Spearheads and Chips During the 1890s, archaeologists, geologists, and paleontologist affiliated with the Smithsonian began extensive excavations in stone quarries dotting the land in the District of Columbia. "The spot now the political center of the nation was, in prehistoric times, a chief resort of the native peoples of the region," reads the report of the Bureau of American Ethnology. Their findings spanned historic eras and included remnants of implements and projectile points created by the <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/123">Nacochtanks</a>, early Native Americans who established a trading center near the National Mall on the <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/424">Anacostia River</a>. These early instruments are carved from quartz, quartzite, and rhyolite. <em>Fifteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian 1893-1894</em> (1897). <a href="http://books.google.com/books/about/FIFTEENTH_ANNUAL_REPORT_OF_THE_BUREAU_OF.html?id=GXaKu1YwhvwC">View original</a>. 1897 <a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=38&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Pre-1800s">Pre-1800s</a>