Archaic Toolkit Cache

[1320]

My brother and I continued our dig at the monster shelter Sunday/Monday and FINALLY hit paydirt, finding an assortment of archaic tools tucked away under a rock ledge! Five of the tools came up in one sifter load! Our next sifter revealed 2 more tools. At that point, I hurried home to get the camera to document what else might come from the hole but we only managed one more blade from the cache upon my return.

The tools came from about the five foot level. We were into a small about of debitage and trying to get down to the 5 1/2 level when I hit rock. So I moved out about a foot from the shelter wall and hit a soft spot. I was trying to locate the edge of the wall and work downward as we've had very good luck finding artifacts right against the wall. I went after the soft spot and as I leveraged the shovel up and out, I hit rock again, parallel to the shelter wall. Essentially, I had a crevice about 8 inches wide that I could dig. The first shovel fulls revealed nothing and as I continued to dig, I discovered that I could reach back underneath the rock about 12 inches and that's where the cache was located. 8 artifacts in all, from one spot...just unbelievable for my brother and I. This by far is our best dig to date.

I took the cache to a local "expert" to get his opinion and he thinks that the white blade might be gem quality. I'm not sure what that means but I must agree, it is one nice point. As pictured, a short piece of petrified wood came up with the artifacts. Is it possible that this piece of wood was a handle or shaft? I wasn't sure but I kept it as part of the cache just in case

 

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[docmann]

Impressive! The whole story is magnificent. What a contrast to our Plains Indian culture here in Western Oklahoma. Can you tell me what type of flint was used to construct the middle top piece, and the second from the top on the left? Excellent pursuit. You're hard work and perseverance paid off!

 

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[RGINN]

Great post, as I'm still pullin it up and lookin at it. Congrats on the banner too.

 

[rob.s]

Great finds for sure!!! Got any video of the digs??

 

[Jon Stewart]

Good stuff. Thanks for posting.

 

[rock]

Now that's allot of digging.

 

[Buckleberry]

Great finds, congrats....also that petrified piece looks to have tally marks on it?

 

[jamey]

talk about alot of digging how long did it take you to find this post rock?

 

[1320]

talk about alot of digging how long did it take you to find this post rock?

He wasn't a member when this thread started.

 

[1320]

Now that's allot of digging.

Indeed....on and off, about a year of digging at the time of discover. There have been many more great finds in this shelter but I refuse to show them here because of all the negativity that the cache generated. Matter of fact, I hardly post anything on here now because of it. Internet police.....wow.

 

[rock]

I thought it looked interesting and a good read.

 

[jamey]

you were very right rock.

 

[Lone Star]

Way cool! Thanks for showing. Keep us posted.
Lone Star

 

[redbeardrelics]

I too, enjoyed seeing and reading about this, even years "after the fact". Great finds, and so sorry that some of the posts may have inhibited further updates on your shelter finds. So awesome to find and "intact" set of points and tools like that, I assume each of the serrated and notched points had ground bases? HH

 

[Lone Star]

Artorius,
Think about that for a minute.
Do you really think that with any new information that would be obtained from this site, or a myriad of others like it, will add or affect anything that is not known to the archaeology record at this time? The chances are minimal.

Even if, notification was made, and a possible study scheduled by an authority or a school, They may exclude it from further consideration, due to lack of obvious relevance.
But because of the notification itself, in time the site will be closed from anyone even surface hunting, by local or state imposed sanctions.

If one sees a site with Clovis or Paleo cache material poking out of the ground, maybe that deserves the need for professional investigations, I got that. And I have participated in just that capacity.
With the common historical thru archaic, I can't see it. It will be covered by a parking lot or Venture store before any one like us has a chance to reap the treasures and secrets found within. They would rather it be covered to hold it's secrets forever, than let a collector find those special items that meant life to those that resided there millennia ago.
I have seen that too.
Respectfully, Lone Star

 

[pickaway]

Very nice...

 

[1320]

Great finds, congrats....also that petrified piece looks to have tally marks on it?

Tally marks...agreed

 

[1320]

I too, enjoyed seeing and reading about this, even years "after the fact". Great finds, and so sorry that some of the posts may have inhibited further updates on your shelter finds. So awesome to find and "intact" set of points and tools like that, I assume each of the serrated and notched points had ground bases? HH

Yes, the bases were ground. Each of them had received some use but no evidence of resharpening. Two of the three points were damaged in the sifter (lesson learned). We continue to study and discuss them. It is extremely rare to find an assortment like this in one spot, hardly any doubt given the location that these were deposited together and at the same time. Each scraper is different and likely served a separate purpose. All three points are a different type with two basal styles. This person or group was prepared. The area in which these were found was way too small to be a burial as some have suggested, at least a traditional burial.

The speculation is that the owner of the tools set out on a journey..hunting, relocating, etc. He had fresh tools at the start, and perhaps used them on the way or once he arrived at the shelter. One would think if he cached the tools, he would have felt comfortable in the area and perhaps sourced enough material locally that he didn't need the cached tools right away. Personally, I think it was a communal cache...more than one individual contributing to a stock pile for future use if necessary. The types, styles and material used on these is all over the place.

 

[rock]

Cool finds, always nice to see archaic points matched up with tools. A lot of people swear that those tools are exclusively paleo, which clearly isn't the case.

My next comments aren't really about these points or digging (which I do and enjoy), just some of the replies. I don't buy the "rescue it before it's lost forever" line or "get it before the pros do because they'll just put it shelf and no one will see it" arguement. Collect if you want to and if it's legal, but you don't need to create excuses for it...

On the rescue side, the points were fine against the wall of the shelter for 8000+ years, I think they would have been fine for another 8,000+ years. And the arguement that pros will just put it on a shelf in a room where almost no one will see it is basically what happens with 95% of our collections. If you are starting out you might only have a couple of frames on the wall. But once you've been collecting for 30+ years, you end up with a lot of stuff. I've got boxes of stuff I haven't opened in 20 years, and I'm not sure how that's any better than something sitting in a museum where no one sees it...

Joshua

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