14 JAMES AND POTOMAC ARCHEOLOGY [Ithnologt 



sides sloping like the roof of a kouse. There is no record or tradition 

 of an aboriginal settlement here, nnless it be the '^ chief town of the 

 Monacans," referred to in Jefferson's Notes and Smith's History; and 

 as stated above, the evidence is in favor of that settlement having been 

 situated on Elk island. 



On a lofty hill near Br Gay's r(\sidence, 5 miles northwest of Colum- 

 bia, a great many arrowheads and a few celts or hatchets have been 

 found. It seems to have been a workshop, as chips, etc., are very 

 abundant; but no traces of fire beds, pottery, burned stones, or other 

 evidences of former domiciliary occupancy have ever been discovered. 



In the first bottom below Columbia the surface near the river bank is 

 several feet higher than toward the hill. The elevation is about half 

 a mile long, with an average width of 50 feet. Pottery fragments, 

 burned stones, implements of quartzite or flint, mostly rude or unfin- 

 ished, and chippings, occur sparsely. Some finely-worked arrowheads 

 or knives have been found, as well as 2 drills and a leaf-shape imi)le- 

 ment of yellow jasper 3 inches long. 



Three skeletons have been exhumed at this place; it is learned that 

 they were buried 8 or 10 feet apart, extended, and about 30 inches below 

 the present surface. Nothing apparently had been interred with the 

 bodies. 



BUCKINGHAM COUNTY. 



Three miles below Scottsville, on James river, were several so-called 

 "Indian pottery kilns." Burned stones were arranged in small circles, 

 on and about which were many large pieces of pottery, some with legs, 

 others with handles. On one piece, consisting of half a pot of about 

 2 quarts capacity, were a handle and 2 legs. It was probably the tire- 

 place of a party that camped on the river bank. 



NELSON COUNTY. 

 TRAILS AND HABITATIONS. 



The Indian trail from the Shenandoah valley, through Rockfish gap, 

 crossed James river at an island near Norwood. For 5 miles below the 

 river there is a succession of pools and rapids, with many large rocks in 

 the channel which are covered only in time of high water. The hills 

 on the south with scarcely an exception reach to the water, there being- 

 only a few narrow strips of level ground. On the north the bottom 

 lands are wide and continuous. 



The only indications of Indian occupancy on the southern side in this 

 vicinity are opposite the island. On the northern side, however, aborigi- 

 nal remains may be found on every farm. They are most abundant on 

 the lands of Mr Alexander Brown and Mr Russell Robinson, 3 miles 

 below Norwood. 



The floods of 1870 and 1877 disclosed numerous small deposits, prob- 

 ably more than 200 in all, containing burned stones, pieces of pottery, 



