PatinPA
5 year old buck +
Wouldn't surprise me.
Arrowhead and other historic/pre-historic collections
- Thread starter Hoytvectrix
- Start date
williams111
5 year old buck +
Is this a tool of some sort? Seemed too perfect not to be something
Fossilized tooth, I assume cow?
Large scraper?
Another scraper
Crude Arrowhead/blade
Fossilized tooth, I assume cow?Large scraper?
Another scraper
Crude Arrowhead/blade
williams111
5 year old buck +
Howboutthemdawgs
5 year old buck +
Looking at some of these items, I feel like I may be overlooking things. Some of these look no different that rocks I see. I’m fixated on the prototypical arrowhead
williams111
5 year old buck +
Finally found what I think is a full one, maybe a small nick out of the base.
Hoytvectrix
5 year old buck +
Catscratch
5 year old buck +
Nice!!!
Tree Spud
5 year old buck +
How does one look for these in a creek?
Hoytvectrix
5 year old buck +
I mentioned what we look for in a few posts in this thread.
It really just comes down to gravel beds that have been naturally stratified by rushing water. Every time it rains more than an inch or so, the rocks are all moved around and we go looking when the water recedes.
Really any gravel bed is a great place to look, but I would focus my time on beds that have mostly rock that is at least an inch in diameter. Our best gravel beds nearly always happen immediately downstream from an oxbow or sharp turn in the creek. That turn causes a slowing of current and typically forms deep rock beds.
The older guys that have been doing this much longer in our area have their best luck in ravines that have dry washouts. It is these ravines that feed the small to medium size creeks and rivers.
Some areas are definitely better than others, but I would bet you could look pretty much anywhere in deer country and you will find them. Some days are better than others, but I would say we find about one point per man hour of looking over our best spots. That is of course assuming we beat all of the trespassers. Our worst problems with trespassing isn't for hunting deer but arrowheads.
It really just comes down to gravel beds that have been naturally stratified by rushing water. Every time it rains more than an inch or so, the rocks are all moved around and we go looking when the water recedes.
Really any gravel bed is a great place to look, but I would focus my time on beds that have mostly rock that is at least an inch in diameter. Our best gravel beds nearly always happen immediately downstream from an oxbow or sharp turn in the creek. That turn causes a slowing of current and typically forms deep rock beds.
The older guys that have been doing this much longer in our area have their best luck in ravines that have dry washouts. It is these ravines that feed the small to medium size creeks and rivers.
Some areas are definitely better than others, but I would bet you could look pretty much anywhere in deer country and you will find them. Some days are better than others, but I would say we find about one point per man hour of looking over our best spots. That is of course assuming we beat all of the trespassers. Our worst problems with trespassing isn't for hunting deer but arrowheads.
Mortenson
5 year old buck +
I assume since you can still see fine detail in those points that they haven't been in the creek very long, maybe only a few years, whatever that is, perhaps 5 or less? You'd think centuries of running water would have them all smoothed over. Is there much discussion about that?
Hoytvectrix
5 year old buck +
We often wonder the same. I have heard or read conflicting things from archeologists. Some say they only move a few hundred yards downstream from where they were originally lost, others think it is much longer. Most of what we find are moving from rock bed to rock bed that may only be a hundred yards upstream, where they may sit for a few decades or longer.
Streams are fascinating things. Even when the stream is up 8 feet or so and over the banks, you can go back down and see many of the same rocks. And then other times, the stream will only be a foot or two deep from a rainfall event and there will be an entire new gravel bed.
Sometimes they are a lot easier to see than others. This is the big point from this past weekend: https://giphy.com/gifs/uexbokARh7znhbu9bb
Here is another blade I found a few weeks ago: https://giphy.com/gifs/9Tknk6KWQ0CT9jee6P
You can get an idea for what our creek looks like. I upload many of my better finds onto that giphy account and you can go through them. I try and record a video for each find so I can remember where they were found.
I shared this photo earlier in this thread. We have literally pulled points out of the side of this outwash. Who knows how long this particular outwash has been here, but there is about 8 feet of soil above it, that may have also been deposited from the stream or has formed over time. This outwash gravel bed may have been from a single flood event or from the last glacial melt.
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Catscratch
5 year old buck +
Thanks for those pics and videos! I was wondering what the creek looked like where you find them. I have a section of creek right by our best field, but I never seem to find any there. Assume it's because I don't know where or how to look in a creek. Do you ever find flint chips in the creek like you do in a field, or is mostly whole tools?
Hoytvectrix
5 year old buck +
Yes, you can find the flakes of chert (of which flint is a type) and they are often found in the same areas. The flakes could be natural or the actual workings from making the material. The vast majority of what we find are just broken pieces and not complete like the ones I posted above.
It literally took me 3 years of looking before I found my first, and since then I have found around 30 artefacts of some kind (in the last 4 years). There is something about calibrating your eyes that is kind of like morel hunting. At first I was too focused on color. Try to keep an eye out for any straight lines or hard/sharp edges. Color can be helpful, but don't gloss over dull or ordinary looking rocks. It really is just simply putting in the time and you will find some.
This is also from this past weekend's walk: https://giphy.com/gifs/IERNex8uC0AJcVG3N0
Hoytvectrix
5 year old buck +
There was just one gravel bed I hadn't searched since the last rainstorm. I believe this is a Cobb's triangular. It has a really strong bevel and even has a slight helical shape.
Catscratch
5 year old buck +
Nice! I walked some gravel beds since the last time I posted on this thread. Nothing.
Howboutthemdawgs
5 year old buck +
I did too yesterday in Tennessee. Should have been a target rich environment. Nada
hillrunner
5 year old buck +
What makes a gravel bed a good spot for arrow heads? Is it just that they are deposited there by nature?
