Daily Kennebec journal., 1897-09-02
AN INDIAN DRUMMER'R OUTFIT
Recently Unsarthed on the Shore Of Pema'
ouid Proves valuable Find.

remarkable find of material repre-
senting the highest art OF the stone age
was accidentally made some tlme ago at
Damariscotta. Two young farmers. after
MANY fruitless attempts. finally ran
cunning old fox to its den on the shore
of Pemaquid pond.
Determined to put an end at once to
reynard's career of lawless depredatlons'
which had depleted the poultry yards for
miles around, they got tools and dug the
den out, securing the old fox and several
small whelps
thrown out deeply stained an ochrey red.
Sometime afterwards an Orchardist. VINO
had also had considerable experience In
collecting Indian relies. passed that way
in search of certain shrubs for grating.
Thorn bushes were what was wanted and
Il mass of them grew just over the OLD
den.
A careful examination of the loose
gravel revealed a number of beautifully
polished spear-heads. Three or four local
amateurs were notified of the find ana
after putting in their spare time for three
or four weeks in digging, the deposit was
exhausted.
the deposit was located near upper
Pemauuid just above the Narrows.
About twenty rods from the shore hill
rises sharply to the northwest. Half way
up the acclivity and parallel with its
crest IA sunken wall was found 1t was
built of loose stone, about forty feet long
and extending two or three feet below
the surface. Above this in a space OF
forty feet square the material cOmpos-
ing this remarkable deposit was found.
Some of the implements were found at
depth of four feet and others were nearer
the surface.
vein of gravel deeply stained by red
ochre would be seen and following TINS
up to its source perhaps a quart OF the
clear ochre would be found. Always in
this vein of ochre implements would be
found and not elsewhere.
If would aDpear that excavation naU
originally been made and covered with
poles and turf and the implements depos-
tied in groups with quantity OF ocnre
in each group BY the natural process
which continually moves the tops of the
hills toward the valleys the place had
been completely filled up with gravel
which carried the ochre and implements
with it on its course toward the bottom
of the hill.
Here were found beautifully polished
spears of variegated Steatite and of black
slate. delcately chipped arroW-pointS and
spears of brown manganese and banded
quartz, and finely wrought gouges, chis-
els. hatchcts and sinkers. Smoothing
stones of a greenish slaty rock were
rocks of polished granite or gneiss. also
crescent or reniform stone implement of
kind not seen in this region before
The stone from which many of the i'm
pementS We're formed is. not Indigenous
and | have been informed on good au-
thority that the brown manganese is
found nowhere this side of the Ohio
writes correspondent of the Lewiston
Journal. The steatite and the variety of
quartz from which some of the spear
heads were made is not known here.
No pottery. bone ashes or burned rock
were found here. precluding the possibility
of it's having been a camping place. The
inference is that the deposit was the out
fit of some venturesome aboriginal trad
er, who was compelled by some unfortu-
nate circumstance to conceal his valu.
dOuhtlpSS ~
tending to reclaim them at some favor
able opportunity. But they We're never
reclaimed and laid there in their hiding
place for centuries until accidentally re-
vealed to the curious archaeologist who
was as happy to possess such rare Speci-
mems of the ancient stone workers skill
IS the luckless old warrior could have
been.
The deposit contained three or four
hundred implements and it must have
been brought collectively from some dis
tant part of the country. This is not at
all improbable for it is known that shells
from the Gulf of Mexico. and native cop
per from the mines of Lake Superior. are
sometimes found in the kitchen mddens
of New England. having passed from
tribe to tribe till at last they reached this
remote coast.
Mr.. A. l. Phelps of Damariscotta, was
the first one to recognize the character of
this remarkable find. He secured the
greatest number of specimens from the
place. which he generously donated to
the Maine Historical Society.
Implements of quite different char
acter are found along the banks of Penn
aquid pond, but they represent a much
ruder state of art than those described
in the foregoing account Mr.. Bert
Blanchard, late of Austin. Texas. discov-
cred place on the banks Of the pond
where the ancient stone workers must
have once piled their trade Flakes of
flint were noticed on the surface scat
tered among the trees. and a careful eX-
brought
twenty or thirty rudely chipped imple-
mentS.
The specimens from this locality both
in material and design. We're exactly the
same lot found on the Dana riscotta
river short time before and said by
Prof. Putnam of Harvard. to be the earl
lest traces of man yet found in the Dam
ariScOtta valley.