Just debri so far

[Tnmountains]

Ok have what should be a good spot on a large cut/ditch on a friends farm.The ditch gets swept clean when they bust out the beaver dams every year. I located the trash pile from the site and so far nothing but pottery brokes and bone and very little flint. I know it is a trash pile but geez you think they would have thrown something away good. I did find two nice broke ones but am thinking they may be in the wash in my pants. Maybe I will hear them when they hit the dryer Sorry for the one bad pic. I was sliding down the bank and the picture was an after thought on the way out.

Here is the field it is in and my helper.



My little trail through the bamboo to the drainage ditch.



What the trash pit looks like (blurry pic). It is so over grown it is almost hard to see down in there.





The finds. Hardly worth bringing out You can see all the bone was smashed for the marrow. Looking at the pottery most is smooth and a little bit incised very little stamped so it could be an older occupation.Tools will give me age at some point.



Thanks for looking and any encouragement and thoughts are appreciated. It is hard work to get almost a zero.
Happy 4th .

 

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[old digger]

Time is the essence, You'll find something goooood! At least you have known site to search. Good Luck!

 

[Tnmountains]

Thanks Digger. It is not always easy is it?

 

[rock]

how

I hear the booms of fireworks as I type this. Looks like you are going to score soon with all of that pottery you are finding. So how can you tell what is a trash pit? What would a person look for to find one?

 

[Tnmountains]

Rock on most sites with any long occupation they would create a trash pit or an area for all the debri to be dumped. Believe it or not they wanted a pretty clean area. They would designate an area to dump all the pottery sherds and shell,flint and bone. Many times it got so large it became a mound. There are hundreds of mounds in this area but everyone tries to protect them if possible and a lot have been destroyed already by the government. I find trash pits by high concentrations of any of the above. This area is near a river and mussels were plentiful. I found this where a stream cut thru two fields or sites. My guess it was closer to dump here than back at the river. The ditch is much deeper now then it was then but it always flowed with run off out of the mtns. The pottery was everywhere and that was just a small amount to study. Hopefully I will find something worth posting. It is not just a walk in the park type of hunt. Chiggers snakes mosquitos and blackberries and saw briars are with you all day. I look like I have been in a cat fight. Be an easier next time.

 

[rock]

Just trying to know what to look for the next time I get to hunt the property here. Of course it will be a while.

 

[Americus]

Good luck in future hunts.

 

[GatorBoy]

TN... one of the best sites I ever hunted started out just like that.
The amount of pottery made it obvious there was a large and long lasting occupation..yet it seemed like just a sea of pottery bone and shell.
After paying my dues for quite a while I finally hit the goods... on this site the Flint occupied one section of the trash pit way more than any other area.
Besides that..the lower layers had considerably more than the top.. but still the concentration in that one area was so different than the rest it had to have been on purpose. I don't know what the reason for that may have been.. unless it was kept in one area so pieces could be taken and utilized if someone needed to.. IDK.

 

[Tnmountains]

TN... one of the best sites I ever hunted started out just like that.
The amount of pottery made it obvious there was a large and long lasting occupation..yet it seemed like just a sea of pottery bone and shell.
After paying my dues for quite a while I finally hit the goods... on this site the Flint occupied one section of the trash pit way more than any other area.
Besides that..the lower layers had considerably more than the top.. but still the concentration in that one area was so different than the rest it had to have been on purpose. I don't know what the reason for that may have been.. unless it was kept in one area so pieces could be taken and utilized if someone needed to.. IDK.

I hope so. The shell has broken pottery and bone sticking out so am pretty sure it was just daily clean up and when you throw the shells down they stack like that. I hope the flint shows. I think I will start at the bottom and collapse up and move to a smaller sifter.The area is known for the micro drills. Good idea. I missed hunting the fields as it was in wheat when I got permission then blocked by flood lol.

 

[GatorBoy]

1/4 inch sifter might get you some shell beads and things like that.
Its there you know it... stick it out just bring some band aids.
Mabey crazy glue too.. LOL.

 

[Tnmountains]

Lol. I do carry liquid bandaids to glue myself back together (super glue)

 

[GatorBoy]

That makes two of us.

 

[old digger]

Thanks Digger. It is not always easy is it?

No, it sure isn't! A lot of times an area just ''screams'' I'm a spot for a potential camp site, and an area where you should find a good assemblage of artifacts, but just does not pan out.
There is a large area near me that artifacts from paleo (Edens, Angostra, Clovis, etc..) to the most recent (Besants, Pelican Lakes, to Side-notched points) have been found in the past, but it seems that maybe they have all been picked clean. You just have to be diligent in the search and hope that they are still out there to be found.
Still wish you the best in finding a good one.

 

[The Grim Reaper]

Is the Pottery Grit Tempered or Shell Tempered? That would give you an indication of age. If it's Grit Tempered than it would be an older Early to Middle Woodland site and Shell Tempered would be Late Woodland. Though I'm sure you knew that already. lol

 

[GatorBoy]

Fiber tempered is the oldest down here.
Is that not the case up that way?

 

[Charmin]

I had to laugh when I looked at your 4-wheeler picture.....It looks just like ours when we try to pack everything imaginable to take to the woods. I use the gun-rack for my metal detector too! And lots of bungee cords to hold everything in place!!

Love the pictures of the shell midden & pottery! I bet you'll find some good flint artifacts there-----that must have been a big camp site with that much shell refuse.