OCR Text |
Show Find Graveyard of Aboriginal Town in Washington Suburb WASHINGTON. A steam-shovel steam-shovel burrowing up earth at an army flying field in suburban suburb-an Washington has struck the lost graveyard of the old Indian In-dian town of Nacotchtank. This is the belief of archeologists at the' Smithsonian institution, who are now studying bundles of bones found arranged in Indian fashion. The custom, common among southern Algonquian Indians, was to collect a bundle of skulls, another an-other bundle of leg bones, and so on, and to pile sorted types into graves. John Smith Knew Town. The discovery adds to knowledge of an historic Indian town picturesquely pic-turesquely described by Capt. John Smith. An artist who accompanied Smith drew pictures of the natives and their houses, dances, and occupations, oc-cupations, thus recording the early appearance of what was destined to be the capital of the United States. Several Indian villages stood within with-in the District of Columbia area, but Nacotchtank was the greatest. It has been described as an important trading town, and a sort of fashion center. The town's place in Indian fashion trade is inferred from the fact that chief exports were powdered pow-dered graphite and ocher, which served as face and body paints to adorn the Indians of Maryland. |