Archaeological Artifacts
While most of the material culture of the Monacans was likely made of wood, the soil conditions of the Virginia piedmont cause rapid decay of this perishable material. Instead, a large portion of the found material culture consists of stone and pottery. One of the most common finds at Monacan sites is that of quartz and other stone flakes. These were debris left from the construction of stone points and tools and likely discarded immediately. Still, the flakes indicate what types of materials were used by the culture, even if the points were not found.
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In the case of the Monacans, though, points have been found. At the Monasukapanough site in Albemarle County, VA, a number of small quartz flakes known as Clarksville points have been found. As the scale in the image indicates, most of the points are less than 2 cm in width, extremely small points in the evolution of points used on the Atlantic Coast of North America. These points date late into the culture of Native Americans, being fully developed and employed around AD 1700. The darker point to the right in the image is a more common projectile point found in Virginia.
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Pottery is often found at Monacan sites as well, but only in small sherds. The image to the left shows one of the largest pieces of pottery that has been found at the Monasukapanough site. From the remains left, the pottery was identified as belong to a typology of pottery known as Potomac Creek pottery, noted for the impressions made around the rim of the vessels. This pottery has been dated to other sites as late at AD 1730, a date much later than was originally assumed for Monacan habitation in Albemarle County.
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