My grandfather use to own a farm along the snake river, that was a great place to hunt for arrowheads. The Shoshone Indians would camp where the farm was during there migration and net fish in the river. I did find these three arrowheads this morning.
awesome, I used to have a pretty good collection until it was stolen. Points are very hard to come by here in Florida.
Interesting, all three are obviously Obsidian. My first stint in College right out of High School I had MUCH aspiration to becoming an Anthropologist. I was fortunate to have a great teacher at the University Of New Mexico by the name of Bev Larson. Just to teach us a lesson, throughout the year we spent time trying to actually make Arrowheads (Or any type of cutting tool actually) out of Obsidian, the old fashioned way. Funny thing about Obsidian is how incredibly sharp the edges are right after striking with a harder rock. Out of 16 students, 3 had to get stitches, one 2 times. I find it incredible that due to this, all species of Homo-erectus (Dont go there) still have 10 fingers..... As Marty eluded to, I would keep those safe and sound. Some find the value worthy of actually stealing....
I have knapped enough to know I can make a servicable blade if the rock is suitable. The Mole is working on some advanced knapping now I think.
What sort of technique or tools do you use Marty? We really tried to do as the Anasazi did centuries ago. We litterally were given shards of Obsidian and a hard River rock.
It was chert and I used other stones and antler. If there was raw material here, I probably would have persued it more seriously. On this coast from say Titusville south there are not many stone points. Most tools along the coast here were shell.
My mother was about 7 when they moved to this farm, in the 30's. She had a huge collection of points and this rock hound got them for $5.00 worth of candy. He had them on display at his rock shop.
I would like to be able to make points. I have bought two tapes on knapping, but never tried to make one.
Wow! Five days late on finding this thread. Marty, I never got around to knapping this summer, nor to the advanced stages of learning the craft. Although I did manage to find a few points at low tide on the shore line of the St. Johns River with my 2 1/2 year old granddaughter. As you stated, they are becoming more difficult to find, plus the state of Florida has made it against the law to take any artifact older than fifty years, including old bottles!(at least that's what I've been told, might be just a rumor started by the Point & Bottle hunters of the area though). Th question was asked about the value of these things. They range from a few dollars up to huge money. About ten years ago a guy found a six inch Clovis point close to where my daughter lives on the river that he sold for $5000.00, last year this same point was purchased for $30,000.00. As for other artifacts we find up here. We have found many nice bone implements such as hair pins made of egret leg bone. They have carvings of snakes and fillagry on them. Also bone daggers with bear heads on them. The coolest thing I've found is a deer shoulder with a point embedded in it that the bone had grown back around. Obviously, the first shot didn't kill the deer and it lived long enough for the bone to grow back enough to cover it. We also find camel teeth, giant sloth claws and mammoth bones. A commercial fisher friend of mine found an entire mammoth tusk that he donated to the University of Florida. It has gotten so, if you really want to find the good stuff you will have to resort to black water diving by first locating the old village sites on the cut sides of the river and dive the deep holes off the points. I don't do that! A good friend of mine does though, and has built up a museum quality collection. I would rather probe the sandy shore and eel grass line to find my booty. Cottonmouths, Black wasp nest and the occasional gator are the only things you need to keep your eyes peeled for.
I was told here in Idaho you aren't aloud to pick up any artifacts. I have a friend that works at the wild life refuge and they don't allow any one to hunt for the artifacts. There was an old indian camp on the snake river and the Oregon Trail ran through there. If they see anyone in the area they run them off. I didn't know the value of the points. As I mentioned early when my mother was a kid she traded a large collection of points for $5.00 worth of candy.
You can purchase books that will help you identify your points and the their value. I know for a certainty that we can't remove artifacts from federal land here in Florida. Is the wildlife refuge on Federal property? [ame=http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0891453113]Amazon.com: Flint Blades and Projectile Points of the North American Indian: Lawrence Tully, Steven N. Tully: Books[/ame]
