A Question About CREEKS and ARROWHEADS

[BrettCo124]

Hey all,

This will mark my second year of searching for arrowheads. Last year was mainly a learning curve for me. This year, I want to make it finally happen! I still have yet to find an arrowhead in my creek, and I thought I'd ask you for your professional advice:


I have a creek that runs through my backyard basically. Its highly accessible for me, and I don't need permission to be in it. I like the thought of being able to possibly extract an arrowhead from this creek. The creek is wide (25 feet wide I'd say), it has a ton of areas of creek stones that build up along the banks. It has a mix of stony/sandy bottom. It has areas of fast, running water, and areas of slow moving water. There is evidence of erosion on the banks in most spots I see. The bank to the surface ground above I'd say is 5-6 feet tall.

Would you personally search any creek, at any location, anywhere, if you did not want to travel to find spots that could have been living quarters for Indians? This is essentially what I keep doing. I search through the stony buildup area and on the banks, but with no luck in finding anything. I know that I can search farm land, and other parts of the creek, or another creek all-together. I'm just curious if you all believe that all creeks hold Indian artifacts? Would you keep checking this one stretch of creek if you didn't feel like traveling any further (I'm not lazy, just curious about right in front of my house only), or would you say its a needle in a haystack?

Also, I never found any flint pieces, but please remember, I just got in to this hobby last year and didn't really give it 100 percent just yet. In addition, I was told that the creek did have Indians, but they would pass on through it, rather than set up homes along it.

Thanks all!

Brett

 

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[chase2]

Brett,
what part of the country are you talking about. Creeks are good, but not all creeks produce artifacts. If your just starting out I would broaden out and ask about known sites that have produced. Most farmers/ranchers will know. but getting permission is another story. if you are a land owner then you can understand and if you have friends that are land owners that would be an added plus. Out here I don't bother with creeks, they just don't produce. but in other places I have hunted the creeks and rivers have produced very well.

 

[BrettCo124]

Thanks for the response! I am from Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Right outside of Philadelphia. I am definitely going to check out other places, as well.

I just really want to find one in this creek. I have been told mixed things, such as every creek will hold Indian artifacts and not all creeks hold artifacts. If the first were true, I'd keep on checking in this creek by my house before moving on. It's just a goal of mine to find one in this creek (and I'm making it even more difficult by not searching a wide area, only my property line) but I just didn't want to be wasting time if not all creeks hold artifacts.

 

[rock]

Brett any chance of taking a pic of your creek for us to see? Make sure there isnt any landmarks showing in the pic if you dont want anyone to know where you live. Id like to see the types of rocks and I will be able to tell you if they spent time in your area. I love a good creek walk cause you never know what will be there when you find one. I find my oldest artifacts in creeks. I need to see a pic of the gravel and maybe a wall showing the dirt. Maybe I can help idk.
I have permission to walk a creek that is loaded with flint cobbles. They should of been all over that creek but I cant find hardly a single artifact in it. I believe some creeks were used for gathering material and others were for living and hunting. Then there is another creek .50 mile away that is loaded with artifacts and flint. Cant tell you why but not all creeks were lived on.

 

[8mygritz]

south facing hills near a water source(usually a small stream or river).a fresh plowed field is preferable & after a rain....the tops of the points are then easy to spot.these next few spring mths.are great for hunting.just found a bunch last wk.(see my post).good luck!

 

[maccounty]

Maybe check the flat areas above and along the creek where they might have camped. That's where I find them mostly. The creek has flooded probably thousands of times so finding them is more of luck than anything.

 

[BrettCo124]

thanks everyone for the continued responses! I will continue to read them and soak in your knowledge! rock - This is the photo of the creek. Its not my photo, because I don't have any currently. I will post them tomorrow if I get a chance to go. But this is the same creek, just not my immediate area. Thanks, I will try and get you more photos ASAP. I appreciate that additional help and evaluation.

Brett

 

[rock]

Looks like a good creek to me for artifacts. More photos will help. I find more on gravel bars that have trees on them. The downed trees cause a swirl in the water that will cause the artifacts to slow and settle behind the tree that is laying flat in the water. Works with big rocks to.

 

[BrettCo124]

Looks like a good creek to me for artifacts. More photos will help. I find more on gravel bars that have trees on them. The downed trees cause a swirl in the water that will cause the artifacts to slow and settle behind the tree that is laying flat in the water. Works with big rocks to.

This is great news for me! I will be sure to take more pics tomorrow. Will you be notified if I post on here tomorrow? Thanks so much.

 

[NCPeaches]

I might can help a little because all I hunt is my creek and my neighbors upstream section of it and have hunted it for 3 yrs pretty regular since we found a pottery shard in it. In my county in NC you never hear about native americans living out my way but we are in the news for a dig on the other side of the county. I have found probably close to 500 pieces of pottery but only a handful of projectile points, and flint/chert flakes. Creeks are tricky and can be discouraging because of the way it "collects" things and there are some areas in mine where I have never found anything. Have you found any pottery in your creek?

 

[BrettCo124]

Very interesting. I do not believe I ever found pottery, however I am new to this. I may have seen pottery but didn't know if it was or not. I will be there tomorrow and I will definitely keep an eye out for pottery. Sounds like it's not as easy as some YouTube videos make it look

 

[rock]

What state are you in Brett?

 

[BrettCo124]

Pennsylvania. I live in bucks county. Right outside of Philadelphia.

 

[rock]

From other poster I have seen most up there find quartz points. Look for bright white while in the creek. I find quartz here to but mostly black flint and other colors like these. I found all of these in the same field in 1 day.

 

[BrettCo124]

That's so awesome. Id be so happy to find one of those! Thanks for the extra advice on what colors to look out for! I'm thinking this creek HAS to have artifacts. It looks too pretty to not lol

 

[NCPeaches]

Very interesting. I do not believe I ever found pottery, however I am new to this. I may have seen pottery but didn't know if it was or not. I will be there tomorrow and I will definitely keep an eye out for pottery. Sounds like it's not as easy as some YouTube videos make it look

Everything rock is telling you are great tips. My friends who have creeks also have the same problem you're having and what I think is they are there but your eyes aren't seeing them. It took me quite a while to train my eyes and now they pretty much just see the pottery but the projectile points are a different story for me. I've found them all over the place literally! Found a couple just sitting on top of the rocks, talk about luck. Found one stuck between rocks with the hafted end up in the bottom middle of the creek and dug out with my rake a couple from under the bank. There is no telling how many points I have missed because my eyes are not trained for them, or at least is what I think. I've tried telling my friends how I find the pottery and even wet the pieces to show them how they look wet and still only one of them has found one shard on the bank of their creek and that tells me that her creek is potentially full of them. Another question: Do you find broken glass from old bottles? Where that is you will also find old pottery and crockery if it's in there.

 

[BrettCo124]

thats a great idea to see what wet artifacts look like, too. So, when you find your artifacts (or your friends you spoke about), do they literally just show up to a random creek and start looking? If so, then it's EXACTLY what I'm doing lol. The first opening of trees I can poke in between to access the creek, I do, and then I start looking lol.

 

[BrettCo124]

I found photos that I took last year of my creek! This is exactly the spot. I hope the details are enough, but if you need any additional photos I will take them tomorrow! Let me know if you think it would hold artifacts! Thanks again!

 

[BrettCo124]

Also: Here is what I found last year that I took home with me because I thought it may have been two pieces of flint and a piece of Indian pottery. I posted this actually last year and I had some people say it could be, and about the same amount say its not... Thought I'd post this as well since it came from the same creek I'm talking about. Sorry for all the newbie talk, lol. Thanks.

 

[rock]

The pieces posted look natural but look like flint pieces. The pics hurt my neck haha. That creek looks good to me. Sometimes I like to go when the water is high so I can see how far up I have to look on the banks. After a good rain is best when dry with the soil I am seeing on the banks. The soil looks black and silty which will hide them so you cant see them. But after the rain cleans the rocks it will be better for you. On any gravel bars the points and bigger artifacts will rest on the side the water hits first and the pottery and smaller pieces will rest on the back end more. I always check the fronts first. The gravel will catch them I never find anything in sandy sections with no gravel. Look in the main flow if no gravel bars are present. I found these 2 tumbling in the current one day together. I managed to catch them which was a task before they washed away. Depends on how strong your current is as to where to look.