Cleaned-up small triangle- and more from the same spot last night

     Peter asked for a look at this arrowhead from the previous post after it was cleaned up. These shots give a much better look at the material. You will notice there is still some hazy patina and even dirt. Many collectors scrub their points with a toothbrush to remove this but I just rinse mine off and dry them with a soft towel, I try not to disturb the patina from centuries outdoors. It's hard for me to say what this stone is. Perhaps it is quartzite but I don't know it in this color.

     As I was posting yesterday I started thinking about these finds and the place where I found them. I hadn't spent that much time there, just a couple of hours, and I hadn't searched the whole place. In fact, I had not even searched most of the area that has been most productive for me in the past. Most of the terrain there is flat but there is a gentle slope in one place that rises to a little hill which drops off fairly steeply towards the water on the other side and that is where I find most of the artifacts in that place. It had rained since my visit, too, and probably conditions had changed, doubtless there would be more there to find. Why hadn't I gone back there? I hadn't had any plans to get out and search after work yesterday but I kept thinking about what I might be missing, I didn't have much free time last night but I did swing by there for a short walk. What a lovely evening it was, perfect weather, and quiet in this place, just me and a pretty brown doe and a chubby groundhog out there. It didn't take long at all to find something.

     Only a tiny part of the base had been visible and I thought it was just a flake as I was picking it up. The tip is damaged as you can see and it is fairly crude but these roughly made percussion flaked quartz points do have a lot of appeal to me, they seem to have character somehow and I like to imagine what they would have looked like hafted to a dart. Wading River, I would call this shape, from the Middle Archaic in New England.

    This stemmed base was obvious and easy to spot. Something of a heartbreaker because it is really nicely flaked. But it would have been a very long narrow point and it would be tough to find an unbroken one like this.

     I found a couple of other badly broken fragments as well, hardly worth showing. I'm pleased with these finds, and I still haven't covered the whole area thoroughly. I will go back after a good rain.