Native American questions remain unanswered

Zann Miner / Culpeper Star Exponent
Published: May 23, 2007

The last few columns should have convinced all readers that indeed there was a substantial population of Native Americans living in what is today Culpeper County prior to the early 1700s.

Did they all leave and if so why- If some remained what happened to them- There are discoveries yet to be made. There are folks yet to be convinced and in that vein let the existing discoveries speak for themselves.

For obvious reasons the names of individuals and exact locations will not be revealed, but the findings are so prolific and widespread that any serious explorer should be able to find a treasure or two.

Stone bowls, spear points, axes, scrapers, and thousands of projectiles or arrowheads are among the findings. The most remarkable pieces include a petrified whale vertebra and a carved pipe bowl. Both of these artifacts were found along a riverbank, though not on the same river.

What makes them particularly noteworthy- Before the five-lake watershed system built in the 1960s-'70s, the Rappahannock, Hazel and Rapidan rivers were considerably deeper. Despite that fact, there is no evidence to support a theory that they were ever deep enough for a whale to navigate and it is unlikely that the bone would have washed so far up river. The consensus is that the bone was "traded-in." It is fun to imagine the reaction at home when the bone was presented as the trade off for perhaps copper or a finely honed ax. Not useful as a tool, inedible and too big to wear, one can only speculate that it was a novelty, perhaps a prize carrying some mystery of an unknown world.

The carved pipe bowl possessed similar characteristics and was an uncommon find, indicating trade with other cultures.
Previously, it was mentioned that four villages along the Rappahannock and Rapidan rivers have been studied. Canoeists on the Rapidan below Germanna Ford can see fish traps and a well-documented paper was written about the evidence of Native Americans in the Rixeyville area.

Dairy farmers in Stevensburg have been turning up arrowheads by the bucket full. The split hoof of the cow digs into the ground. Add to that natural occurrence the containment of the milking herd on relatively small acreage and you have bovine relic hunters, or at least they do all the digging.

But one does not always have to have a heard of milk cows. In a short walk across a small knoll rising above Mountain Run again in Stevensburg three arrowheads were spotted lying on the ground. Wow! Imagine what might be discovered with a managed dig-

One of the most fascinating sites lies just east of Route 15 south of Culpeper. The vast collection of bowls, tools and projectiles support the hypothesis that it was the site of a village.

Several years ago a call came into the museum from a young girl living in a new development near the old Reva post office. She had been walking in a pasture adjacent to her house and found an odd looking rock under a tree. She wasn't sure what it was but hoped the museum could help.

In anticipation of her visit all books identifying Indian artifacts were gathered. The young girl arrived with an Indian ax finer than anything the museum owned. After sharing all information including how it may have come to be located under the tree, she left with her prize and most likely a yearning to discover something else.

Finding artifacts is only one element of the hunt; familial history is just as informative, though often more elusive. The question has been raised, "Did they all leave-" The question remains unanswered.

One hypothesis is that not all the Indians left and those that remained may have attempted to assimilate into the new cultures. Two primary cultures-white European and African — would mandate a logical choice.

A genealogical study of African-Americans — oral and written histories and DNA testing- often indicates Native American ancestry. There are numerous indications of an early integration of these two cultures in the family histories of African-Americans in Culpeper, Rappahannock and Madison counties.

Census records are commonly utilized as a source of documentation but not so much with cases of this nature. Anyone with a small percentage of non-white heritage was registered as a mulatto, with no distinction as to Indian or other. Family histories are valuable and DNA tests are considered accurate.

Real discoveries cannot be made in a vacuum: information must be shared. A couple of queries for you to ponder; can you add to the information bank regarding Native Americans in the region, are there Native Americans in your family history and, finally, does anyone know of a Native American connection with land lying between Alanthus and Rixeyville-
Until next week.

Zann Miner, former director of the Museum of Culpeper History, can be reached at . Check out her history blog at StarExponent.com.