HOUIESJ 



THE LITTLE FALLS SHOP SITE 67 



sites up and down the river and in the atliueiit \alleys on the east and 

 west, but there is a great degree of sameness in the materials employed 

 and in the work done. While a few typical localities thoroughly stud- 

 ied illustrate the whole subject, the preseutatiou will not be complete 

 without a brief sketch of the whole held. 



Investigations in the ancient bowlder quairies of the Hock creek 

 valley were concluded in June, 1S9U, and attention was at once turned 

 to the study of related phenomena in the surrounding region. That 

 portion of the Potomac between the head of tidewater and Great 

 falls — about 10 miles of the most interesting and iiicturesque part of 

 its course — possesses very considerable archeologic interest. The nat- 

 ural phenomena are quite distinct from those of Eock creek, and as a 

 consecpience thei'e is a distinct class of avcheological phenomena. The 

 falls portion of the Potomac was evidently a great tishiug resort for 

 the. aborigines, where at one time or another every available site was 

 occupied for more or less permanent dwelling. The section was rich in 

 the materials most utilized in native art. All kinds of rocks were 

 found; there were bowlders of quartz, quartzite, and slate; fragments 

 of these and other rocks; veins of quartz suitable for use iu arrow mak- 

 ing; rounded masses of traps and metamorphosed shitcs, tlie favorite 

 materials for making grooved axes and celts; soapstone in extensive 

 beds; clay, and occasional bits of rare stones brought down from the 

 distant mountains. The deposits of bowlders were not of a nature 

 to encourage extensive quarrying as on Itoik creek, but the varied 

 resources were fully and constantly drawn on by the dwellers by the 

 river. In cases the villages were distributed over beds of river drift 

 which furnished nearly every variety of stone and iu many forms; and 

 the art products of such a site, as picked up by the archeologist, are 

 varied in the extreme. There were considerable deposits of bowlders 

 on the northern terraces from (xeorgetown to above Cabin John bridge, 

 and (juartz was everywhere. 



The most notable sites of the fishing villages are iu the vicinity of 

 Little falls. Some are ou the terraced bluffs overlooking the river on 

 both sides, while others are ou the tloodplaiu, only a few feet above 

 high tide or above the ordiuary river current, being swept freely by every 

 spring freshet. 



Ou the left bank of the river, almost at tlie foot of Little fdls and 

 about a quarter of a mile below the bridge, is a site that may receive par- 

 ticirlar attention. The floodplain is here several hundred feet iu width, 

 extending from the river, at the point where tide and cascade meet, back 

 to the canal. This tloodplaiu has been carved by the river out of the 

 gneiss rocks, the scarred surface of which retains enough soil to encour- 

 age vegetation; the young growth develoi)s during the summer, to be 

 torn up by the freshet of the following spring. A portion of this plain, 

 over against the canal and just above the antiquated Eades mill, half 

 a mile below the liridge, was so free from invasion bv the waters :ind had 



