, 

 exploration was carried westward into the Piedmont region and east- 

 ward and southward to the Atlantic coast. 



Tiie great artificial shell fields sc-attered along the brackish and salt 

 water shorelines appeared to be the leading feature of interest, and 

 toward these attention was at first directed; but another and some- 

 what distinct field of investigation soon sprang into prominence. 

 Within the decade ending with 1S!)0 much interest had arisen in regard 

 to the significance of certain rudely flaked stones found in great num- 

 bers in the region about Washington. These objects were thought to 

 be of archaic type, and consequently to have an important bearing on 

 two questions of great interest to archeologists, the first relating to 

 the development of art in its early stages, and the second to the nature 

 of the beginnings of man's prewritten history in this country. 



A preliminary examination of the subject made it apparent that a 

 solution of the problems thus suggested could beolitained only by a 

 systematic study of the origin, manufacture, distribution, and geologic 

 relations of the articles in question. It was decided to take uj) this 

 study, and thus the field of investigation was greatly enlarged. The 

 ])eriod recpiired for exploration was lengthened indefinitely, and it 

 became necessary to complete certain sections of the work for publica- 

 tion before the whole field could be covered. Division of the subject- 

 matter of investigation into at least two parts was found to be easy 

 and convenient. The main problems of the stone implements sepa- 

 rated themselves readily from the history of the peoples ami the ordi- 

 nary traces of tiieir prehistoric and historic presence. 



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