140 STONE IMPLEMENTS (Kxir. asn. 15 



received lirst attention, ^'ot heiny liivoied by nature in the (juality 

 and range of tlieir material, they seem to have searched tar and near 

 for those finer-grained, honiojieneous varieties so much used in other 

 regions. They sought liint in the mountains ol' \'iiginia fully a hun- 

 di'ed miles beyond the tidewater limit; they discovered the slaty-look- 

 ing volcanic iMirphyrj' called rhyolite in Soutli mountain T.'i miles 

 northwest of Washington, and. jasper and argillile were ol)taiiied from 

 eastern and northeastern Pennsylvania. It is jjrobable that in some 

 cases the tidewater peoples made long Joui-neys in seai'ch of these 

 rocks and spent a considerable season tjuarrying and roughing out the 

 blank forms and selecting choice l)its to be carried home. On the other 

 hand, much of the material from these dititant jtlaces may have reached 

 the lowland by exchange or trade, and a certain amount, not ascer- 

 tainable, of thcsnpph'of iini)lemcnts of exotic materials was no doubt 

 due to visits and incursions of the peoples occupying the region of the 

 source of sujjply, as, for example, jasper by the Siisquehaunocks of 

 the north and flint by the Monacans of the west. It may be that in 

 time, by careful coraparisou of the forms of implements characterizing 

 various exotic materials, something may be suggested of the presence 

 of neighboring peoples in, or at least of their influence on, the art of 

 the tidewater region. Distribvition is really very general, implements 

 made of all of the varieties of stone mentioned being scattered more 

 or less fully over the Chesapeake-Potomac country as far south as 

 James river. 



Jasper, the (juarries of which have recently been located by Mr H. 

 C. Mercer, of Philadelphia, is most plentiful in the upper Chesapeake 

 and Susquehanna regions. Argillite, which was obtained in the Dela- 

 ware valley, did not flud its way to any great extent into Maryland and 

 Virginia, although several caches of blades have been discovered in 

 the middle Chesapeake region and implements are occasionally found. 

 Rhyolite implements are most plentiful in the Patuxent and Potomac 

 valleys, and especially in those portions of them adjoining South 

 mountain. The quarries of this stone are iu Pennsylvania near the 

 head of the Monocacy, and the imi>leinents are very numerous on that 

 stream, while fragments of considerable size have been carried far 

 down the Potomac. Transportation was, no doubt, mainly by water. 

 Probably one-fourth of the speai-heads and arrowpoiiits of the Potomac 

 region are made of this rock. Dark or blackish flint was used in mak- 

 ing smaller projectile points, and these are rare in the tidewater 

 country, but increase in number toward the west, and prevail in the 

 middle and upper Potomac region. 



It should be noted that of these exotic materials we have in the tide- 

 water country very few large or rude implements, and as a matter of 

 course failures of manufacture are rare, save those that result from 

 breakage during such specializing and finishing operations as were 

 conducted subsequently to transjjortation from the quarry. Of quartz 



