Originally Posted by 673
Originally Posted by shrapnel
Originally Posted by 673
I am puzzled about why we dont find points like you guys do down south, all I can figure is that the repetitive cycle of fires has broken up all the points. The other thing I was thinking is that early inhabitants were in much greater numbers down south than they were up here?
Pictographs are few here as well, you have many, thanks kaywoodie, interesting.


Most all artifacts tell a story of the people that made and used them. The Northern parts of the United States, specifically Montana, were inhabited more by the hunting and nomadic tribes rather than the resident tribes of the south. Artifacts around here are mostly small and utilitarian..

My mother and I collected hundreds of artifacts that were indicative of the local Indian tribes that frequented the area around Yellowstone Park. Most were obsidian, with some chirt and basalt. Most are arrowheads, knives and scrapers.

There was a proposal for a ski area near Hebgen Lake in the early 70’s and an EIS was done of that area where the ski resort was proposed. They heard about our collection and wanted to see it.

Our collection was sent to New Jersey back in the early 1970’s for forensic data to determine the age of the points. Obsidian can be dated by how far moisture penetrated the surface of the material. Other points were aged by the style of the point itself. The oldest point I found was dated about 8,000 years old, but it wasn’t obsidian.

I haven’t looked there for years now, but would assume there are still some artifacts that we didn’t find. I keep thinking I should go back and look for more...



Thanks for that, I do wonder the role fire plays in recovering artifacts intact, or at all, interesting.



I don’t think fire has much to do with the degradation of the artifact as much as how the tool was used and hundreds if not thousands of years being exposed to changes in the soil and freezing more so than fire. All our stuff was collected near water in an area unlikely to see much fire. Imperfect points are very common and I attribute that to use.

Arrows were shot from a bow which would certainly cause fractures and knives and other tools were used in a manner that would easily break them. Every artifact I found was always with the hope of it being complete, but more often than not, that wasn’t the case...

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