Arrowhead and other historic/pre-historic collections

[Mortenson]

Mort,
do you have photos of all of your findings? It seems like you guys are amassing quite the collection!

I don't think I showed these in this thread, but here's a pic of 2 frames my dad put together probably in the 70s. They were all found by dad and grandpa, majority by grandpa according to dad. They didn't document anything, or even know what they were called. Just knew they were special and deserving of a place on the wall. Post #115

Trophy Room / Taxidermy Displays

My dad has one. If I remember the story right it was his great granddad's who built it part by part because he couldn't afford to buy one complete.Is that shotgun a model 97? Great looking place by the way. And congrats on all the competition wins! Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk Thanks...

habitat-talk.com

 

[Lucky_P]

While plowing and discing certainly have broken a lot of points over the past 300+ years, anyone who's spent any time knapping flint will know that a lot of broken points snapped just as the knapper was 'putting finishing touches' on a piece... "I'll take just one more little flake off, here... D'oh!"
Knapping results in lots of detritus, and many of those flakes were used for various and sundry purposes... I once skinned and gutted a deer with a 'waste' flake of chert I picked up here around the barn, just to prove to some young, doubting, friends, that it could be done.

 

[Mortenson]

Any chance the guy will let you walk it?

Maybe, but I always worry about what the return favors might entail! This might not be interesting to anyone, but when they widened the highway along our old farm in '87, they had to do the archeological surveys. They found some pretty cool stuff in a narrow strip of space. Sounds like our farm was quite the bison kill site. In more recent years, they made a new report on some of the data that had been dormant for 30 years. The investigations "demonstrate a long, near-continuous period of occupation in the Starved Rock area, from the Early Archaic through the nineteenth century." Here's a few screenshots from the report. We question a few of the artifacts "types".

 

[hillrunner]

Did you join that forum, Hillrunner? When we found a nice point about 5 years ago I tried joining that group to help learn about the point and others. They never allowed me to join, and so I found the Treasurenet group, and they've been helpful, but don't bend over backwards to tell people what they have. If someone asks, they might get 1 or 2 replies, unless it's really special. The good posters are experts, it's really impressive.

I did join to ask about a few rocks at one time. I'm way too ignorant to be posting on there but it's really interesting to stop in once in a while and see what people are finding. They are really good about answering questions, pretty active site.

 

[Catscratch]

I've got three little knobs that fit that to a T. Only problem is, they are the only spots I haven't tilled since they would be prone to erosion. But now you got me thinking and I will look on the lower slopes coming off of those. I did disc those last spring to plant my soybeans. My drawing was beginning to look way too much like a face not to add the frown... Red is the knobs and the green lines are the slopes I may go look.
View attachment 64140

What's a little erosion?!?! I think you should be tearing down and repurposing combines to shift through your hills...

 

[Ben.MN/WI]

That video is crazy, they found a lifetime of artifacts in one day.

 

[Catscratch]

That video is crazy, they found a lifetime of artifacts in one day.

The guy that shared it with me said he averages 500 a day, with 1000 a day on occasion. It inspired me to go out with the skid steer this winter and dig a strip. I sorted through it and found NOTHING. I did make a mess of things though. Next winter I might disc the field several times to get rid of the corn stalks and see what pops up. Or, I might not.

 

[Ben.MN/WI]

That sifting/sorting trailer they use is very impressive. I would think that setup would work really well finding artifacts in soil with very little natural stone. If there were thousands of stones mixed in with the dirt, it would be a little tougher to spot the arrowheads mixed in with rocks.

I probably should walk our new place - the dirt was turned this spring for the first time in over a decade and the oats/alfalfa is just starting to pop. I have no idea if there are any arrowheads there, but this would probably be the time to look. Maybe my son and I will take a long walk around the field this week when we go turkey hunting. I'd be really happy to find one arrowhead.

 

[Howboutthemdawgs]

What's a little erosion?!?! I think you should be tearing down and repurposing combines to shift through your hills...

What in earth! That is wild. I mean I would never do that to my ground but those guys are clearly ate up with it. I will say some of those items would never stick out to me as an artifact though.

 

[T-Max]

What in earth! That is wild. I mean I would never do that to my ground but those guys are clearly ate up with it. I will say some of those items would never stick out to me as an artifact though.

Any rock is a hammer if you use it to beat on things, right?


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[Howboutthemdawgs]

Any rock is a hammer if you use it to beat on things, right?


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By that token I have found so many artifacts you wouldn’t believe it! I have a whole field of them laying on the surface right this second

 

[Catscratch]

Lol, I actually think I have a couple of "hammers" or tool heads of some sort. The first has two notches dished out that make it fit your hand perfectly, and the 2nd one is just too "shaped" to be an accident. Got to have been used for something.

 

[Catscratch]

Found the tip of one, and the butt of one.

 

[Mortenson]

Those look really nice, Cat. Any idea what that base is? My youngest, toby, found a near identical black tip to yours. Found it 2 days ago. I sprayed a few weeds today and let the 2 younger boys search a new Hotspot I found on the prairie. Toby got another 1 and we got a few breaks.

 

[Catscratch]

Cool!

 

[Mortenson]

Chris got this gnarly 1. It's the most beveled point I've seen, on both sides. Doesn't show up well in pics. *also Toby's point today pictured

 

[Catscratch]

That point is crazy looking! Any more pics of it?

Our black tips are really similar. My oldest has a knack for finding small black tips. I've only found a few.

Not sure about the base. It's beveled and curved. Very similar to a smaller point I found last year but if this one is proportionate to that one it would be a really large point. I'm going to say there isn't enough there for me to make a good guess as to what it is.

 

[T-Max]

Found the tip of one, and the butt of one.
View attachment 64240View attachment 64241

Glue em together!


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[Catscratch]

Glue em together!


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That was the first damn thing the wife and kid said to me! Bunch of smart asses!

I do sometimes repair them, but I don't try to hide the repairs. I just want to fill in the blanks to see what it once was.

 

[Mortenson]

That point is crazy looking! Any more pics of it?

Our black tips are really similar. My oldest has a knack for finding small black tips. I've only found a few.

Not sure about the base. It's beveled and curved. Very similar to a smaller point I found last year but if this one is proportionate to that one it would be a really large point. I'm going to say there isn't enough there for me to make a good guess as to what it is.

I don't find the tiny ones very well either. Must be our old man eyes. It's hard to show that point well in pics. This was the best I could do.