I found an Indian Cave

indiangiver

Newbie
Dec 2, 2012
3
10
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
First time posting, my uncle who treasure hunts told me I may find some answers here!

Near the town of Lancaster, SC I have found a large rock outcrop in the woods near a creek that runs through my property. The rocks have formed a cave (more like a big rock room, not a real underground cave). I had a hunch that Indians probably used this as natural shelter, and I was right! I went in and scratched a little dirt and began finding pottery. Went back the next day with supplies, little plastic shovels, a sifter, gas lantern, headlamp etc. and began working, slowly and meticulously scratching the dirt away from a small area I had picked out. I have yet to find an unbroken pottery bowl but have begun to piece the broken ones together.

I know only a little about the Indians that lived here. I have found their arrowheads in our fields since I was a boy, but the pottery and tools in this cave are surprising. If any of you can point me to a good book I would love to find out more of the history. Or maybe some of you can tell me some facts about these people, let me know what you think!


This is a rim of a bowl, the pottery looks burnished
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Another rim piece, unburnished
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This appears to be part of a peace pipe, this is the bowl part of the pipe. I wonder what these Indians smoked??
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This is a bone fragment that looks like it was whittled to make a point. My thoughts are they used this to draw designs in their pottery
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These are two pieces of coal from a fire, I have found many coal fragments at various depths in the ground
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These are the arrowheads that came from the cave
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These little 'Yadkin Points' are my favorites, I have never found little points like these in the fields
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I think this is a scraping tool, there are very fine serrated edges, sharp enough to cut me
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You can see the scraping tool's transparency, this stone is not local to my area. I think this stone is found in the Appalachian mountains, which means it may have been handed down through trade
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This is an interesting item, it is the base of a deer antler and when I hold the piece it feels like it would have made the perfect handle for a tool!
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Upvote 0
I've run off at the mouth many times ..but I'm always quite clear why. all you said about that unfinished celt that was found yesterday was good job..and looks like they got some good use out of it.
 

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Post some pictures of the cave.....awesome finds man....keep postin'
 

Awesome finds, man. Sounds like you have a good handle on your discovery.
 

The reason I said about working your area before you set up and sift is I had to move a whole pile one time where we sifted. Good luck.
 

Excellent post Indiangiver . The artifacts are incredible . Keep up the great work and don't divulge your location . But please keep posting your discoveries.....:thumbsup:
 

Please follow TN rules, DO NOT insult or be rude to other members and especially to new members....
 

the bone tool looks like an awl and the scraper looks to have been heat treated (cooked). Great fines and continue to have fun.

i agree an awl or perforating tool more likely to be used in the making of leather implements than pottery
the pottery pieces were probably made with bone tools also but probably more blunt
do you think it is heat treated...i never heard of that before and we find quite an awful lot of these kinds of tools up north
i think they get shiny and polished from use......just my 2 cents
you have got a great spot there and you just are getting started.... i would really go through that dirt and keep us posted with what you find
steve
 

Thread cleaned, please keep it on topic, respectful and by our rules....
 

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