OUTLINES. 
161 
nels through the sediments of the river bottoms, which are here half a 
mile wide and some two miles long, exposing two tiers of Indian relics, 
one consisting of hearths of broken stones, about 20 inches wide and 5 to 
6 feet apart, scattered up and down the river flat for more than a mile. 
On and about these hearths were numerous fragments of bones of wild 
animals, often partly charred, and a great accumulation of river shells, 
and of stone implements and of ornaments. This stratum was on a level 
8 to 6 feet below the original forest-covered surface of the river flat 
Above this, 1, 2 and 3 feet are numerous skeletons, orderly disposed and 
with personal ornaments attached. 
Similar exposures of Indian graves and of buried relics of camps or 
settlements are frequently made of late years ; as on the upper Yadkin 
and the Catawba for example a few years ago, and on the Roanoke, a 
mile below Weldon, in a recent railroad excavation. 
Such is a very brief sketch of the geological history of North Carolina. 
It would have been more full if the means had been furnished for such 
plates and illustrations as are absolutely essential to a proper presentation 
of the matter. However, as to the Triassic and later formations, found 
only in the eastern parts of the State, Dr. Emmons has given a pretty 
full account of them in the volumes for 1856 and 1858. 
In addition to the geological chart in the previous chapter, the following 
diagram, after Lyell, gives a very good idea not only of the general order 
and position of the different systems, but of the order and position of the 
different formations found in this State. 
It will be seen that the Primary or Archaean rocks, at the left hand 
end of the figure are very highly inclined, as in this State, (Cambrian 
for Huronian); that the Triassic is moderately inclined as here; the 
lower Tertiary very little ; while the Post-Tertiary, or Quaternary is 
almost horizontal. Out of the 14 formations, the series in North Carolina 
includes 8, viz: 1, 2, 7, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14. 
