1894.] Shell Heaps of Florida. 15 
CERTAIN SHELL HEAPS OF THE ST. JOHN’S RIVER, 
FLORIDA, HITHERTO UNEXPLORED. 
By CLARENCE BLOOMFIELD MOORE. 
Fifth Paper. 
GENERAL CONCLUSIONS. 
STONE IN THE SHELL HEAPS. 
It will be remembered that the district drained by the St. 
John’s River is destitute of stone; the “rock” of the Indian 
River, which stream is closely approached by the St. John’s 
near the headwaters of the latter, being a conglomerate entirely 
unsuitable for the manufacture of piercing or cutting imple- 
ments. 
It will be remembered also that in the shell-heaps of the 
river, even those giving evidence of greatest antiquity through 
absence of pottery, through infrequent occurrence of anything 
denoting the agency of man, and through other indications, 
implements of stone, though infrequent, have been found at 
all depths. Professor Wyman was present at the finding at 
the base of the shell-heap at Horse Landing, (Putman Co.,) of 
a piece of flint rudely worked, which he pronounced contem- 
porary with the earliest stage of the mound. The writer real- 
izing the importance of this discovery in a shell-heap in 
which, so far as Professor Wyman’s and his own investigations 
have resulted, no pottery exists, twice visited Horse Landing 
and made a careful examination of the bluff. The flint in 
question was found in a section of a shell-heap laid bare by 
the action of the river, and the writer entertained the idea 
that the implement was possibly from the talus at the foot of 
the bluff, in which event the value of the find would have 
been materially lessened, if not entirely nullified. Fortu- 
nately, of all the shell-heaps of the river the composition of 
that at Horse Landing, most readily lendsitself to an accurate 
estimate of the authenticity of objects found. Unlike the 
majority of the river shell-heaps, that at Horse Landing does 
