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Collecting native artifacts and arrowhead question

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bob_G

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I'm the world's worst collector. In spite of years of casually looking, Ive found nothing.

But I'm fascinated seeing collections of others.

 

So my question is, is this type of collecting a domestic thing, or are arrow and spear heads actively collected around the world?

The Sultan of Sluggo

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I think it's a largely domestic thing as we have native artifacts that are relatively young so they are easy to find and not terribly weathered. In other areas like Europe many of the findable artifacts have already been found due to the large amount of land used for farming, whereas the US still has lots of relatively virgin forests and fields, as well as undeveloped rivers.

 

The other side is in many paces like the Mediterranean or Africa there are many artifacts to be found, but they are generally older and are much harder to find due to being buried by centuries and eroded away.

 

We have a relatively unique environment in America where we have more land than people and relatively recent history. 

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23 mins ago, bob_G said:

I'm the world's worst collector. In spite of years of casually looking, Ive found nothing.

But I'm fascinated seeing collections of others.

 

So my question is, is this type of collecting a domestic thing, or are arrow and spear heads actively collected around the world?

Well, if you check on ebay, there are now dozens of arrowheads coming from the Southern Sahara countries.  It's desert now but was quite lush not all that long ago, geologically.   There are some high quality materials and the artifacts are very well made.   With a lifetime of hunting and fishing, I'm sure your've walked over loads of arrowheads.  If your not looking down, your not seeing them.

 

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2 hours ago, clambellies said:

With a lifetime of hunting and fishing, I'm sure your've walked over loads of arrowheads.  If your not looking down, your not seeing them.

 

Yea, I hear ya Alan.  No doubt I've walked over a bunch of stuff, esp turkey hunting and trout fishing.

Each time I walk over a freshly harrowed field each spring, Im casually looking, but more intend on calling birds.    But after seeing some of your posts, and viewing my old friend's "museum quality" collection, I shake my head and think how in hell am I missing this stuff?

 

While in high school I found something I was convinced was a serious artifact in the Ware River. So much so, I dove in to retrieve it. It sure looks good, but everyone tells me it's just a rock. So, the search goes on.

 

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The Sultan of Sluggo

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4 hours ago, EliasA said:

In other areas like Europe many of the findable artifacts have already been found due to the large amount of land used for farming,

Found this in a small stream on a farm in southern Ireland 

Never did get it looked at, probably should

 

 

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I just wanta play everyday despite small nagging injuries --

and go home to a woman who appreciates how full of crap I truly am. ~ Crash Davis

 

Social Distancing since 1962

 

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I know a guy in CT who goes out to farm fields after heavy rain, smokes some dope, and carries a long stick.  He stands for hours in the field poking and flipping  rocks with the stick.  He goes after heavy rains because that washes dirt off the artifacts so they can be seen/identified.  He looks for farm fields near rivers where natives may have camped.  I thought he smoked too much dope, until I saw his collection, then I relaized I was the dope.  He has a large collection which in my opinion outdoes anything I ever saw in a museum.

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22 mins ago, DrBob said:

I know a guy in CT who goes out to farm fields after heavy rain, smokes some dope, and carries a long stick.  He stands for hours in the field poking and flipping  rocks with the stick.  He goes after heavy rains because that washes dirt off the artifacts so they can be seen/identified.  He looks for farm fields near rivers where natives may have camped.  I thought he smoked too much dope, until I saw his collection, then I relaized I was the dope.  He has a large collection which in my opinion outdoes anything I ever saw in a museum.

I have a feeling you and I are talking about the same guy. That describes.my friend with the home museum to a tee.

The Sultan of Sluggo

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Bob very rarely is an artifact sitting on the ground flat saying pick me up. You actually have to look intently for them. Sometimes its just a tip of one you see or a section of a base. Then the other stuff comes into play, axes, plummet stones, Celts ,net stones, Basically anything they made from stone. Once you learn what you have to be looking for thing start to poke out at you. Its called disassociation. Say you buy a new gray pickup. Nothing special to you just a truck. But all of sudden you start seeing a lot of gray trucks when ridding around. Your mind is associating and dissociating all the other vehicles on the road. Kind of the best way I can explain artifact hunting. I would say go to the Robbins museum in Middleboro. study the artifacts and the materials they are made from. then go out find some.

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Only one I ever found turned up while I was digging a new garden in our back yard.  Shocked the life out of me.  Suburban Long Island, NY, in a hoiusing develoipment, and a place that was probably farmed for a couple hundred years.  I turned over a spadeful of dirt and a perfect white arrowhead appeared.

 

Immediately made me think about the transience of land ownership, and the enduring nature of the land.

 

As far as whether looking for artificats is domestic, I don't believe it is, but the nature of the artifacts differ.  One thousand years ago, North America was, with a few exceptions like the copper-mining tribes around the western Great Lakes, still in the stone age.  Europe was in the heart of the Middle Ages, with the Norman invasion of what became England less than 50 years away.  So in North America, you find people looking for stone arrowheads, while in Europe, and particularly in England, you find them using metal detectors trying to find Viking, Roman, or Iron Age artifacts.  But the general idea is the same.

"I have always believed that outdoor writers who come out against fish and wildlife conservation are in the wrong business. To me, it makes as much sense golf writers coming out against grass.."  --  Ted Williams

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2 hours ago, gregwa said:

Bob very rarely is an artifact sitting on the ground flat saying pick me up. You actually have to look intently for them. Sometimes its just a tip of one you see or a section of a base. Then the other stuff comes into play, axes, plummet stones, Celts ,net stones, Basically anything they made from stone. Once you learn what you have to be looking for thing start to poke out at you. Its called disassociation. Say you buy a new gray pickup. Nothing special to you just a truck. But all of sudden you start seeing a lot of gray trucks when ridding around. Your mind is associating and dissociating all the other vehicles on the road. Kind of the best way I can explain artifact hunting. I would say go to the Robbins museum in Middleboro. study the artifacts and the materials they are made from. then go out find some.

What you described I call "getting the search image" in your head.

Once you get that search image, your brain subconsciously recognizes even the tiniest corner of what your looking for.

And you don't turn it on or off once you aquire it.

That's why I spot points walking down a trail to go look for snakes.

Or spot an old bottle in stream gravel while looking for trout.

Or a tiny section of the coil of a snake while walking down a trail to go look for points.

All of those search images were acquired. At one time I would have walked right by those things.

It's amazing how quick it happens after you find your first one.

Edited by mikez2
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