Since I found the
Neville I posted last month I have had something of a dry spell. I have spent countless hours searching but found only flakes and fragments. A couple of weeks ago, several hours in one place near the sea yielded a scraper and two broken bases of stemmed quartz points, but no whole arrowheads. My friend Dave on the other hand has done really well, finding a few great arrowheads in only a few minutes of looking, it has made me really jealous. The closest I had come to finding a decent arrowhead in the last few weeks was on an evening when I took Dave to one of my spots, he told me he would not touch any rocks and true to his word, when he spotted something he did not pick it up and pointed it out to me instead.
I got to pick this up off the ground and keep it but Dave had the thrill of being the person to spot it. It is really rather crude and chunky, the tip is broken.
Today, I really wanted to find something and so I got up early and returned to the place where I found that scraper and the broken bases I mentioned. On that day I had searched about half of the searchable area, I hoped that maybe there would be something good for me to find in the other half. I spent 3 hours carefully looking, picking up even tiny flakes of tool materials. And I am very pleased to say, today was a lucky day for me. After two hours of not finding anything I was surprised to see this totally exposed and obvious.
This was a shape I did not really expect to find, this long narrow type. I only have a few of these. It was a thrill to find, though the tip is broken.
I kept looking and spotted this, less than 40 feet away. I found this in a rut caused by a vehicle tire, it was sticking out of the vertical wall of the deep rut. Just the base is sticking out.
I am glad that I recognized this for what it was before I picked it up. It is the same type as the other one, it is kind of crude. The only other place where I found more than one of these was also a coastal place. I wonder if maybe these were used for fishing or maybe something to do with shellfish?
I kept searching and came up with this. This one was hiding underneath some vegetation remnants and only an edge was visible. I wasn't sure until I picked it up if it was what I hoped it would be.
It turned out to be the best find of the day.
Here are the 3 points together. I am very happy with these. All about the same size, and the same type. I would call these Squibnocket Stemmed points.
Wow. Great finds. I have nothing like those.
ReplyDeleteI wish I could find some!!! Whats the trick??
ReplyDeleteThe trick is finding the right places to look. Usually arrowheads are found right in the places where the Indians actually lived, where their homes were. They liked to live on high ground with well drained soil, close to water and close to resources they needed. I try to stay within sight of water and search for signs of tool manufacture- cores, spalls, flakes and chips. When I find those I search really carefully and sometimes find tools.
ReplyDeleteTwo other things:
ReplyDelete1) You have to put in the hours. Chris is putting in many hours per arrowhead. I went out for 1.5 hours and found nothing. If I spent another 5 hours I might get "luckier".
2) Look for arrowhead material, do not look for arrowheads. I tend to look for white and for blue.
Those are both very good things to keep in mind. When I first started looking, I would search for 8 hours for every broken arrowhead fragment I find. Now I think it is more like 2 hours per find. These things are really hard to find and it takes a lot of time. Saturday I didn't find anything at all for the first two hours. These finds were all in the last hour, the best point was at the very end as I was leaving.
ReplyDeleteI pick up every chip and flake I see. This helps me to stay close to the ground, most people use a stick but I like to use my hands and be as thorough as possible. If I find a few flakes of any given material I try to focus and pick out any speck of the same color. In the place where I found these points, about 95 percent of the flakes were quartz, the rest mostly blue or green argillite, a few chips of red felsite.
A different version of "What is the trick?":
ReplyDeleteI used to say that three things are required:
1) You must be standing right over the arrowhead
2) You must be looking really hard
3) You must believe you are about to find it.
Thanks for the knowledgable advise.
ReplyDeleteI have a place where there was a reservation in the
1830's. It is next to a pond.
My guess is to start exploring on the rocky and sandy
shore of the small pond.
Now I need lots of time, patience, and luck.
Right?
I live in SW Virginia and find tons of arrowheads;probably 3-4 an hour(mostly damaged but I love them all lol).Most people know it of course but farmers see the land the same way as Native Americans did;(I need well drained soil and water)so look in plowed fields near streams and rivers and ESPECIALLY SPRINGS. I have found more arrowheads/tools near springs than anywhere. The main thing to finding arrowheads is sticking to it....and above all be thankful everytime you find 1:) I am!!!!!
ReplyDelete