Do You Have a Native Camp On Your Land?

[Johnny]

My uncle has a weekend home in Grimes County on 25 acres. He has had this place for 15 years now. His house sits on top of a hill with a little no named creek about 75 yards at the bottom of it. He has been on me about coming out there to see if he might have an old camp on it maybe. I finally made it out to his place this morning to try and see if we could find anything. I did a couple test holes down near the creek but I could tell pretty quick nothing would come of it. After a few more test holes here in there, it was time to go up near his house on top of the hill to see what the dirt looked like. BINGO!!!!! After just 45 minutes of screening we found 3 nice heads. My uncle has never found an artifact and he was just tore up with excitement. He has been walking over this camp every weekend and didn't have a clue what was underneath the ground. This is on a little bitty creek way far away from any big creeks or rivers. This looks to be a very rich camp with all the beautiful flakes and chipped material we found. Can't wait to get back out there....tomorrow.

[Ballcoach10]

My father in law and I have been bustin our tail looking and digging and screening and we ain't found jack!! I'm itching for a find!!! Are those heads archaic?

[unclefish]

That's awesome Johnny.

So correct me if I'm wrong.......if you have a high spot near a creek, dry creek, spring, or river it has good potential to be an old camp?

[quarterback]

You luxky dog Johnny. Looks like you are on to it now. Looking forward to seeing what all you find there. I started a thread the other day about the stuff I've found at our lease over the past 8 months or so. Sadly I only had a few comments. Hope you find a bunch! Please keep us posted.

[Johnny]

I don't think I saw that thread quarterback? I will check it out when I get near my computer later on. This is virgin ground and looks like it will be a middle archaic and older camp. No signs of pottery shards. With the quality material that was showing up, we are pretty darn excited. And yes, a high point above a wet or dry creek is a good place to start. I didn't think this spot would have one because of location and how small the creek is....I was way wrong.

[wellingtontx]

When you dig a test hole, how deep do you dig ?

[MassMan]

That is awesome! I replied to qbs thread on what I found in a short search. I am sure we have some on our place and I am going to spend more time looking. I know my uncles found and hand dug at least one but I was not that interested at the time. I have caught locals twice trespassing arrowhead hunting. You guys are giving me another hobby.

[Blue Tick]

Good job Johnny. Glad y'all found some stuff and made him happy.

[Atfulldraw]

I have the perfect spot, a high ridge going down to a creek that always has water in it.....and I'm about to dig a pond there.

going to ebay to search "sifter"

[GarGuy]

Thats good stuff too! Looks like an OLD camp. A big ol Scotty might jump up and bite you there.

[quarterback]

In short, here's basically what I posted. I'm trying to determine the age of the bullet that is in the second pic. Didn't mean to hijack your thread. It's just so cool to look in a spot that was most likely a camp.

You have to take a step back and wonder what life was like in that very spot, possibly thousands of years ago. How many indians were there? How long did they stay there? What did the country look like at that time? What all went on in that camp? What did they eat? How did they hunt their game? Many, many questions...

[Johnny]

Very nice QB! Great finds for sure. Those questions arise often for me when I'm out looking...very often. I'm going back up there tomorrow to see what we can dig up. I will post up our finds on this thread if we find anything worth posting. i will try to get some pics of the camp itself also.

[rubydog]

I have the perfect spot, a high ridge going down to a creek that always has water in it.....and I'm about to dig a pond there.

going to ebay to search "sifter"

Remember who your buddy is....

[Bonesplitter]

I swear Johnny!!

[Johnny]

When you dig a test hole, how deep do you dig ?

This varies but usually you want to dig down till you hit a hard layer of material which is clay in this particular region. Not much can go underneath the clay if at all. Normally in this area this could be anywhere from a foot to 5 foot deep, give or take.

Thats good stuff too! Looks like an OLD camp. A big ol Scotty might jump up and bite you there.

So far this is how it is looking as far as older types. Great material too. I will try to get better pics tomorrow. I was unprepared this go around.

I have the perfect spot, a high ridge going down to a creek that always has water in it.....and I'm about to dig a pond there.

going to ebay to search "sifter"

Sounds like a great spot and I hope it produces for ya. Right now I'm just using this small portable sifter table. This pic was taken about 4 years ago and it looks nothing like this now...it is on its last leg! I'm going to do a search myself on finding something a bit more durable. This table has one or two more digs left and that's it.