Before we had gotten very far into our hike, Kathy picked up this big tool.
After taking a water break, I walked over to an area that often shows up things after rains and soon saw this.
A hafted scraper.
Not much later, I saw a shiny white speck in the midst of dirt and sandstone. I brushed a little of the dirt away and could see that it wasn't just a flake or chip.
It was a broken arrowhead.
I picked up several more rough tools, and then set out to find Kathy, who had walked ahead of me. When I saw her in the distance, she was walking back towards me. She had had enough of the heat. A good hunting spot was just up ahead, and I wasn't going to pass it up, even though it was miserably hot. She rested while I walked on. I'm glad I did because I found this on the backside of a pile of dirt.
When I first picked it up, I thought it was a piece of chert cobble, used to make tools. Unlike most cobble this was very smooth and was easy to hold. After cleaning it off, I could see that it was a big scraper.
A couple feet from the scraper, I spotted what appeared to be a dirt clod, but still stood out from the rest of the dirt pile. I picked it up, cleaned it off and was happy to see that it was a knife.
With the next good rain, those last two artifacts would have washed into the undergrowth and eventually into the small nearby creek, most likely never to be found by anyone, ever.
I picked up a few more point tips and small scrapers, and turned back towards Kathy and the dogs, and home.
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4 comments:
great find bill those prehistoric artifacts seems to be of great value
great cool tools from the prehistoric era you can find more great fishing articles at fishing site
how in the world do you know what to look for? I have always been fascinated with rocks and such, but some of what you have shown i have seen over the years and concluded it was just a rock. i too live in Alabama.
First, you learn what prehistoric Native Americans used to make tools with in the area where you live. In this part of Alabama (North Central) it is mostly chert. I find some jasper and quartz also. (A little to the south, around Montgomery, quartz was commonly used.) Then you look for "out of place" rocks. For example, if shale and sandstone is what you see predominately, and you see some chert flakes and chips in the midst of it, it is likely to have been brought in at some time. It isn't natural to see chert flakes and chips AWAY from a chert "pit." Also, material like chert doesn't generally flake when disturbed. It takes "intention" to make chert flake. (Look at a chert covered road. It is not flakes you see - you see a lot of rough rocks.) Once you learn to spot the waste from manufacturing, the rest is easy.
Most people wonder if they've found something because of the way it feels in their hands. That matters to some degree, but it is flaking that determines whether it was "worked."
It does take a few hunting trips to train your eyes, but once you do, you will realize that you have most likely stepped on arrowheads in the past and not seen them.
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