Indian artifact excavation

[Roy D Mercer]

I can picture that in my mind lol

[Johnny]

Oh yea, that Wells right there is a Dandy! I'm thinking the best well made one taken off of this particular site for far? That son of a gun is like a piece of candy for sure. Congrats on one heck of a find!

[Tony Pic]

I am constantly amazed at your finds Gar Guy . Thanks for sharing.

What I do not understand is about all this is...
Why do you find so many points in the same spot? Good hunting spot and they never picked up their arrows and spears? Was it a dumping ground? Recycle pit for used broadheads . I mean why would you find so many in such a small area?

[Roy D Mercer]

LOL! Thats not exactly how it worked. This site has stacked civilization from present to 12,000 years ago.Lets just say there were an average of 20 Indians there and each broke/lost 25 points a year(im sure it was more) plus the stashes that were lost when he died. How many brodheads wopuld you loose a year if you bowhunted to survive?

Ok..Lets stick with 25. Thats 500 per year times 12,000 years equals 6,000,000 points!

Tony this should give you a better idea why there are so many arrowheads in a given location. There are thousands of camps just as good as this one.

[GarGuy]

Thanks Steve. These points are from 13,000 years of occupation. I know of sites that have literally five times as much stuff.

[Tony Pic]

Tony this should give you a better idea why there are so many arrowheads in a given location. There are thousands of camps just as good as this one.

Thank you for the explanation. This clears things up tremendously!
Thanks again for sharing!

[Hoggslayer]

GarGuy, that last really nice point you posted; what type of material do you think it was made from? Is that Knife River Flint (KRF)?

[GarGuy]

GarGuy, that last really nice point you posted; what type of material do you think it was made from? Is that Knife River Flint (KRF)?

Great question! If it is, its a long way from home. One expert said heat treated Jasper and hes probably right, however it has those little fossil clouds in it that I usually only see in Flint.

[Texas Grown]

That big Wells just shook my timbers .

Didn't some of the ancients also leave the heads in when they put a carcass on a fire? I see many of your post where the heads look like they still have carbon on them. Could also be reasoning for many being broke? I cold see where if they did, many were lost in the ash of the fire. Then buried with sediment and time.


I could also see where many were discarded after being lobbed at game and getting broke. Them keeping the shaft and just reattaching a new head.

[Hoggslayer]

Great question! If it is, its a long way from home. One expert said heat treated Jasper and hes probably right, however it has those little fossil clouds in it that I usually only see in Flint.

The reason I asked is I've read that KRF has been found thousands of miles away from where it was quarried. At one time it was a very valuable trade item.

[fo_teef]

That's an awesome find!!! Why did you use the excavator and not less harmful methods for artifact collection? As a TAMU anthro major we are always told to use the 1x1 method for excavation...yes tedious but it guarantees nothing is left out of the find.

Hi Truckgirl,

What Steve MEANT to say was that this isn't really an archaeological dig, in the academic sense. It's turned out to be a pretty good area, although it's a typical east Texas campsite. We know of dozens that are as good or better, although there are probably thousands that we don't know of. This camp would never have been considered important enough to dig professionally, and the only reason the interesting stuff has come to light has really been because it was dug mechanically. If you excavated it like you would in an important archaeological dig, you'd spend hundreds of hours for a few flakes and a couple of points, and that's counting everything, not just the base layer with the oldest points. Many cubic yards of dirt are moved for every early Archaic/transitional Paleo artifact that comes to light. If anyone ever decides that these finds are important enough to send in a cadre of you guys and gals to do the tedious work, you can be reassured to know that only half of the campsite will have been dug when Steve is finished. Having been on site a lot, I can say the artifact density is nowhere near enough to keep much interest going for anyone but a hobbyist...or someone willing to spend the time and money to move thousands of cubic yards of dirt to see what they can find.

Cheers,



Don

[GarGuy]

Well Don, I probably would have gotten to all that after I found out what she presumed I was damaging. There is an attitude amoung Archys...especially the younger generation grads that PRESUME an enormous amount. Weird how they should be educated to gather facts yet presumption prevails.

[Johnny]

You kill that camp buck yet?

[assassinator]

This is the most awesome thread on TBH

[GarGuy]

You kill that camp buck yet?

Meh.... I cant decide whether I want to burn a tag on him. I need to see pics of a couple more first. Got a deer with a big spike on one side I may whack as a cull soon. Weird how my shooter isn't eating corn this year. He is hanging around but not one pic. He is 6.5 this year.