"Alone Across Alaska" on TUBI TV

It is hard to escape the sense that there is more archaeology visible on the surface in the Arctic than will ever be comprehended by anyone:

A nice statement

From Tim MacSweeney's Waking up on Turtle Island:

Waking Up on Turtle Island: Former Row of Big Boulders (Part Two)

Quartz Dalton Arrowhead

Doesn't get any better than this:

From coastal RI. 

Native Americans—and their genes—traveled back to Siberia, new genomes reveal

It is about time this idea got some supporting evidence. 

Native Americans—and their genes—traveled back to Siberia, new genomes reveal | Science | AAAS

By the third paragraph, the evidence-free discussion begins but at least an obvious idea finally gets voiced. This is Science magazine, so I do not know why they remain stuck in the what is essentially a 'Clovis First' paradigm.

A closer look at my recent find

I have started to be more clear as to why I think this is a legitimate arrowhead. For example consider the symmetry and flaking:

 Other side:

It is another "flake" point. The stem is much thicker than the tip:

Here is a clincher: the details of finer serrations along just one edge:

Interestingly enough, I first saw this on the glass 'arrowhead' serrations. It suggest this is a knife, not a projectile point, which is consistent with the awkward stem.

I guess that is an arrowhead

The tip is nicely worked, but the base is quite thick. An ungainly item. Best I could come up with in a day of searching.

Protecting ancient Northhampton

From James Cachat and the Massachusetts Ethical Archaeological Society:

DOT is meeting tonight with the City of Northampton because they plan to move forward with their project on the unique ancient site in Nayyag.  This site was recommended for the National Register of Historic Places by DOT's own archaeologist.

Despite disinformation by Ms. Misch of Northampton gov't., the facts of this case are named in the attached report, along with the actual statements made in February 2021 by DOT officers and questions from the public.

Tonight at 6:30, DOT is having a meeting in Northampton that can be joined by remote.  The news report says 6 pm, but the state site says 6:30.

To join, go to: mass.gov/event and look for this meeting.  Follow instructions there.

Mark Anderson, Tribal Cultural Resources Officer for Aquinnah Wopanaak (Wompanoag) has stated on record that this site should be perserved and that it appears to be a village site.

Narragansett Tribe also stated in newsmedia their concerns for preservation at this site early in the process.

DOT is not reporting either tribe's statements in public messages.

DOT admitted in the Feb., 2021 meting (as detailed in link below) that:

1.  Traffic circles increase the number of accidents at a given intersection.

2.  The place concerned here had a below-average rate of accidents in the 5 years studied previously.

3.  There are 0 fatalities on record for this intersection.

4.  There are several known archaeological sites less than a mile from this site.

5.  The site was recommended for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places by DOT's own archaeologist.

6.  Only a couple of years earlier, DOT demolished another ancient site, 8,500 years old, less than a mile down the road from this site.

7.   A traffic light can be installed at this intersection.

8.  The most accident-prone intersection in the entire state - and the world - is a traffic circle in Longmeadow.

Foxborough Stone Ring

 [from the megalithic portal via Tommy Hudson]

Foxborough Stone Ring
Country: United States   Topic: Neolithic and Bronze Age
Do we have any readers living near Foxborough or Wrentham, between Boston and Providence Massachusetts? There are dozens of strange rock formations in this forest to explore. More information and links on this page - please send photos!. A curious ring of stones in F. Gilbert Hills State Forest (also known as Foxboro Forest) . Possible pointer stone at base. Dimensions of the structure are 8 feet long by 6 feet wide. About 1/2 mile south off of the Megley Trail on trail indicated on map. Located on the left hand side, about 200 feet off the trail, very hard to see. Recently made stone pile nearby.
http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=11590

We still don't understand what Indian life was like since 1600

All the physical evidence of my glass "arrowhead" (here and here) points to it being obviously a deliberately flaked and used piece of glass. And yet the average impression, including my own, is that of course it is not real but just a coincidence.

This is an opportunity to take a close look at that sense of disbelief. It is quite similar to the disbelief that an Indian could have made a rock pile during the last 400 years. One main point of this blog is that Indians, at all times, have made stone constructions. We hear this, we believe it, yet we still do not - in our heart-of-hearts  - really understand it. We are quite ready to abandon our own logic. For example, I do not think we grasp just how poor some Native Americans were. How can you be so poor you cannot afford a metal knife?

I am starting to think maybe glass arrowheads are not so rare - just like those pesky unbelievable rock piles. When I go poking around on "arrowheads.com" and "reddit/r/Arrowheads" a small number of other people report finding flaked glass at sites they usually prospect for older items. So it really is a thing.

Edge use exam of glass "arrowhead"

I think the edge use is definitive. The only other part of the edge with these small facets is the inside of the bend on the "stem".

Still hard to believe.

Damaged, argillite. This could be a sort of Levana but I vote for it being a sort of Dalton.

Glass "Arrowhead"

First, compare these pieces of broken glass found adjacent to each other, in a plowed cornfield. I took the photo because it is so clear that the piece on top is different:

I certainly want to believe this is a small knife.

As I've said: everyone loves nice flaking. You can see why it is worth keeping, if only to speculate about how many different blows and pressure flakes it took to make this bifacial object:

It sure is pretty. Real or not, it's going in the collection. 

The thick glass reminds me of a soda fountain milkshake glass. Actually, also thick Sandwich glass. I don't know how old that could be but, within reason, Indians with knowledge of knapping might have overlapped with the availability of glass for few hundred years. People on Arrowheads.com say Indians were knapping glass at least into the 1890's. The famous "ISHI" lived till 1916.

Other people find similar things occasionally. Here is a beauty:
https://forums.arrowheads.com/forum/general-discussion-gc5/native-american-arrowheads-other-lithic-artifacts-gc7/7636-historic-glass-arrowhead

Douglas AZ Pyramid

I decided to get a little cagey about this place. For one thing, every single feature I think is man made could easily not be or be modern. But check it out:

Wait! What!?

I'll tell you the lat/long coords if you are curious.

Nearby, this looks like a geoglyph:

Quick review of 2022

In April, I went with my wife on a driving expedition that took us to Woodbridge CT [numerous articles] and to Kings Chamber in Fahnenstock NY. A superb place. 

This was part of a move to get off of Cape Cod and see a few things; which continued after we got back, with my driving over to Freetown during weekends and discovering a few rock pile sites over there. I did not find the places Mavor and Dix describe and, clearly, the town has more to be revealed. I took a few other hikes in parts of Rhode Island adjacent to MA.

In August I started looking for arrowheads again. This was a combination of some obscure finds from the harbor islands of Woods Hole; along with Chris Pittman showing me how to use aerial photos to spot likely farm fields. I have been driving back to the mainland ever since, to explore such places. Finally, in Raynham, I found my first "independent" arrowhead by that method. Your mind is challenged to find a worthwhile location, your eyes and patience are challenged to see what is there. The more willing you are to ask permission, the more places you have to look. 

I have thoughts about the general philosophies of arrowhead hunting. Out West the ground is bare and the only problem is to choose a likely topography. Here in the East there are only a few spots of bare dirt left. The coastline is one dimensional and privately owned. Most of our creeks and rivers are completely silted-in and surrounded by muddy marshland. So it is hard to find anywhere worth looking for arrowheads here. I think the guys out west have it a lot easier. And don't get me started on the lack of knap-able materials, available in the glacial gravels down here.

Finally, in the last few days I spotted what looks like a large pyramid shaped mound in the southeastern AZ desert. This just makes me want to go drive around the west more and more.