Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Indian Artifacts - Volume II

Seems as though we've all been huddled inside lately with not much activity here. When there's a little sunshine, I put the lawn chair in front of the garage out of the wind and bang out a few points. Knocked out about 100+ in the last couple months, and with the exception of some fuel to pick up the rocks, costs have been minimal.

Here's a sampling with a few different colors of obsidian. Some are nearly transparent, but I can't come up with a simple method of capturing that in a photograph.

There's a quarter in there somewhere for scale. I think the longest (left center row) is 5 1/2 inches. Must be a macho thing. One tries to chisel out the largest possible item from each chunk of stone as opposed to generating something that's smaller and functional. Still some occasional frustration when I have one 90% complete and break it in half, but I'm getting better about that. The garbage man will find some pieces, but never a whole one.

Have about 3 buckets full of rock left, so I've got something to fill the time in the near future. Still need to stop and tie some trout flies though.

Have a good one, and spring will be here in a couple months.

Good looking stuff 1minute! I'm afflicted with the same malady. I try to make the largest possible blade/point I can out of each rock. I think it comes from trying to thin the rock without reducing the perimeter dimensions. I'm not sure I'll ever get over it.

Went on a walk after a big rain with my dad last week. Found a few points and my first complete and intact buffalo skull, even has the teeth. All I could see of the skull was the teeth, had to dig it out of the mud with my hands, set it in the creek to wash out while we continued hunting. https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/galleries/13426508/ndn-stuff

One on top looks paleo
Like been made into a blunt
Or a worn broken base

Kinda resembles a quad point in a way also.

It looks like it was resharpened into the blunt shape. Closest thing I could match it up with in Overstreet’s is a Bat Cave. The little triangle point is perfect in every way but just a piece of grey chert. The clear mottled one is kinda a crude point, only one notch and kind of a knot where the other one would be, the forward edges are sharp and nicely shaped. Makes me wonder if he chose not to finish it due to some imperfection in the flint, or it was lost, or he used it like that, I’ll probably never know. The Calf Creek would have been a dandy if the tip wasn’t missing, one of my favorite forms.


The time before last I found a beautiful, no doubt about it, honest to god paleo made out of clear grey flint. Great parallel flaking, fluted base, nice oval cross section. But it was broken in half right in the middle. I looked and looked and couldn’t find the point.

Paleo points!

Good job!

If anyone is interested in buying all kinds of arrowheads and other items found surface hunting let me know. My wife’s uncle in the Missouri Bootheel would like to sell his collection. His collection dates back to when he returned home from Vietnam. When he returned home he walked his family farm to clear his mind. Their farm had a large sand ridge that ran through it and back then they would plow the ground every year. He has a considerable collection. PM me if interested.
I have found several nice arrowheads on the farm myself.

TheKid: Nice materials there and tough stuff to work.

Who's to say on many of the pieces we pick up out there? Items were often resharpened and repurposed as they dulled or broke over their extended lives. Here in eastern Oregon, one often finds single flakes of material miles from it's nearest source and assumes they're nothing but detritus. Such were easily knocked off a core, briefly used for cutting or scraping, then dropped on site. I've found several obsidian cores over the years, and one could still knock off flakes that would be useful knives as is or reduced to points, drills, or scrappers in short order.

Great thread! Glad I found it and will get back to reading the rest of it but thought you guys would be interested to see a different kind of Indian artifact.

More

A chunk of obsidian found with the artifacts

A few I have picked up over the years

Found this one scouting for deer in the fall in middle of Nevada. 30-06 for size. The fine symmetry and craftsmanship on this one tell me this was made by an old hand...but I really have no clue. Just seems better crafted than others I have found.

Cool stuff guys.

I got an obsidian Bradley spike
I found in middle northern TN
UT Knoxville
Has gas chromograph studied obsidian points found in this part of the country and has been able
To ID the actual volcano,s the material came from in the west.
Trade routes were extensive back then.

Yes. If one has the bucks, assays of trace minerals can be used to ascertain prominent obsidian sources. Lots of material trading back in the day.

It is pretty amazing to think about the travel and trade that took place back then. Flint sources are pretty scarce in this part of the country, Alibates quarry is the closest and is a 7 hour drive from here at 70mph. The closest obsidian is lord knows how far and we find stuff made out of it occasionally too. We do have agate nodules out in the hills here and find some stuff made out of it pretty regularly. Dad found the cutest little bitty square thumb scraper, about 3/4” square, that looks like it could possibly be amber may just be a yellow orange agate but it’s the right color and texture.

Most of what we find is the little Christmas tree Washitas and triangle points with the one area holding a decent amount of bigger older stuff. We almost never find large tools like we do out west. No axes, hoes, hammers,grindstones or bowls. I found an outstanding arrow straightener one year out west, approx 2 1/2”x 2”x4 1/2” with two parallel grooves in the top worn absolutely glass smooth. All of the sides are convex and perfectly matched, looks like a tiny loaf of bread with two grooves in the top.

In the site the buffalo skull came from we’ve found probably 40 other skulls in various states of brokenness. I’ve also found what I’m certain are grizzly bear teeth. Haven’t been grizzlies in Oklahoma for a good while now.

I must be getting old as aside from hunting and fishing, looking for arrowheads and metal detecting are fast becoming my favorite hobbies.

I found a jade Early Triangular point in a very southern location.

It was large and perfect with incredible thinness and workmanship.

That material had to travel some distance to get where I found it, about 4 ft. down in a cliff dwelling.

Traders did indeed travel long distances.

Id love to see a Pic of the Buffalo skull that you found! This is a Great thread! I knew a fellow that showed me a Huge Buff skull that he found, was the biggest Iv ever seen! a bank had give way on a creek, and the horn core was sticking out, he dug it out! it came from a Park so he didnt show it to often, hes moved to Texas somewhere!

Speaking of buffalo skulls.. found this one in an odd place for a buffalo to be. It was in a tiny natural grassy clearing on top of a heavily timbered ridge high above the valley floor I stopped to eat lunch while elk hunting and sat next to it on the ground. Only a tiny portion of bone was showing above the dirt, and being curious I spent the next 15 minutes digging it out. I was surprised to see it was a buffalo skull. If that skull could talk..