Lithic geyser

[kyphote]

A year or so ago I inadvertently dug a couple points on my property while metal detecting. Indian artifacts have never been my thing but after “digging out” all the CW brass I returned to the arrowhead area. This pic shows a fraction of what’s come out of that tightly defined 20x3 yard patch of earth. Beyond that footprint there’s nothing but the same brittle white mineral I’ve dug everywhere out there for the past 30 years.

My question is whether this is a nice-but-not-unusual find in the arrowhead hunting world. Also, some of the stones are painted — does paint survive that long? I only know brass and iron.

Thanks for any help. Again, lithic material is not my thing. I’ll post to the Indian forum as well

 

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[invent4hir]

The 3rd picture looks like it might be obsidian glass.

 

[ANTIQUARIAN]

I'd love to see the look on your wife's face every time you bring home another bucket of rocks to the kitchen.

Great finds!

Dave

 

[A2coins]

Nice collection you have going on there

 

[Indian Steve]

You have a few real relics but most appear to be just natural rocks. That's OK if you collect rocks.

 

[kyphote]

You have a few real relics but most appear to be just natural rocks. That's OK if you collect rocks.

Yes, there are a ton of "plain" rocks, but nearly all are flint/lithic material and river rock not native to this particular piece of high-ground and heaped together with 150+ easily identifable arrowheads, hammerstones, scrapers, rubbing stones, etc.

This is a 20x3 yard patch of ground. Step out of that perimeter and you'll only find the same brittle junk rock native to that area. I've been digging and keeping the entire site contents (non-worked material included) for contextual reasons. Happy to post close-ups of the bonafide artifacts.

To Dave above: when I first read your comment I was convinced my wife had created a fake account. She'll stop at nothing to get these rocks -- or whatever you want to call them -- gone.

 

[creskol]

That's a bunch of interesting stuff in that display!

 

[eyemustdigtreasure]

Go thru your scrap pile, looked like there was a base fragment of a point...

 

[kyphote]

Thanks, there’s plenty of partials mixed in with that scrap heap — I just haven’t had time to sort it all. Good eye, though.

 

[Deep1]

A year or so ago I inadvertently dug a couple points on my property while metal detecting. Indian artifacts have never been my thing but after “digging out” all the CW brass I returned to the arrowhead area. This pic shows a fraction of what’s come out of that tightly defined 20x3 yard patch of earth. Beyond that footprint there’s nothing but the same brittle white mineral I’ve dug everywhere out there for the past 30 years.

My question is whether this is a nice-but-not-unusual find in the arrowhead hunting world. Also, some of the stones are painted — does paint survive that long? I only know brass and iron.

Thanks for any help. Again, lithic material is not my thing. I’ll post to the Indian forum as well

Congratulations, beautiful finds.
Even though I've been picking up points for over 50 years, I am far from an expert. All my finds are surface finds, never dug mittens or mounds. Have done some research, but not a lot.
This is my opinion, it may or may or be right.
I'd like for some of the Va. pros to weigh in on this. I think this is a rare site. If someone tells me I'm wrong, it won't hurt my feelings.
To answer your question:
Yes, that is great, unusual find. The site you found is not common, at least here in the Lowcountry.
If I found something like that, I'd be beside myself. What a privilege.
I'd be proud to have the obsidian point in my collection. Did you find any unworked obsidian?
What you found appears to be a knapping site. That is a site where rocks were brought, stored and worked into projectile points and tools.
From the looks of the workings, it appears to be a later site.
It would have been a special site to most aboriginal Americans, these rocks were hard to come by. Some of them would travel 100's miles or more.
My guess is it would be a central part of the village, they would want to keep an eye on their livelihood, no rocks= no tools= no food.
There's most likely more nice finds to be made nearby.
I would like to see more of the painted rocks.

 

[cw0909]

nice find in your yard,keep digging, not sure if this will help
Native Americans - The First Geologists in Virginia

 

[kyphote]

[FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot]I appreciate the replies. My uneducated guess is a knapping station as well. The site is fascinating to me because I get to see their mistakes, their discards, their diversity of flint material and some of their achievements. It’s a rare snapshot, for me at least, but Virginia Dept of Archaelogy will not respond. For that reason, I’ll continue to excavate it solo and let any potential insight into this particular culture die on the vine.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot]To your obsidian question, I’ve never come across the material — not even a flake — in 30 years of digging the 60 acres. Nor have I come across anything more than a lone arrowhead anywhere else on the property. So I agree this site must have been central to some kind of operation. [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot]That’s my best guess and I regret that state archaeology won’t return a call. This, despite often blaming relic hunters for not reporting finds. A lot of my research opens with lines like “little is known about the Woodland period...” Now it’s clear why.

I guess I average 8-10 partial arrowheads, 1-2 intact arrowheads, 3-6 scrapers, 2-3 rubbing stones and hanmerstones (some crude, some nice) and countless flakes every time I dig and after over a year of targeting the spot. More to come, no question. I’ll post a few of the painted items when I have a chance.


[/FONT][/FONT]

 

[Clo]

It’s not obsidian, but a black chert. Cochoston flint (sp?) is one from the Ohio Valley that comes to mind, but not sure that’s it. Nice finds regardless.

 

[kyphote]

Excellent call on the chert, this is why I post. Here’s a painted example as promised. Each piece takes 20-30 mins of dry brushing to bring out the paint. Hit it with water and you’re left with a rock. Took me maybe 600 rocks to figure that out.

 

[MadTom]

The 3rd picture looks like it might be obsidian glass.

Wouldn’t obsidian be rare for Verginia? Looks like it to me

 

[kyphote]

Wouldn’t obsidian be rare for Verginia? Looks like it to me

I think the closest source is 200 miles. But hell I found a Texas buckle out there. Imagine that miserable journey. In the end I think it’s black chert though.

 

[kyphote]

Thanks for the insight. A lot of the tools are crude uniface made from split river rock. As if the goal was to bang these points out and quickly move on. But the site is dense, so they must have lived there for a little while.

Far more scrapers than intact points. Clay shards found so the site is post soapstone. My hope is that all the good points are buried together at the site. Natives were known to travel to quarry areas like mine, build points then bury them for future needs. I believe there’s only 12 such caches known in my state, so I’d love to find one.

 

[randazzo1]

The paint almost looks like the nail polish we used to use in the lab to number artifacts from a site. Is it possible this was a collection that someone hid / buried 50 years ago? Maybe somebody else’s wife was like “that’s it I’ve had enough. Go dig a ditch and bury ur g_d d__n rocks!”

 

[kyphote]

The paint almost looks like the nail polish we used to use in the lab to number artifacts from a site. Is it possible this was a collection that someone hid / buried 50 years ago? Maybe somebody else’s wife was like “that’s it I’ve had enough. Go dig a ditch and bury ur g_d d__n rocks!”

Ha! Lately I’ll buy any theory. Here are some more...