Intact Camp Sites

[IMAUDIGGER]

I was wondering if anyone has ran across a relatively intact camp site.

I once encountered one while elk hunting in Idaho. It was on top of a ridge at the 5000 foot contour.

Had a half dozen grind stone holes in a large boulder. Rocks were stacked up to be used as chairs and a makeshift table. There were 3 sleeping areas where the rocks had been picked, as well as pathways cleared between them. There were trees growing in the middle of things making it kind of hard to recognize. Also the bears had scattered some of the stacked rocks.

The grind stones were obvious. Never did see a fire pit ring. There was not a lot of lithic debris either. Figured they were collecting pinion nuts and hunting. Figured they were pulverizing dried meat and nuts.

 

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[Tnmountains]

I found one once that had some arrowheads sitting on top of boulders and a giant preform laying in a little steam all in the back of a rock shelter. Buddy of mine climbed into one and came out with two giant greenstone celts sitting on the ground. They are out there but becoming more rare. We have thousands of rock shelters here but it is hard to find one not dug. Twenty years ago we found fresh sites all the time.I bet you wish you had of had a camera. Never thought about pics back then.

 

[old digger]

I hope this is okay? Here is a photo of a camp site that I came across.

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

I hope this is okay? Here is a photo of a camp site that I came across.


View attachment 1847699

I don’t see why not, if you not disclosing the location.
Almost looks like a large metate grinding stone in the upper left side of that area?

 

[Gambrinus]

That would be a great find, what part of Idaho did you find this. I live in Idaho and am just curious.

When I was a teenager me and my stepbrother found a site on a ledge in a canyon in the Mogollun Rim Az. It was at the end of a narrow trail where there was an overhang on a cliff, the first thing we noticed was soot that went up the overhang which we new meant a campfire had been there so we started looking around and I was the first to discover the top half of a clay bowl that had been broken, then my stepbrother found a complete large clay bowl.

We looked around some more under piles of leaves but found nothing else. I have always wanted to go back there and do a better search but 45 years later I don't see that happening.

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

That would be a great find, what part of Idaho did you find this. I live in Idaho and am just curious.

When I was a teenager me and my stepbrother found a site on a ledge in a canyon in the Mogollun Rim Az. It was at the end of a narrow trail where there was an overhang on a cliff, the first thing we noticed was soot that went up the overhang which we new meant a campfire had been there so we started looking around and I was the first to discover the top half of a clay bowl that had been broken, then my stepbrother found a complete large clay bowl.

We looked around some more under piles of leaves but found nothing else. I have always wanted to go back there and do a better search but 45 years later I don't see that happening.

We were hunting about 20 miles north of Council.

 

[Gambrinus]

That is a great area for finding Indian artifacts, if you don't know, this is how Council got it's name.

Before non-native settlement began here, the area was inhabited by small bands of Shoshoni Indians. Pioneers who frequented the Council Valley in those early days told of huge groups of Indians who gathered here from all over the Northwest. Perry Clark, a member of the Idaho Territorial Legislature and later an Indian Valley school teacher, said that from on top of the little hill just north of present-day downtown Council, he could see “. . . many hundreds of Indians and thousands of head of Indian horses at one sight, literally covering the valley as a blanket.” Clark never actually lived here, but he named the place “Council Valley” because of these gatherings that he interpreted as being Indian “Council” meetings.

I have poked around there some in the south wherever I could find water surrounded by cliffs that were used as ambush sites, I did not have much luck but have heard that all that area around Council has produced numerous finds.

I do wonder if there were Pinyon trees in that area because what little I know about them claims that they have not been found north of the Snake River (meaning north of the area where the river flows from east to west). Were there any Juniper trees growing there as they are often associated with Pinyon trees.

Sorry to ramble on so much but I really enjoy subjects like these. Do you have any plans to go back to the area? It is a great place to hunt both elk and artifacts and I would think that there could be more campsites yet to be found.

 

[Charl]

Picture mud flats at low tide, perhaps 50 acres in extent, exposed on a salt water estuary. Picture perhaps 50-75 people, very warm Spring day in May, out on the flats on foot, rakes and buckets in hand, digging up hard shell clams, known as quahogs. Now picture two people, my wife and I, walking out on the flats and, still near the shore, coming across a scatter of boulders that we recognize could only be the disheveled remains of an ancient hearth. And there, in the middle, the remains of a Transitional Archaic soapstone bowl, badly pitted where iron impurities had weathered out, after ages in the salt water. My wife had walked out to the scatter of boulders before me. Tired, I had laid down on a bed of grass on shore. When she walked over with the first piece, and said “what’s this?”, I answered “It’s a soapstone bowl, go find the rest of it”. By the time she had gathered what remained, I had finally gone over and realized it was a hearth. Quahoggers all around us, oblivious to what we were seeing and finding, right in their midst. I thought it was very cool to find a 3500 year old hearth, and a bowl blackened by being used to cook in that very hearth. I put it back together from the several pieces found.

It will always be one of our favorite finds. And memories.

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

Picture mud flats at low tide, perhaps 50 acres in extent, exposed on a salt water estuary. Picture perhaps 50-75 people, very warm Spring day in May, out on the flats on foot, rakes and buckets in hand, digging up hard shell clams, known as quahogs. Now picture two people, my wife and I, walking out on the flats and, still near the shore, coming across a scatter of boulders that we recognize could only be the disheveled remains of an ancient hearth. And there, in the middle, the remains of a Transitional Archaic soapstone bowl, badly pitted where iron impurities had weathered out, after ages in the salt water. My wife had walked out to the scatter of boulders before me. Tired, I had laid down on a bed of grass on shore. When she walked over with the first piece, and said “what’s this?”, I answered “It’s a soapstone bowl, go find the rest of it”. By the time she had gathered what remained, I had finally gone over and realized it was a hearth. Quahoggers all around us, oblivious to what we were seeing and finding, right in their midst. I thought it was very cool to find a 3500 year old hearth, and a bowl blackened by being used to cook in that very hearth. I put it back together from the several pieces found.

It will always be one of our favorite finds. And memories.

View attachment 1848410

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Cool

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

That is a great area for finding Indian artifacts, if you don't know, this is how Council got it's name.

Before non-native settlement began here, the area was inhabited by small bands of Shoshoni Indians. Pioneers who frequented the Council Valley in those early days told of huge groups of Indians who gathered here from all over the Northwest. Perry Clark, a member of the Idaho Territorial Legislature and later an Indian Valley school teacher, said that from on top of the little hill just north of present-day downtown Council, he could see “. . . many hundreds of Indians and thousands of head of Indian horses at one sight, literally covering the valley as a blanket.” Clark never actually lived here, but he named the place “Council Valley” because of these gatherings that he interpreted as being Indian “Council” meetings.

I have poked around there some in the south wherever I could find water surrounded by cliffs that were used as ambush sites, I did not have much luck but have heard that all that area around Council has produced numerous finds.

I do wonder if there were Pinyon trees in that area because what little I know about them claims that they have not been found north of the Snake River (meaning north of the area where the river flows from east to west). Were there any Juniper trees growing there as they are often associated with Pinyon trees.

Sorry to ramble on so much but I really enjoy subjects like these. Do you have any plans to go back to the area? It is a great place to hunt both elk and artifacts and I would think that there could be more campsites yet to be found.

Well I could be mistaken, but I thought pine tree seeds were called piñon nuts. That’s what I meant anyway. There were pines, fir, and juniper trees.

Thanks for the interesting history. I very well may end up going back to that same spot. Perhaps not until next year.

 

[unclemac]

I have a cousin in NV that actually lives on an intact 40 acre site. there are stone sleeping areas marked out under the junipers, built stone seating at the lookout vantage point, flakes scattered everywhere at every step, a stone bowl, other stone implements and other curious stone rings and markings. She just leaves thing where they lay, might pick up a point if she spots one but keeps it intact.

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

I have a cousin in NV that actually lives on an intact 40 acre site. there are stone sleeping areas marked out under the junipers, built stone seating at the lookout vantage point, flakes scattered everywhere at every step, a stone bowl, other stone implements and other curious stone rings and markings. She just leaves thing where they lay, might pick up a point if she spots one but keeps it intact.

That's good of her. At least she recognizes it for what it is.

 

[unclemac]

i visit her every year and just sit and gaze at the valley vista...mustangs and antelope, sunsets and dry heat...you ever been in zero humidity 100 degree heat?...with a little desert breeze blowing? awesome!

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

Been in Nevada in those conditions..with no breeze.
It's a place you want to be sleeping in air conditioning.

 

[fyrffytr1]

My son is a river runner in the Grand Canyon. He has taken archeologists to several intact sites in some of the side canyons. But, he is not allowed to carry a camera or tell anyone where they are because he would lose his job. If he comes across any artifacts while hiking in the canyons he covers them up so no one else will take them. I respect him for that.

 

[unclemac]

launch google earth and run this..... havasupai reservation

then, just imagine what life in the grand canyon must have been like 1,000 years ago.

 

[old digger]

i visit her every year and just sit and gaze at the valley vista...mustangs and antelope, sunsets and dry heat...you ever been in zero humidity 100 degree heat?...with a little desert breeze blowing? awesome!

That is what it is like when I hunt for artifacts on the property's that I hunt. It is quite arid and pretty much semi arid. Sometimes it can be quite hot, but there is a somewhat cool breeze to keep you going. But always carry a bottle of water.

 

[unclemac]

...yep, water for sure and a wide brimmed hat! and drink it BEFORE your fingers start to swell.