Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-04-24
OLD INDIAN VILLAGES.
Remains Of Settlements Found by MIR.
PrOudfit In the District.

Mr.. S. v Proudfit in the paper he read be-
fore the Anthropologcal Society descriptive of
"A Collection Of Stone Implements from the
District Of Columbia" presented by him to the
Smithsonian Institution, indicated the location
of the old Indian villa Sc sites and aboriginal
workshops in the District. On a map he
showed the eastern shore of the Anacostia was
dotted with wigwam-like marks to indicate a
village site. The village, Mr.. Proudft said,
was old Nacotchtauke, which stretched along
the whole eastern shore from the mouth of the
stream up to Bladensburg. village site is
laid down along the eastern bank of the Poto-
mac from short distance above Georgetown
to the Little Falls. small village is marked
on the Virginia shore of the Potomac over
looking the Chain Bridge and Little Falls,
another at the foot of Analostan Island on the
same side of the stream, still another n
little further down at the southern end of the
Long Bridge (Namaraughquena(, one at the
mouth of "Four-mile Run" and one at Falls
Church on the same stream.
TURNED UP BY THE PLow.
With each blowing of the fields Mr.. Proudfit
said fresh supply of relics is turned up for
the collector. The new bridge across the
Anacostia at the eastern end of Pennsylvania
avenue leads directly into one of the old camps
OF Nacotchtauke. In preparing the grade for
the eastern approach to the bridge the surface
soil was removed from at least two acres OF this
camp. The field, a level sandy plain, was first
plOwed, the loose soil taken up and deposited
on the grade and the process repeated Each
time the shovel followed the pillow nearly every
thing turned up by the latter was removed
from the field. On one side of the field, how
ever, the work was not carried out to include
the full area first laid bare, but was confined
within lesser limits, and the same thing occur
ring again two lower terraces were formed each
but a little more than the depth of one plow-
ing. Thus the upper terrace is the original
surface OF the field, the next lower, the result
OF the first plowing and the foot of the terrace
the result of the last blowing. The whole
depth Of the excavation at this point was
little over two feet. An examination showed
that the upper terrace carried a large number
OF relics common to the locality, bits of worked
quartz, quartzite, arrow heads, &C., the second
an equal quantity OF the same material, while
the bottom. though in less degree, still fur
nished a considerable number OF implements,
fragments and chips.
VILLAGES AND HUNTING CAMPS
In studying the distribution of stone imple-
ments in the District Mr.. Proudft said it
should be remembered that an Indian village
OF the Potomac was not a compact assemblage
OF houses, but scattered dwellings along q
water course, with the intervening spaces usu-
ally under cultivation. In some instances
however, cluster of houses might be found
at such points afforded more than the Or
binary riparian advantages, but usually the
dwellings were comparatively isolated. Again
the establishment of temporary hunting and
fishing stations is to be taken into consider
alton. An examination of any cultivated field
that lies along the Potomac or Anacostia will
furnish more or less evidence of temporary &C.
cupation. The difference between these places
and village sites is readily discernable in the
character of the remains as well as in the
quantity. The former show flakes and chips of
stone, with here and there an implement: OF the
knife and arrow head type, while the latter with
its ever-present pottery seems to have left its
mark on every stone in the field. The wreck
of an old village can never be mistaken for the
camp ground of q single season. In addition
to the implements found in the vicinity of vii
lagos and hunting camps the occasional arrow
head lost in the chase and the greater number
spent in battle should not be overlooked.