Ancient Past

On a walk in the rain yesterday, I found my first artifact of 2025. Half buried in the mud, the notch in the side of this quartz projectile point is what caught my eye. The typology is Lomoka, which were made and used for a long time in the Late Archaic through Middle Woodland periods. If on the earlier side, it means who ever held it last may have lost it around 5,500-4,500 years ago. Either way, this stone point predates the bow and arrow. Instead it was the tip of a spear or dart that was launched from a handheld device called an atlatl. This was a great find for me. 

Next was a real heartbreaker, yet still a good pickup. This Orient Fishtail must have been quite impressive when it was fully intact. I think the mottled brown-gray lithic type is Onondaga Chert, which was likely quarried in what is now New York and made its way here via trade. The Fishtail-type points were made in the Transitional Archaic through Early Woodland periods, which means it could be more than 3,000 years old. 

Summer Daze

Time is flying by at mach speed. Back in May our family was blessed with another baby girl. She's growing like a weed and doing new things everyday. She also makes it three girls vs. one guy in our household. While heavily outnumbered, I'm holding my own and still getting on the water when I can. It's been a fun summer so far and we're about to kick it up a notch with a trip to Cape Cod tomorrow--it's become a great tradition and one we hope to continue for many years. Enjoy your families and fish when you can.

Heartbreaker

Finding a broken artifact is much more common than coming across a full, intact piece these days. As my uncle has told me more than once, "there are only crumbs left." Of course there are some great stone tools left to be found, but compared to what has been picked up or built upon already, he has a point. This morning was no different, except that I was very surprised when I saw these two broken pieces laying right next to each other. Was this point broken then discarded by the native who made it?  Or was it lost on a hunt and broken sometime in the hundreds or thousands of years since? I'll never know but it's pretty cool to think about. It was a very cool way to start my day and now it goes into the shadow-box table it goes with the other crumbs.

Jackpot!

I will let the photos do the talking in this post. Needless to say, I am on cloud nine right now after finding the most impressive Native American artifact in my collection. Jackpot indeed!

In Situ

During a walk over the weekend, I was fortunate to stumble on a small quartz point along the water's edge. It's not the prettiest of ancient tools, but I'll take it! Artifact collectors often snap photographs of their finds as they found them. There is a Latin phrase for this, in situ, which literally translates to "in position." Usually I'm so pumped when I see anything that resembles an artifact, that I pick it up before I can take a picture of it on the ground. I saw this triangle as I was walking back to my vehicle for the day, so needless to say it made me stick around a while longer. Thankfully this spring has been to good to me in terms of finding artifacts--let's hope the lucky streak continues!

Good Looking

In heavily developed southern Connecticut, it is very difficult locating spots that still consistently yield Native American artifacts. Many of the farm fields that gave up museum-worthy stone tools to our predecessors are now sub-divisions or shopping malls. And most of the places that we do have left, have been picked over for centuries. Don't get me wrong, there is plenty of stuff still out there and, occasionally, we do stumble upon something nice. My friend Derrick and I have been doing much more looking than fishing this spring and it is starting to pay off. I found this intact quartz beauty last week. It was not easy to spot being caked in mud and blending in very well with the other rocks. It is a great feeling when you find a full piece after picking up so many crumbs and it is a great incentive to keep on looking.   

  

A Good Find

A friend and I hunted a corn field today. We weren't after deer or upland birds, we were surface hunting for Native American artifacts. This particular spot abuts a large river and is full of evidence of early man. More than likely there was a large village at this site on and off for thousands of years. The field has been picked over by collectors for decades, but after each big rain or spring till we are presented with a new look. On this trip we some flakes of quartz and flint that were refuse from when the American indians produced projectile points. We also found some clam shells, a good sign when you're more than 30 miles from the coast. The best find of the day, however, came right before the sun sank behind the tree line, as I picked up a small broken point; a big addition to my growing collection. It's what I would call a "heart-breaker;" not a full point, but complete enough to know how much skill was needed to make it. Needless to say, we'll be going back to this site again soon. 

Point Well Taken

I stumbled upon an amazing find while walking the shoreline with my better half today. My heart nearly skipped a beat as I picked up a fully intact Native American projectile point. It's just the fifth full point in my modest collection, but definitely the most rewarding because of where it was found--right in my hometown on Long Island Sound. Below is a photo of the artifact worn down by the elements. I believe the typology is known as "Bare Island" and the tool was most likely last touched by human hands a couple thousand years ago. Pretty cool to think about.