An Archeological Survey of Southwest Virginia C. G. Holland SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY NUMBER 12 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY NUMBER 12 An Archeological Survey of Southwest Virginia C. G. Holland SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION PRESS City of Washington 1970 SERIAL PUBLICATIONS OF THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION The emphasis upon publications as a means of diffusing knowledge was expressed by the first Secretary of the Smithsonian Institudon. In his formal plan for the Institu­ tion, Joseph Henry articulated a program that included the following statement: "It is proposed to publish a series of reports, giving an account of the new discoveries in science, and of the changes made from year to year in all branches of knowledge not strictly professional." This keynote of basic research has been adhered to over the years in the issuance of thousands of titles in serial publications under the Smithsonian imprint, commencing with Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge in 1848 and continuing with the following active series: Smithsonian Annals of Flight Smithsonian Contributions to Anthropology Smithsonian Contributions to Astrophysics Smithsonian Contributions to Botany Smithsonian Contributions to the Earth Sciences Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology Smithsonian Studies in History and Technology In these series, the Institution publishes original articles and monographs dealing with the research and collections of its several museums and offices and of professional colleagues at other institutions of learning. These papers report newly acquired facts, synoptic interpretations of data, or original theory in specialized fields. Each pub­ lication is distributed by mailing lists to libraries, laboratories, institutes, and interested specialists throughout the world. Individual copies may be obtained from the Smith­ sonian Institution Press as long as stocks are available. S. DILLON RIPLEY Secretary Smithsonian Institution Official publication date is handstamped in a limited number of initial copies and is recorded in the Institution's annual report, Smithsonian Year. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CARD 76-601580 UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, WASHINGTON . 1970 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Washington, D.C. 20402 - Price .$4.75 ABSTRACT HoUand, C. G. An Archeological Survey of Southwest Virginia. Smithsonian Contributions to An­ thropology, 12: 1-194. 1970.—Seventeen counties of southwestern Virginia, which are bounded by North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, and West Virginia, were surveyed archeologically in 1963- 1964. Aboriginal occupation was found to extend from about 9000-8000 B.C. to A.D. 1700. The sites and occupational debris of pottery, stone, and bone are described, classified, and analyzed to construct an outline of the prehistory of the region and its cultural relationship with surrounding areas. Preface A grant of $3100 was made to the Smithsonian Institution by the National Science Foun­ dation (GS-59) in 1962 to conduct an archeological survey in southwest Virginia with the author as principal investigator. The first season's work began in May 1963 in Mont­ gomery County and ended in August in Lee County when crop growth drastically obscured the location of sites and archeological finds. During the summer, sites were dis­ covered in the counties of Roanoke, Giles, Montgomery, Pulaski, Wythe, Smyth, Wash­ ington, Russel, Tazewell, Dickenson, Wise, Scott, and Lee (Figure 1). Since only a part of the funds had been spent the National Science Foundation granted a fiscal extension for the summer of 1964. In that year the survey began in Patrick County in April and con­ tinued untU June when the funds were exhausted. Sites were located in Patrick, Henry, Floyd, and Grayson Counties in Virginia and Stokes and Alleghany Counties in North Carolina (Figure 1). Sites in North Carolina were discovered as a result of the meander of streams across the Virginia-North Carolina state line. During the first season's work I had the help of Mr. Robert D. Ricketts, then a student of the University of Virginia. The survey attempted to find as many sites as possible in the southwestern part of Virginia and recover from them sufficient material to classify and reconstruct the pre­ history of the area. Two hundred and twenty-nine sites were recorded and a total of 21,808 potsherds, 21,654 flakes, 2,060 artifacts mosdy of stone but also of shell and bone, 5,180 animal bones and bone fragments, and 7,550 riverine snaU and mussel sheUs were coUected for analysis. Specificcdly, no particular cultural stage, such as Archaic Period sites was singled out for special attention. Excavation was limited to small strata-cuts on sites that appeared to have some depth, and from which collections from stratified levels below the surface might increase the overall information from a temporal standpoint by showing cultural changes through time. Henry Mercer at the end of the nineteenth century conducted the first archeological survey in the area, beginning on New River. PrimarUy he was looking for evidence indicating how and when the first men reached the Adantic Seaboard in geologicaUy remote times, or according to Lenape legend, about A.D. 1370. It may be of more than passing interest to note his phUosophy. Using the analogy of caves in Europe, he postu­ lated two hypotheses (Mercer, 1894, p. 285): (1) Caves besetting the mountain passes and river pathways by which early man must have first penetrated the great forest and crossed the Appalachians would likeliest contain the complete record of his presence; and (2) more than this, a long series of them [caves] by the river might well show the direction of migration by the increased number of layers or the greatest fossil age, of the man-gnawed bones, as we proceeded up or down stream. Other surveys have been conducted here in recent years. One was organized by a retired Navy captain, Robert Wainwright (1915) who worked as a volunteer for the Bureau of American Ethnology in the early part of this century. His reports provided data for relocating sites, but no material that could be used to determine cultural affUiations. Waldo R. Wedel of the Nation2U Museum of Natural History in 1940 con- Vll viii PREFACE ducted a reconnaissance near SaltvUle reporting his major discoveries briefly (Wedel, 1951). Ralph Solecki (1949), working for the River Basins Survey of the Smithsonian Institution in 1948 located 11 sites in GUes County, Virginia, and numerous others m West Virginia adjacent to GUes County. Where possible I have drawn on his data and tried to integrate them with this study. Evans' report on Virginia ceramics (1955) consolidates several separate studies from the area, including Solecki s. In this he delmeatea the New River and Radford pottery series, used in this report (pp. 61-b/), and suggestea that southwest Virginia was in the southern part of his larger Allegheny Geramic Area. Only now has the extensive fieldwork of the present study broken Evans larger ceramic areas into smaller components, associated each with particular pottery series revisea his seriation in the light of excavated sequences and carbon-14 dates, and addea data from the Blue Ridge and Piedmont Uplands. Mr. Harvard Ayers in September 1965 conducted a survey for the River Basins Survey in the neighborhood of Independence, Virginia, on New River. His report (1965) made avaUable through Dr. Robert L. Stephenson then of the River Basins Survey alter my manuscript had been written, adds to, but does not alter, the general concepts. In contrast to the professionals, the local collectors are a potent group m southwest Virginia archeology and I am indebted to some of them for much help. On the other hand, they have been a most destructive force. About 40 years ago one of a famUy of several brothers began to dig at night in open sites and to enter caves for artUacts. Through the following years this man with single-minded determination dug in nearly all the open, pottery-bearing sites and caves within a large radius of SaltvUle. The artUacts sought were mainly pipes, ear ornaments, shell pendants and simUar objects that were highly prized and sold well. Others of the family took up this activity and the pattern spread to embrace many people in their town and surrounding community. It is estimated that 40 to 50 people are now engaged in this destructive digging between Tazewell and Wash­ ington Counties. The economic aspect of this digging is shown by the following prices of artUacts: pot—$35; string of conch columeUa—$40; "ear plugs"—$25 to $35 per set of two; tube beads—$15 for a string 24 inches long; Marginella beads—50p for a string of 24 inches; gorgets—$50 to $75; polished disks—$5 to $10; arrowheads—6^, but U colored red— $1.00. One collector related to me how he made $176 after two days digging at a single site by selling the artUacts. When an artifact changes hands, and it frequently does, the problems of determining its provenience and authenticity arise. Fakes are also manufac­ tured here. High prices have also fostered the establishment of "trading posts" that keep suppliers busy. Some of the individuals already mentioned and local farmers who have areas of Indian occupation on their lands or nearby are among the suppliers. Other suppliers come from Arkansas. The demand has also brought coUectors from more distant parts of the state to spend a few days or a week of their vacation putting holes in productive sites. The collectors have built up their own type of archeological procedure over the years. They recognize the significance of a "black circle" in the soil as a village, and look for it; they study the shell patterns on the surface for indications of a place to dig. The "probe," a straight stiff rod is used to distinguish the softer pits and burial areas from the hard clay which it cannot penetrate.