Got out in the blazing sun for a few hours this morning. I got a sunburn but found some things that made it worth it. Here's a stemmed quartz arrowhead.
I also found this.
I cleaned them up when I got home. Some people will use water and a brush to remove any trace of dirt, I just rinse the pieces off and wipe off whatever dirt will come off with my finger when they are wet. I don't want to disturb the suface patina, in fact I try not to handle them too much.
My favorite reference for finding out more about the things I have found is "A New England Typology of Native American Projectile Points" by Jeff Boudreau. The quartz arrowhead is a type that this reference identifies as "Wading River." These may be impossible to date when found in disturbed contexts, Boudreau indicates that this point type may not have been a cultural manifestation but rather "a technological manifestation that transcended cultural boundaries."
The other artifact I found today is kind of a mystery object. I'm not sure if this is felsite or flint. From one side it looks like an asymmetrial Levanna point with a missing tip.
From the other side it looks like a Brewerton Eared Triangle with a broken "ear" and a chipped tip.
If it is a Brewerton it would have a very crude beveled base that appears to retain part of the cortex or "rind" of the stone from which it is chipped, this would be atypical and not something I have seen before.
Perhaps this is an unfinished point, maybe something that failed during manufacture. Or it might be more extensively damaged than it appears to be, a fragment of something. In any event it is definitely worked as a tool, not just a chip or flake. Any ideas on this thing?
Nice. Yesterday I hoped to get out but never made it.
ReplyDeleteI found something on the banks of Nashoba Brook (near the bakery) that looks almost exactly like the darker point that's hard to identify. Happy to send a photo!
ReplyDeleteAustin: what a clever place to look.
ReplyDelete