Evening star., 1940-12-26
Of Stors, Men
And Atoms
Notebook Of Science Progress
, In Field, Laboratory
And Study
Bu Thomas r. Henru.

By Thomas r. Henry.
In romantic Virginia mountain VAL
ley, at the feet of the lofty Peaks of
Otter, Smithsonian Institution archeolo-
gists have uncovered what may be the
oldest inhabited site in eastern North
America.
Long before the red men who met the
first white explorers who came into Vir-
ginia, the evidence indicates three or
four distinct people, each with its own
culture, had dwelt In this hemlock-
shaded shelter in the bosom of the Blue
Ridge Mountains.
Among them were men who made a
type of Clipped flint spear point almost
indstinguishable from artifacts found in
the West in association with bones Of
long extinct animals and in geological
strata laid down at least 10000 years ago.
The Westerners are believed to have
lived in the continent in the closing
days of the last ice age.
Similar spear points have been picked
up all over the country-but always as
solitary objects such as might have been
dropped by wandering hunters. Prob"
ably Virginia has furnished more of these
than any other Eastern State. In no
case, however, has one ever been found
in association with other remains which
would indicate even temporary bivouac
of these ghost-like nomads who appear
to have been the first Americans
But Smithsonian archeologist, David
I. Bushnell jr., the first to find Folsom
tensive search all over the State, fol-
lowing every clue that came to his
attention His efforts were rewarded
when workmen engaged on the pic
turesque Skyline Drive, the new Federal
highway through the Shenandoah Ma"
tional Park, uncovered an Indian village
site with complex diversity of artifacts.
When Mr.. Bushnell investigated the
site he found objects obviously from
different cultures badly mixed up. But
it also was apparent that they repre-
sented very long cross section of North
American history. The valley is an ideal
camping site and presumably was much
the same 10000 years ago as it is today.
Historically it has been a cross roads
of mountain trails. At about the time
of the settlement of North America.
the Sioux and the Cherokee were there.
Before them, the artifacts showed, the
site had been occupied by the mysterious
Round Grave people" known chiefly
from sites in Kentucky where they were
presumably the earliest human occupants.
Mixed with the other objects were two
Folsom points. Beautiful examples OF
Eastern Folsom points, Mr.. Bushnell says,
have been found previously in this Sec
ton of Southwestern Virginia Here they
are in association not only with other
human artifacts but with some that
seem to have been Folsom in origin. One
is broken. 1t is made of rather light
grey ebert. Many small flakes of the
same stone are scattered through the
soil of the site. 1t may have been q
Folsom workshop.
Says Mr.. Bushnell: 1.-The variety OF
objects found at the site should be
accepted as evidence that it had been
frequented by man from the earliest
times and beneath its surface may be
hidden conclusive proof that makers of
the Holsom points once occupied the
valley.
Certain projectile points and frag-
mentary pottery is similar to that at
tributed to the Round Grave people
of parts of Kentucky and Tennessee
In the former region these were re-
garded as belonging to the Oldest
the remains were the earliest of three
distinct periods of occupancy now recog-
nized, the most recent being repre-
sented by the historic Cherokee
The occurrence at the site of material
similar to that attributed to the early
people West of the mountains suggests
the probability that the Peaks of Otter
was occupied during the same period
long before the arrival of the Cherokee
who, according to their tribal tradition,
once had a village near the peaks But
others had been in the region many
centuries before it was claimed by the
contemporaries of the Round Grave
people, These were the makers of the
Folsom points, probably the first nomadic
hunters to penetrate the wilderness"
An intensive study of the site is
planned by Mr.. Bushnell and by DR..
Frank H. H. Roberts, jr., Smithsonian
archeologist, who has excavated the site
in Northeastern Colorado where the
greatest quantity and variety of Folsom
objects have been recovered. The Vir-
ginia site, it is probable, would be con-
siderably later in date-but still of such
antiquity that any other spot associated
with human beings in the Eastern United
comparison with it.