Some "End of 2008" Indian Artifact Finds

We haven't been out on many long hikes for the last couple weeks. Kathy has been working and I have tried to take care of loose stuff while she's away. I've also been spending a lot of computer hours getting my new web site going:


http://www.gulf-shores-travel-guide.com/

The idea of a web site entered my mind last monday, and the next day I'm working on it. I always visualize the end result of something like this, not all of the details. Details is a one word description for hard work and long hours getting over the learning curve.

My new site has a lot of information on Alabama Gulf Coast fishing and the beaches, which is information that some people who read this blog are looking for.

Now my short walks:

I had been walking for about an hour and hadn't found anything yet. Because of all of the heavy rains we've had lately the beaver dam that I usually use to cross the creek was underwater. I contemplated backtracking, but decided I would walk a little downstream to see if there was a place to cross without getting real wet. I found this big beaver dam, which was the reason the other dam was topped.



Beavers are the most amazing animals. I would love to actually watch them build something like that.



That is part of the pond that was created. This creek is small. I could jump across it most of the time, if not for the beaver dams.

I was enjoying the walk, but I had picked up just a few chips and flakes. On my way back home, I spotted this in the bank.






That is one of the better scrapers that I have found in awhile and my only decent find that day.

A couple days later, I found this knife just before dark.





I also found this just before dark, another day. It was mostly covered in mud, and the part that I could see looked like a flake. I picked it up and saw the edge work. Upon cleaning it off in a nearby mud hole, I saw that it was actually a very thin tip of a point.



Yesterday I had about 45 minutes and found this. It is a knife with a fresh break (at bottom, left). I don't hunt plowed fields, so fresh breaks for me are rare.



Just before I started home, I picked up this.



It is probably a core (what was left after they chipped as many tools as they could). It has polish though, which most cores that I find do not have.

What a Difference a Rain Makes - Arrowheads

We had two days of rain, sometimes hard rain. For the last few years that kind of rain has been rare. After rains like that, it is best to get out as soon as possible for a couple reasons: Somebody else might get there first, and if the area is hilly, another good rain might wash them to where they will probably never be found. The second reason is partly why creeks are full of arrowheads.

Last week, I posted about a pleasant hike down a mostly dry creek. What a difference a rain makes.



I went out while it was still raining. Kathy had to go to work. (She probably wouldn't have went out in the rain anyway.) I found four arrowheads and several nice tools. Most of them were too muddy to photograph. I didn't get around to cleaning them up for a photo so I will post them later.

It was raining pretty hard when I found this arrowhead.







This drill was probably an arrowhead at one time.





The next day Kathy went we me. It had quit raining and there was a little less mud. She found this scraper pretty soon after we got to the first site.





I found this broken one on the side of a hill on the top of leaves and pine straw. Arrowheads and some tools are worked in a manner that makes them sometimes wash a lot farther, faster than the rest of the material that surrounds them.





Awhile later Kathy found this big arrowhead in a dirt pile. She found it in an area that has a few flakes, but not much else. It often pays to look at any scraped area close to where you have found artifacts. Sometimes nice arrowheads and tools are outside the areas covered in flakes. As I mentioned before, dirt piles should be searched anywhere near a site. That dirt pile probably is a result of the top layer of soil (maybe with artifacts) being "pushed and piled."





See the knife under the little stick?

Two Arrowheads and My Old Arrowhead Frame

I found a couple arrowheads after a small rain we recently had. In this location we have found many tools and broken arrowheads, but these are the first two (mostly) complete arrowheads that we found on this site.





That one has the tip broken off.





This one has an ear missing. Of course I'd rather find them 100% whole, but I still value them and they will look good in my newest frame.

Actually, before I began looking for arrowheads with purpose, I didn't even look that close to notice the imperfections. Each arrowhead was a relic just like the rest, not something to be analyzed and fretted over. That is the way it should be.

Here are my arrowheads that I found before I knew what I was doing:



Notice I framed the broken one along with the mostly complete ones. I find enough now to separate the mostly completes from the brokes and have enough of each to frame by site. But a broke is a relic from the past, just the same as a complete.

Until I began reading the artifact forums on the net, I didn't realize many, may be most, arrowhead hunters don't treat brokes or even tools with the same respect they give points. Some don't even bring them home. Recently on a forum, a hunter posted a beautiful arrowhead that had an imperfection so slight that it was barely noticeable. He said he was going to frame the "heartbreaker" anyway. Makes no sense to me.

Arrowhead Art

I came across some nice arrowhead art yesterday and collected it on a Squidoo lens.

http://www.squidoo.com/arrowheadposters

Some Indian Artifacts I Picked Up

The weather has turned a lot colder here. We have had some nights which have been below freezing and days where the temperature has hovered in the 40's. This is good walking weather, but this is Alabama and it never stays cold long.

We haven't had time for any long hikes, but I have taken some short ones with our dog, Daisy. Daisy is a hyperactive border collie. She loves running in the woods. It seems as if she is just biding her time, waiting patiently for the next time she gets to hit the woods with us us. She can sense the smallest sign that we might be getting ready to walk. She can hear me take one of my walking coats or my boots from a closet at the other end of our house from where she is at. When she sees me pick up my camera, she begins to get extremely hyper. She goes berserk when I pick up her leash. She's so exited it is difficult to leash her. One might think that she'd set still long enough to actually move her closer towards what she wants. She's a smart dog, but I suppose her excitement overtakes her intelligence. Daisy has been to obedience school and actually graduated two levels.



She's like a little kid - they're usually obedient as long as it doesn't interfere with having a good time.

We only leash Daisy to get her to the woods. Once she's off the road, she can do as she pleases.

We finally had a couple of pretty good rains, so on each walk there was a good possibility that some Indian artifacts would turn up. On all but one walk, it was just me and Daisy since Kathy was busy at work.

This is one of our favorite trails. It is a firebreak cut into the side of a mountain. There aren't going to be very many artifacts on a trail like this, since there are no rises. But there is some beautiful scenery.



We often see deer on this trail, but it is hunting season and once they here gunshots anywhere, they aren't going to be as visible during the day.



Beautiful ferns grow in this area. They are sheltered well enough not to die back in the winter.



Here is a nice scraper/knife I spotted in a dirt road bed. It was packed in hard, red dirt and was uncovered a little by the last rain. Finding most Indian artifacts boils down to looking for out of place rocks, and then looking to see if they have been worked. Its obvious that something like this didn't belong in red dirt, close to soft sandstone and shale.





Here's a hammerstone I dug out of the red dirt. It's quartzite with peck marks in the center and on the ends. We find these on almost every site that we find, but we find more than what is normal at this site. Chips and flakes are abundant on this site too, which means that this particular spot was where stone tools were manufactured. Only a small piece of land is scraped, but what little is cleared turns up a lot.





I found this nice tool all by itself on a dirt pile. Of course, all scraped areas near known sites should be searched thoroughly, but dirt piles seem to turn up more finished tools than average. A good thing about dirt piles is that rains might continue bring things up on a regular basis.

This tool looks to me like a scraper with two gravers. The edges are very thinly worked all the way around.

Tannehill Ironworks Historical State Park

Tannehill State Historical Park covers 1500 acres, dipping into the edges of three Alabama counties - Jefferson, Tuscaloosa, and Bibb. Most of the park has been left in its natural state. On even short hikes it is possible to see whitetail deer and raptors. Ducks, squirrels, and small birds are always nearby. All of the wildlife that is native to this part of Alabama are within the boundaries of the park, but most of it will sense you before you see it. On this trip we spotted a small deer drinking from a creek as soon as we entered the park. A few minutes after we parked the car, we saw a red-tailed hawk.

There is a nice restaurant in the park, but it was closed on this visit. A candy and ice cream store and a small old fashioned grocery store are also in the park.



Tannehill is very popular with campers. We visited on the Sunday after Thanksgiving and there were very few campers. The campgrounds can be very crowded, especially during the summer and most holidays.

For the kids there is a miniature railroad that runs from near the park entrance to the Trade Days area.

Many people like to visit the park during Trade Days, which is a giant flea market at the far east end of the park. Trade Days are March until November, third weekend of the month. I personally don't like Trade Days or any other of the times where the park is crowded. The less people, the better for me. But if you enjoy history and nature more than crowds, most of that part of Tannehill is never crowded once you get past the parking lot. Walk about a mile or two downstream, and it is very possible to leave everybody else behind.

Just past the furnaces is a rock bluff that overlooks the creek. The views are beautiful.





There are hiking trails of varying lengths in the park. All of them offer great scenery. Most of them follow or link up with pretty creeks.

The main attraction at Tannehill is the remains of furnaces that supplied the Confederacy during the Civil War. Much of them have been reconstructed. At peak production Tannehill was producing twenty tons of iron a day that was made into everything from pots to cannonballs. On March 31, 1865, during the last days of the war, production came to a sudden halt when three companies of the Eighth Iowa Cavalry attacked. When the fighting stopped the furnaces were in ruins and the supporting structures were burned to the ground.






The furnace site is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and the Civil War Discovery Trail. The furnaces have also been designated an international landmark by the American Society for Metals.







Near the Trade Days area, on Mill Creek, is a working grist mill. The original mill that was located here was built in 1867. This area is very popular with photographers because of its beauty.