Prehistoric Rocks and Stones Shaped by Human Hands

8000 BC-1600 AD

In the early 1980s, archaeologists excavated land along Howard Road, SE before construction began on the Anacostia Metro Station in southeast Washington, DC. Objects unearthed in the excavation revealed nearly 10,000 years of human settlement in the area. Among their discoveries were stones shaped by human hands as well as prehistoric rocks. While the story of Washington, DC is most often told as the story of a federal city and the elected officials who have called it home, people settled along the eastern shore of the Anacostia River as early as 9500-1200 B.C.E. In particular, the excavation revealed traces of a Native American camp on the Stickfoot Branch, a small stream that emptied into the Anacostia. The availability of fresh water and stones that could be shaped into tools, such as arrow points and hide scrapers, helps to explain why the camp had visitors over a period of almost 6,000 years (4000 B.C.E. – 1600 C.E.).