Cobble Stones Excavated in Anacostia

Unknown artist

In the early 1980s, archaeologists excavated land along Howard Road, SE before construction began on the Anacostia Metro Station in southeast Washington, D.C. Objects unearthed in the excavation revealed nearly 10,000 years of human settlement in the area. Their discoveries included cobble stones, useful for shaping into tools. 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, more importantly, 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.). Two places were found where camp visitors had dug out cobble stones like these and shaped them into large blade forms. Another nearby area was found where the blade forms were made into finished tools.