Piney Branch Quarry 1

This first shot is an interesting mystery we have yet to solve. My friend Rod and I went out for an afternoon to do a little bow drill and exploring on the hills above the Piney Branch creek here in DC.

There were several trees in the area with these unidentified markings. As you can see from the photo there are squirrel tracks on the same branch for contrasts. They were on both horizontal and vertical branches, and are 1/8" to 1/4" deep, running 1/2 to 2/3 of the way around the branch. Any guesses?


Besides being a beautiful and wild oasis in the heart of the city, this particular tributary of Rock Creek is a well known archaeological site. Here is a link to a good article.

Native Americans quarried stone here for thousands of years, everywhere you look there are piles of rock broken by ancient flintknappers, many showing patterned flaking.

Quartzite is available in cobbles throughout the Washington DC and Northern VA area, but Piney Branch holds a particularly fine-grained and flakeable variety, as well as a dazzling array
of colors- red, blue, purple, green, tan and clear, banded and sparkling.


My walks here are slow, as you can feel the ancients tool makers around you, sense them as you hold the same stones that they once held. Two years ago I wouldn't have even recognized these artifacts, since I had never knapped this kind of stone. But once you examine them closely, they start popping out everywhere, like a word you just learned. Then, when you realize the massive scale of this workshop, and the shear volume of artifacts surrounding you, it's nearly impossible not to be awestruck.

Piney Branch Turtle

Today around 8pm there was a medium size snapping turtle at the mouth of the piney branch creek where it flows into the Rock Creek. I was running and stopped on the bridge to check it out. The turtle was pretty active but wasn't going for a curious smallmouth bass that was swimming right in front of its face. There was a also a bottom feeding fish which could've been a small carp, large trout, sucker or something.

When I ran by there a few minutes later there was also a Great Blue Heron fishing. The great bird seemed to get nervous as I paused to watch, and flew gracefully under the bridge out into the main channel of RC.

Earlier at the corner of Newton and 17th I witnessed one of those tough sights that brings up a complex range of emotions. There were two beautiful white eggs, about the size of thimble, laying on the sidewalk, delicate shells shattered and parts of the soon to be born chicks splayed around them. I can only guess what brought them there from the nest 20 ft. above in the tree- whether a Crow, or one of the Jays that also lives on the block. I don't know whether cowbirds live here yet or not.

Since I was there on the April mornings when the birds were scouring the front lawns on Newton for loose twigs, grasses, and the occasional strip of loose plastic, seeing the eggs lying there was even more poignant. I can only imagine what this is like for a parent, but I assume that within a short period of time, these birds will again have eggs in the nest. Resilience is prized in nature.