One of those mixed period site kind of days

[Dug]

Went out to a farm field for a few hours today. I tend to gravitate to areas where I see oyster shell since they sometimes prove to be rewarding and today was no exception. First button I dug was the Spanish American War period eagle that has a Horstmann Philadelphia bm. Then I popped up the eagle button with an Extra Quality bm in a different area of the oyster shell spread. A little while later I dug up the plain flat button with no bm. A little while later I eye balled both the points. Assume one is an arrow head and the other a spear point? I'm not very versed so educate me if I'm wrong please. Towards the end of my outing I dug what I thought was a large cent (close to the same size with a high number reading), started doing the chicken dance in my head until I rubbed off the dirt and saw the Great Seal. Assume it was a large tin back that lost it's back some time ago.

 

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[GaRebel1861]

Looks like a good day to me!

 

[dirtlooter]

awesome day

 

[Carolina Tom]

It is too frozen for me to hunt, so that looks really good to me. Congrats on the buttons & points!

 

[Subterranean]

Super hunt, congrats! That large "point" may be a knife blade, based on location found and its design. That side notch appears intentional, as to mount it to the haft. The notch is too jagged to be an arrow scraper, IMHO. May be an Alachua (middle Archaic 5500-4000 BP) But a Native American artifact specialist will have to advise for sure. Happy Hunting, Sub

 

[PaDirtDigger]

So, the native american artifacts... This is the most likely story with them. The larger one was most likely a knife of sorts, and the smaller one looks like it could have been an atl-atl spear point. I and 98% of the artifact collecting world call this stuff generically, arrowheads. But there are a lot of different things they could have been, and way too much to write up here (controversy and all..) so, if i were you i would keep checking the area you were at because there is a lot of killer stuff there!!!!

 

[yakker]

Hope you don't mind- I linked this over at the N.A. Artifacts forum so they could have a look-see.

 

[texjim]

Thats some awesome finds..

 

[cjon455]

id take any of those days right about now, this winter has me in a headlock, matter of fact I quit detecting, I sold my gear, I now crochet on a regular basis lol!!!

great finds!

 

[UnderMiner]

Wow, those are some great Indian artifacts! Wish such things were common in my area

 

[Doc Arey]

All some finds!

 

[rock]

Unusual looking knife blade a real keeper.

 

[bzbadger]

Great finds. The weather has a lot of us going through detection withdrawals and you show up with some great finds, gives us something to look forward to

 

[park pirate]

Nice..

 

[DigIron2]

nice digs,that knife is very nice,I "think' it is what they call a tang knife and from what I gather they are quite rare to find.if you eyeballed those two in the same place,you are on to something there.

 

[EasternShoreMetal]

Very cool to find that spread of archaic items.
Native artifacts have the same problems as doctor's opinions. As many experts as you ask are as many theories as you will hear.
I just called all the one's I found that have points.... "points".
That covers them all, and is not wrong.

The bow did not show up until late in native history. So, most points older than around 500 years old were propelled by an atlatl , a type of throwing stick that actually extends the reach of a man. The point, which could then be heavier than an arrow could be larger. Usually up to a couple of inches, maybe a little more.
Most points three inches or larger were knives, because they are just much more practical.
Real spear points are rare. Mainly because spears are nowhere near as effective as atlatl arrows.
Your larger one is probably a knife, they were VERY good at making tools. If it looks irregular like that, it's usually because there were broken. Then, since like all earlier generations, good tools and materials were rare and valuable, if they broke, they were not discarded, but reused. Fashioned into something else, or something more. It looks like a type of spokeshave for smoothing sticks into shafts or something else. Usually a spokeshave is also very well made and rounder and smoother than the one shown. May have been lost before finished.
Very nice finds all round ! WTG. !

 

[Dug]

Very cool to find that spread of archaic items.
Native artifacts have the same problems as doctor's opinions. As many experts as you ask are as many theories as you will hear.
I just called all the one's I found that have points.... "points".
That covers them all, and is not wrong.

The bow did not show up until late in native history. So, most points older than around 500 years old were propelled by an atlatl , a type of throwing stick that actually extends the reach of a man. The point, which could then be heavier than an arrow could be larger. Usually up to a couple of inches, maybe a little more.
Most points three inches or larger were knives, because they are just much more practical.
Real spear points are rare. Mainly because spears are nowhere near as effective as atlatl arrows.
Your larger one is probably a knife, they were VERY good at making tools. If it looks irregular like that, it's usually because there were broken. Then, since like all earlier generations, good tools and materials were rare and valuable, if they broke, they were not discarded, but reused. Fashioned into something else, or something more. It looks like a type of spokeshave for smoothing sticks into shafts or something else. Usually a spokeshave is also very well made and rounder and smoother than the one shown. May have been lost before finished.
Very nice finds all round ! WTG. !

Thank you to all that responded. I bow to you for your ability to recognize, which comes from dedication to the hobby of North American Indian artifacts.

ESM thank you for taking the time to educate me on artifact nomenclature and history. I knew I was on thin ice, just wasn't aware how thin it was.

 

[Professor of Engineering]

Excellent day, I bet those buttons will clean up nicely.

 

[metalev4]

Nice points, worth returning to for sure.