Annual report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution . rd Rock creek, into which the branch flows half amile below. The gneisses, as well as the Potomac beds resting onthem, disintegrate and crumble on and near the surface through theaction of various agencies, thus giving rather smooth though steepslopes on which the forest maintains itself with much uniformity. Thesurfaces are usually covered with a veneering of slope deposits com-posed of the disintegrated rocks and of vegetal mold, and this over-placed material abounds, up to the quai-ry level, in artifi
Annual report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution . rd Rock creek, into which the branch flows half amile below. The gneisses, as well as the Potomac beds resting onthem, disintegrate and crumble on and near the surface through theaction of various agencies, thus giving rather smooth though steepslopes on which the forest maintains itself with much uniformity. Thesurfaces are usually covered with a veneering of slope deposits com-posed of the disintegrated rocks and of vegetal mold, and this over-placed material abounds, up to the quai-ry level, in artificial debris. Itwas at first thought that this association of the worked stones withdeposits of gravel might be of value as a means of determining theage or period of occupancy, but examination developed the fa<;t thatthe gravel represented no definite period, its deposition extendingfrom the present back indefinitely into the past. In figure 3 a generalized view of the Piny branch quarry sites isdepicted; it will give a comprehensive idea of the configuration of the 30VJ A&yvnfy. HOLMES] THE PINY BRANCH QUARRIES 35 locality. The view looks northward across the vallej of the brauch; adotted line half way up the .slopes separates the sedimentary and crys-talline rocks, and in connection with it the quarry sites are indicatedby dark figures. The sites examined by trenching are indicated bysmall crosses. Operations on the Site discovery and reconnoissance So far as known the first discovery of worked stones on the siteof our excavations at Piny branch was made about 1880 by Mr DeLancey W. Gill, of the Ignited States Geological Survey, who wasengaged in sketching on the bank of the stream and by chance ob-served a flaked stone in the gravel at his feet. Subsequently Mr Gillcame upon a number of heaps of quarry-shop refuse in the secondravine west of Fourteenth street, at the point selected in 1889 for ourtrenching operations. In September, 1889,1 visited Mr Thomas Blagden, owner
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