Indian Artifact Help??

[EC.Mason]

Ive been digging artifacts in a large rockhouse. In the middle of the rock house is what looks like a dirt mound. In this mound(as I call it; I really dont know if it was purposely built) I have found hundreds of pieces of flint; shell; bone; ash; arrowheads; and pottery. I also found three old corn cobs. Now I thought that maybe rats or something had brought them in, but they were down with the other artifacts and they were smaller then modern corn. They were found in very sandy dirt. Could these be the remains of corn (maize) ate by Indians hundreds of years ago? I have no idea if they would last that long without rotting but there is no farms close by for an animal to drag it from, and it is a very hard walk to get to the rockhouse from where potential farm land could have been in the near future even for an animal. What do you guys think? Any help would be greatly appriciated

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Agony and Death on a Gold Rush Steamer: The Disastrous Sinking of the Side-Wheeler Yankee Blade - Grab it through Amazon!

[Get-the-point]

In the right conditions it can last 1000+yrs. Sandy and dry being two of them. The hearth(the mound) was probably where the fire was. I have found old corn cobs in these. Even where hearths erode from riverbanks I have found fragments. The soil around it was sandy. So I think the ph is right in the sand to protect them from decay................I know I would love to see pictures of this rockhouse, the artifacts found so far, and anything else that you have questions about.................GTP

 

[EC.Mason]

Thanks a lot GTP. I dont have pictures of the rockhouse but I have uploaded pictures of the artifacts I found yesterday. It was one of the best digs I have ever had. I seperated everything out so its easier to see.

 

[EC.Mason]

GTP I thought this mound was some kind of dump for the natives. Can you give me any more information about what it could have been based on the artifacts in the picture? I was researching this morning and found that in Fort Ancient sites, bones, shell flint and so on is often found together like this wonder if it is Fort Ancient? Also do you know anything about pottery? In the picture with the points there is six pieces of it. Wonder if the style could help me date this site.

 

[EC.Mason]

Also I did find a lot of ash. In one of the pictues you can see a pile of it from the samples I brought home. The whole mound was full of ash.

 

[Get-the-point]

This looks like a possible woodland site. The point style looks to be Snyders or Hopewell. http://www.relicshack.com/Details.aspx?Id=15696 . The Hopewell Culture used Snyder's style points. Northeastern Kentucky is the Ohio Hopewell Culture. This period was from 200BC to 500AD..........Hope this helps.........................GTP


PS: nice assemblage some of the guys who collect nice bone frames might not be happy that you have them all piled up like that.........lol..........The piece on top especially...........SRV can show you top notch FT. Ancient Material........

 

[musky44]

very interesting post. nice finds EC. good luck on your future digs, keep us posted.

 

[hombre_de_plata_flaco]

That is some serious diggin' there!

 

[ohioaxeman]

Nice finds for one day EC.... Looks like you hit the right spot! I would like to see pics of the rockhouse too!

 

[EC.Mason]

Thanks guys. It was a fun day even though it got very hot! There is a lot of digging left so I plan to dig some more next week. I will get some pictures of the rockhouse as well. It is actually a really interesting place. It has walls that were built up of rock, and I found some carvings as well. The carvings are of what looks like a snake maybe and an X beside it. I do have pictures of a rock wall and the carving. I posted them as well. This site is very hard to get to so I tried to find an easier way to get in by walking on top of the cliffs and finding a way down to it. I couldnt find a way however I did find two large piles of rock directly on top of the cliff. They were about 15 to 20 feet long and about four feet wide. They may have been piles of rock that were stacked by farmers over the last couple hundred years. But they were stacked so neatly and were only about 20 feet from the edge of the cliff. The fact that they were over this large rockhouse and because I didnt find anything else like this on top makes me a little curious. This rockhouse may have been used by either the Union or Confederacy during the Civil War. (according to rumor)

GTP do you think any of the bones were tools or anything? I just thought they were the remains of ancient dinners. I have never found many bones so I dont know much about there use. I will seperate a few later that kind of look like tools and post a picture.

 

[creek astronaut]

very interesting indeed.those corn cobs would stay preserved in a dry enviroment.very cool finds,keep digging

 

[EC.Mason]

Thanks Creek. The rockhouse is very dry and sandy. The dust from digging and sifting would blind you for awhile! I will take some good pictures when I go back next week. Yeah I found the corn interesting and glad that you guys have helped me realize that it probably is an artifact. This may be odd but I think I will put it in one of my display cases!

 

[1320]

Very interesting post Mason, thanks for sharing. Please don't refrain from continuing to share when the non-diggers start in on ya. Assuming your shelter is in Kentucky and on private land, don't let anyone convince you otherwise, it is legal.

Like you, I also have found cobs in a shelter and added them to my case, I also added a few pieces of bone, charcoal and a small container of ash. My goodness you are sure into a load of shell! You must be in an undug shelter, awesome!

Hey, is that poison ivy by those stacked rocks?!

 

[ohioaxeman]

looks like poison ivy to me, and lots of it!

 

[1320]

looks like poison ivy to me, and lots of it!

Yikes!

 

[EC.Mason]

Yeah there is posion ivy; have the itching and marks to prove it! LOL but for the most part I use my shovel to move the ivy and vines that cover the rockhouse. And I know some are againest digging, but it is on private land; I do have permission; and in my opinion those artifacts look better in my display cases then they do in the dirt! I do plan on digging much more this week. Everything I found took about 6 hours to do so. The ground is so sandy that you can just push the shovel into it and get a full shovel load, so it does go fast. Also, I only dug down about 2-3 feet and dug a span of about 10 feet long. I plan to dig deeper once I have the top of the mound dug out. If not the sand keeps falling into the deeper sections of the hole. So hopefully I will find many more artifacts deeper.

 

[1320]

There is NO doubt that you will fill up several cases from that shelter! That's a nice haul in a short amount of time. My brother and I have found 103 keeper, (not broke) arrowheads, scrapers and knives in one shelter. Enjoy the ride!

Can't help but share my ivy experience in the shelter I'm digging....thought I was smart and moved a bunch of ivy away from the dig area using a stick, that worked good but guess what end of the stick I put my hands later in the day.......

 

[EC.Mason]

Thanks 1320. I hope to find some nice pieces here. Well I went back out today. I didnt get out there until about 2PM. I found about as many artifacts as I did the other day. The first picture shows what I found today. They are on the bag not the shirt. ( whats on the shirt is what I had already found there.) I havnt had time to sort it out so its got shell, bone, and flint all mixed together. I was disapointed because I did not find one single point. Found two full ones and a broken one last time but none today. Below I also have some pictues of the rockhouse and where I am digging out. I also sent some pictures of what looks like some tools, but I am not sure what they are. If any of you can help me out I would appriciate it. I would really like to find out what the round smooth stone is that I am holding in my hand in one of the pictures. I tried to wash the tools so maybe it will help identify them better. Thanks for the help guys!!

 

[EC.Mason]

In the fourth and fifth picture down is a piece of flint about 3 inches long and it has a circle carved out in the middle. Kind of looks like a scrapper but ive never seen one with an indention in the middle. Also in the picture there is a square shaped red looking rock in the back. You cant see it from these pictures but there are indentions on both sides. Not sure what this may be if anything.

 

[EC.Mason]

Wow 1320; 103 artifacts is awsome! Wish I could hit something like that. The thing that is confusing me is that out of all the pieces I have found in this rockhouse, I have only found two good points and a broken one. I have several pieces of flint all shapes and sizes, but Im not knowledgable enough to identify whether some of them are artifacts or just scrap flint.