celt and a few points

[jonet143]

i found all these and many more while afield hunting, backpacking and camping in texas.

the celt was found off the brazos river, the points primarily in parker county, texas

[Sauconian]

Here are some more artifacts collected in southern New Jersey.

The 1st. photo is of two full grooved axes. The upper from an extensive site on the bluff of the Crosswicks Creek, which extended several miles though Trenton, from the Delaware River, eastward. Now almost fully covered by development. The lower one shows scars from a plow.

Points, which term many prefer to 'arrowheads', are all from areas occupied by the Leni Lenape people.

Interesting to me is the 1st. on the top left, which is made of Perkiomen Jasper, which was extensively quarried in open pits all around the area of Pennsylvania where I now live. The 3rd. on the top is a graver, the 5th, made of Cohannsey Quartz, for a stream of that name, and the top far right I believe is a mineral known as Rhyolite.

Two lighter color pieces below the top row,3rd, & 4th ( with the Mickey Mouse ears ), which are ascribed to the early Archaic period, are called Bifurcates. The oldest knapped points seem to be more labor intensive than the newest, such as the simple black flint Triangulars which are dated from the Late Woodland to Contact periods.

Center, 2cd. from bottom is a fragment of a smoking pipe made of steatite,otherwise known as soapstone. Our early settlers used that mineral as well, for griddles. I have seen a large soapstone bowl, unknown if it was Indian or White, but couldn't afford the price. Below the pipe is a broken Gorget, worn for decoration. Just half, and 1 of 2 holes remaining to identify it.

There's quite a market buying and selling stone aged artifacts now, with prices on a par with good antique pocket knives. I've only been interested in those I've found, in cornfields and on river banks. Each new find was a spiritual experience, wondering what stories it could tell.

Fran

[gmusic]

Interesting pieces guys!

[singin46]

GREAT FINDS THERE GUYS, THOSE ARROWHEADS.....WOW!
DIDN'T KNOW YOU COULD STILL FIND ANY.

SINGIN47

[jonet143]

hey perry, texas has more points than will ever be found. amazing that there are so many all over the country. i hunt far south west tx and there are places with pictograghs, pottery, impliments, museum stuff. it's on private land. we can take game and memory with us. i found most of the stuff i have here in parker county, tx. cowboys and indians!

[Sauconian]

Johnnie's right Perry, they are everywhere. So many in fact that the estimates of pre- columbian population densities, and the time line of man in the Americas, has never correlated to the number of artifacts in my mind. The period of occupation has been pushed further back a few thousand years since I've had an interest.

You've surely walked over a few Perry. The trick for success is to be looking for them, and to recognize them when you see them. I found one in a farm lane I used on a daily basis for years, and another in a hole my Bassett was digging under a fence. People have been picking this stuff up for 250 years, so large artifacts and whole pottery are found mostly by excavation. I only collected surface material, so as to not disturb any archaeological value.

You can increase your odds of success finding them, by looking for places of long term habitation. Research at the local library, and in the East, proximity to water, and slightly elevated ground. Plowed fields and construction sites bring them to the surface, and a hard rain or two helps to expose them to view. Also investigate any small bit of stone that does not look like the common stone of the area you are searching. Last, practice ! I looked a long time before finding my first, but the longer I practiced, the easier it got.

Fran

[Mossdancer]

Fran:
You mentioned an important point, from the top of ground was close to your statement. In the State of Oregon the piece has to be completely un earthed before you can legally touch it and they do enforce it. To bad there are thousands of them out there. That law was from 1990, they may have tightened the process up even further by now.
moss

[Dave O]

Here is a photo of a huge point a friend found long ago on private ground in Utah

[tmwsiy]

personal find on private property in NC

[mightyhunter]

Nice points guy's, I too collect artifact's and have several. beiing from central Arkansas this area was covered with Native Americans.I have been collecting for about twenty years or so. Find it truly fasinating that one could do so much with so little and manage to survive. I have been blessed with finding some really nice artifacts that i still have today and will keep untill the day I die. I will try to post some pics tommorow, getting late now time for some shut-eye