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Check it out and get back to us.... with pics.grin

one more from today. Wish I could put it together, and pick up more than one at a time...

nuther point today

I like that material,any idea what it is?I have found a few more,but pickins have been slim.Have checked out several new spots and found lots of flint pieces and a few brokes,enough to make me remember them this spring.Lightman

What are you doing looking at the ground? - In Indian country aren't you suppose to keep your eyes on the horizon?

Thanks for sharing.

My guess is obsidian.

its not obsidian. Or our usual petrified wood. Kinda grainy like granite or some other igneous type rock, only finer grained. Never found one, of the same stuff.....

Hmmmmmm - basalt as in Basalt, Colorado?

mayhaps.....

Found another point and a mano.

Sweet looking point. How big is it?

inch and a half long

I'm wondering if it's for an atlatl, spear or arrow?

I am sure you looked around for the metate...

Nice finds.

All the artifacts have been under snow here since December.

Man, I would just like to find 1! I have looked but so far nada. Prolly not looking in the right places. Doesnt work too good this time of year under 2-3 feet of snow either! lotsa shovel work....

me too......part of the problem is im more and more convinced that mostly the Natives used this area for summer hunting, even they were smart enough to head for the the warmer winters of teh Black Hills, to hell with spending a winter here if they didnt have too

The workman ship on some of those points is outstanding.
How long would it take to knap one out??

Are they still sharp?

I'm a closet knapper. Our region here (SE Oregon) is blessed with tons of obsidian. Chunks turn up in my yard anytime I need to dig a hole or flower bed. Starting with a round cobble, I can knock out smaller points (like 1 to 2 inches) in about 5 or 10 minutes. Larger spear points in the 8 to 10 inch range can take a half hour of so. I'll snap a photo of a few of my samples and put it up this evening. It's been a hobby of mine for years. I frame and sell a few for community fundraisers, but for the most part they simply go into cake tins and are stuffed in corner.

Flint, chert, and more agate like materials are more difficult to knap. That issue can be rectified with some heating of the raw materials to make them a bit more glass like. They are more durable points than our obsidian but not near as sharp.

Huntsman22: The piece in your #4827915 post looks to be some low grade obsidian. I know of a source about 30 miles away. It exhibits some obvious crystalline structure, has some air bubbles, and is a mix of black and red. Some can be quite clear though with light easily passing through a 1 to 2 inch thick sample. It's found about 15 miles east north east of Glass Butte, Oregon. One can find 20 to 30 lb chunks on the surface. Given it's structure, it's not the local material of choice. I've made a few points from that material, and it's a little tougher to work than the more glasslike classic obsidian. There is some similar but even lower grade material near the Geyser Basin area in Yellowstone.

Via chemical finger printing, Oregon obsidian or points thereof, made its way via trading clear across the continent. A very desirable material indeed.

Knapping is the only cheap hobby I've ever undertaken. Materials etc are absolutely free. Now with shooting, photography, and fly fishing, one is looking at serious bucks.

I don`t know if you would be aware, but didn`t surgeons use or still use, pieces of flint for fine procedures because flint is sharp to the molecular level, not micron as would be steel?

No, I`m not making that up...read it somewhere within the last five years..

BTB...what would a knaped head cost me??