Advice? Total newbie doesn't really know where to start...

[Noah_D]

Howdy folks, I've stumbled across a few broken pieces of points while out detecting but I don't ever have any luck when I go out specifically to find artifacts. I've heard a lot of people say that they looked for weeks (and found nothing) and than talked to someone who had experience and started finding things much easier. Does anyone have any tips of where to look (I've walked some fields and creeks near me but anything specific?) or how to look? By how to look I mean like how fast to go and what exactly to look for and that sort of thing. Thanks in advance for any tips or advice!

 

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[Garscale]

I can help. All native sites have two things in common. Running water and land near it that doesn't flood. That should narrow it down some for you. Look for flakes from manufacture on the surface. Where flakes are abundant there will be points.

Spring plowed land is perfect after a rain. Harder this time of year with vegetation covering most ground.

The next best thing is gravel bars in streams and rivers. Virtually every decent running stream in North America has artifacts in it. Walking gravel bars and slowly scanning is productive. This takes hours of commitment and miles of walking canoeing but can produce artifacts of any age. Once you find a productive area it will produce again after the next high water event.

Good luck and post your finds

 

[Tdog]

Go slow. Look anywhere there is bare ground and disturbed ground. Look along the shoreline of any body of water (ocean, lake, river, creek) and in the water. Plowed fields after a good rain. Look for known artifact's shapes, colors, type of material they are made from. Make you a "flake flipper" to keep from having to bend over so much (a stick with a spike on the end).

 

[newnan man]

When I searched plowed fields along the Scioto River in Ohio I would search a lot along small creeks that flowed into the river. High ground like Gar says. The NA's liked a sure water source without being right on a big river. Good luck finding 1. A plowed field. 2. Permission to hunt it.

 

[Noah_D]

Thank you all! I just remembered Ohio has an atlas of archaeological sites from like 1914 so maybe I'll see if I can glean anything about local sites from that! I'm actually visiting an Whittlesey culture earthworks in a few days as well which'll be neat. I am always fascinated with any type of earthworks but everyone else just sees a pile of dirt.

How many hours should it take a newbie per piece or per point? What about you guys?

 

[joshuaream]

Looks like some solid advice so far. One thing that I would add is to avoid multitasking. I know a guy who swings a metal detector and looks for arrowheads, and I don't think he's nearly as productive with arrowheads as he could be. (You didn't say you were doing that, but just in case.) You have to train your eyes for finds and that seems to be harder than calibrating a machine for many people. I am pretty darned good in my opinion at finding relics in black and dark brown plowed fields from Northeast Indiana and some types of deserts, but put me in a very productive creek and it's frustrating because I am not as good as I think I should be. The same holds true for really rocky plowed fields in some areas. (And knowing I'm missing points keeps me from focusing.)

I have sites were I am usually stepping on relics most of the time (broken pottery) and some paleo sites where I can walk for 4 or 5 hours between decent finds. Many hunters have a range of productivity vs quality, and if given the luxury will start with volume and then land on fewer items but better quality. (But there are times you don't want to be skunked, so you go back to the high probability of finding common things.)

 

[antmike915]

all the above

 

[old digger]

Don't rush yourself if you are surface hunting, take your time and look for rocks (artifacts) that stand out in shape and that are of a different material. It is somewhat easier to spot artifacts in an area that has less rocks or gravel. When you search an area that is heavily concentrated with other rocks you may need to search a little slower. I sometimes have some difficulty seeing red when there are clouds overhead, but when the sun comes out I don't have that much difficulty seeing the reds.
Good Luck! and hope you find some dandies.

 

[joshuaream]

Once you find a productive area it will produce again after the next high water event.

I think this is a good point, and it goes to just how many relics are out there. We think they are rare, but once you find a right site and the dirt moves a little, you are exposing layers & layers of relics. There are far more relics out there to be found than people to find them in my opinion. (Yes, some sites are endangered, and special ceremonial sites should be protected, but the average fork in a river in many areas will have more relics than academia can handle.)

Take an extremely rare point type like a Folsom point. The entire window of time where Folsom points were made was around 400 years. Let's say there were 400 people using points at any one given time, and they each used/lost/discarded 10 points/tools per year, for 400 years. There should be around 1.6 million Folsom points and related items out there. How many have been found? A couple thousand, maybe 30 thousand? Still lots more to be found buried under dirt or river gravel. (Billions of tons of dirt and gravel.)

And most areas in the lower 48 have 10,000+ years of timeline. Even if there were only a couple of people in the equivalent of a modern county, if they used/lost 10 items per year (and hunting for food they probably lost a lot more and there were certainly more people), there should be at least a million relics in your county. Lots have been picked up, lots have been destroyed, lots were reused anciently, but if you find the right spot with the right conditions, there are still vast quantities of relics out there to enjoy.

Some people get really worked up by digs, my view is some collectors might make a slightly bigger scratch in the surface, but they are still just scratching the surface... Collect legally for your area and enjoy!

Joshua

 

[ToddsPoint]

Here's a couple of small tips for hunting farm fields. The best time to see artifacts is when it is cloudy and the soil is slightly damp. Flint is much easier to see in those conditions. Gary

 

[Older The Better]

When I’m looking for new areas in the woods I look for uprooted trees, after a few rains the dirt washes away and sometimes you can find flakes and even a point or two, indicating you’re on a site.

 

[Noah_D]

When I’m looking for new areas in the woods I look for uprooted trees, after a few rains the dirt washes away and sometimes you can find flakes and even a point or two, indicating you’re on a site.

How do you find an area like that? Like a site of some sort rather than just a single piece. Are you just looking for signs like flakes and stuff or is there a telltale in the landscape?

 

[Garscale]

Noah there is ALWAYS a tell tale in the landscape. It is a little rise in the terrain. Many time this is accumulation from thousands of years of lodge site.

On plowed ground you may see a color change also.

 

[Older The Better]

How do you find an area like that? Like a site of some sort rather than just a single piece. Are you just looking for signs like flakes and stuff or is there a telltale in the landscape?

It’s a start, flakes are a good sign, in my case the woods I look in are on top of a bluff, which is sort of what gar scale has been saying. After I find a spot with flakes I’ll dig a test hole and if it produces tools and lots of flakes I call it a site. if I’m being less destructive I’ll churn the dirt in the root ball of the fallen tree and let the rain work for me. also I just walk the area checking bare spots or near the bases of trees.

Burned rock and mussel shells are good signs too

 

[uniface]

There are optimum times. In general, after a rain to wash the dirt off what's on the surface, or sticking out of it.

Immediately after ploughing is usually frustrating, but after the first good rain, they're popping out. Of course, everybody else is out there that day too, so don't sleep in

My favorite time (east central Pennsylvania) was right around tax time (April 15). The stubble & chaff left in the fields had been beaten down, rotted & windswept all winter, leaving a surprising number exposed that weren't visable before.

Also, during a severe drought the soil gets powdery dry & blows away, leaving the ground carpeted with exposed stones.

Finally, poke around groundhog holes. They dig stuff up for you if it's there.

FWIW

 

[eyemustdigtreasure]

I'm enjoying all the good responses so far...!
Good tips...!
But, Noah D, you are from Connecticut...!
And, all my field knowledge has been local to me,,
and finding prehistoric site was my job with the USFS,
and later with several private concerns doing the same thing.
Water sources, saddles in ridges, rock shelter, anywhere there
is a resource to exploit, like quarries of flint, basalt, obsidian - that kind of thing.
Travel routes, villages - the list goes on...!
Best to catch an area after a frost, and early in morning or late afternoon sunshine - the
stuff just seems to pop out of the ground, sit on a pedestal of frost, just waiting to pick it up.
You know, just a basal fragment of a "point" is just as interesting holding them, intriguing to wonder who made this...?
Enjoy your walk thru time....

 

[Noah_D]

I'm enjoying all the good responses so far...!
Good tips...!
But, Noah D, you are from Connecticut...!
And, all my field knowledge has been local to me,,
and finding prehistoric site was my job with the USFS,
and later with several private concerns doing the same thing.
Water sources, saddles in ridges, rock shelter, anywhere there
is a resource to exploit, like quarries of flint, basalt, obsidian - that kind of thing.
Travel routes, villages - the list goes on...!
Best to catch an area after a frost, and early in morning or late afternoon sunshine - the
stuff just seems to pop out of the ground, sit on a pedestal of frost, just waiting to pick it up.
You know, just a basal fragment of a "point" is just as interesting holding them, intriguing to wonder who made this...?
Enjoy your walk thru time....

Sorry! A lot of NE Ohio was claimed by CT and was (and the area sometimes still is) known as the Connecticut Western Reserve. Thanks for the advice!

 

[Tnmountains]

I use google earth a lot. Places where creeks meet rivers or streams in the mountains through valleys with rock over hangs. Its sad to say but found one site off an island that was mentioned in old documents during the Indian removal and they catalogued what was stolen from them and how many families were moved . They had probably lived in that area for hundreds of years.
Lots of archeological maps show locations so any place similar near is usually good. You can go down the river here and in a mile pass sometimes pass 20 occupation sites washing out of plowed fields. Meet the land owner. Ask the old farmers as well they can tell you where they found stuff as a kid. Its still there...... Google your county for archeological reports. Most every city was built over an Indian site/town.
Good luck with your permissions that is the trick sometimes. I lost many good fields because people saw me hunting them and others would stop and not get permission and trample crops.Farmers have learned to say no to what once was just harmless fun. I still have one field back in the country where I can only hunt during church hours so no one sees me,lol.

 

[The Grim Reaper]

Lots of great advice from everyone. Only thing I would add is to always make sure you get permission before stepping on anyone's property.

 

[Noah_D]

Thanks for the advice Tnmountains! ...And yeah, I agree with both of you, getting permission stinks... I detect and that's honestly all that has kept me from hunting during the last couple months.