44 STONE IMPLEMENTS (ethannIS 



elation of tbe slope must have taken place since tlie desertion of the 

 quarries. In another trench farther up the ravine the (|uarry face was 

 exposed to a dei)th of from 12 to \~> fvet. 



Plate ciir and the frontis])iecc, described iu the supi)leiiieiit, serve to 

 illustrate the probable conditions under which the work was carried on 

 by the savage quarrynuMi. The miner with a strong- wooden jiike is 

 seen dislodging bowlders from the bed; a second workman is breaking 

 up a large mass of quartzite, and the Haker engaged in ronghing- 

 out tlie blades is seated near at hand. The life-size group from wliich 

 these views were taken was ])repare(l under the writer's direction for 

 the World's Fair, in Chicago. The figures were modeled by U. S. J. 

 Dnnbar, sculptor, and were costumed after drawings published in the 

 works of Hariot and John Smith, the assumption being that this work 

 on Piny branch was done by the Algonquian tribes known to the colo- 

 nists of Jamestown and lioanoke. However this may be, the work 

 of procuring and working the bowlders is, I am convinced, correctly 

 indicated by this group. 



The quarry was about CO feet wide where crossed by our trench, and 

 was 3 or 4 feet deep at the lower margin and 11 feet deep at the quarry 

 face. The bowlders, forming a large part of the mass worked over, 

 had nearly all been tested for tlakability by the removal of a tiake 

 or two, or had been more or less fully worked. All of the material 

 removed from the trench was <!arefully assorted and studied by us, and 

 the important results reached through its consideration will be given 

 further on. 



If we allow that the ancient operations were somewhat uniform in 

 extent along the terrace face, say for a distance of 500 feet, the mate- 

 rial worked over on this side of the ravine would amount to 100,000 

 cubic feet or more, and the number of bowlders secured and worked or 

 partly shaped would reach millions. 



THE TREE PIT 



Lateral excavations from the tii-st trench were made wherever the 

 appearance of the refuse encouraged it, but the deposits did not vary 

 in any important respect. About 10 feet north of this trench, opposite 

 the sixtieth foot, stands a chestnut tree some 3 feet in diameter and 

 rather massive at the base. For the purpose of determining the relatiou 

 of this tree to the artificial deposits, an excavation was made uncover- 

 ing nearly one-half of the roots to the depth of ab(nit 7 feet. The main 

 root penetrated the refuse and passed through the undisturbed gravel 

 and into the decayed gneiss beneath. The roots had made their way 

 through the dejiosit of compact quartzite fragmcTits, inclosing many of 

 them almost completely (plate xiv) and assuming irregular distorted 

 forms imj)osed by the angular stones. As a matter of course, the tree 

 postdates the quarry period, as do other trees much older. In one of 

 the ravines near Fourteenth street a white oak, at least 200 years old, 

 grows in the same manner in a mass of shop refuse. 



