A good chert knife

[larson1951]

Took my truck to the field and got out and walked for about 5 minutes and thought I found a broke spatula or piece of marrow half buried

I move it with my hunting stick and, WOW! it is a chert knife

I ran back to the truck to get my camera
I grabbed my camera and... oh no!!! I forgot where the knife was...
it took me about 30 minutes to find it, I was almost ready to give up,
I was lucky as the ground was wet and I went back to the truck and traced my foot prints backwards to the approx area...
then I finally found it! it is a goody at about 4.5" inches long
5 minutes to discover it & 30 some minutes to find it again!!

I feel very fortunate

[GL]

SWEET!

[creek astronaut]

real nice piece.

[coteau]

That is a great find Larson! I've taken my shirt off and put it over the artifact before I ran back to my truck to get the camera

The material looks like Tongue River Silicified Sediment? I'm using a slow dial-up connection so only two pics showed. TRSS is most commonly gray and is sparkly when you hold it up to sunlight, it also has root molds in it sometimes. It can be found from the Missouri River all the way to the badlands in SW North Dakota and NW Sound Dakota, it is also found in other states but of different variety.

[Tnmountains]

Glad you have a little Indian in you and you have learned to track. That is a really good looking find.Keep tracking sir.
TnMountains

[The Grim Reaper]

Awesome Knife larson. Congrats on finding it twice. lol

[ohio]

Super find! I really like that piece. Very graceful looking.
Chuck

[WhiteCountyPaleo]

Dang!

[larson1951]

I think that the maker of this piece was one of the better makers in the area when this was produced

Question: was it an old or young person??

was it a man or woman??

my thinking: an older lady that had many yrs of experiance and used her time to contribute to her village by making knifes & points
rather than trying to work in the garden with a sore back

Does this make sense?

[Fla-Gal]

I love your thinking about an older gal---sore back and tired of garden work (vacuuming-cleaning toilet bowls-and washing dishes and clothes---etc...)---creating such beauties.....I think whoever made it was probably making it to clean the scales from fish---shave tree bark---clean hides...and slice so that all the fingers could manipulate this tool for the moments needs----and certainly they carried it with them....and,maybe passed it on....or held it close to their heart....gal or guy...what a beautiful tool---congrats (please be sure to label it so whoever treasures it later will know of its orgins---maybe even GPS it.)

[mamabear]

what a beauty! glad I'm not the only one that has to backtrak a good find. I'm always glad no one is with me to see my silliness! (or hear it!)

[Americus]

What a find! I'll bet you learned a lesson today (and taught me one).

[larson1951]

Hi all, especially Fla-Gal& MamaBear For you agreement on this topic of discussion and all.

I have been told by my native american relatives that everyone had a job or task and the older more experianced
women could make about 40 nice points a day which was just another days work and no big thing
the young women took care of the young and worked in the gardens growing squash and corn
the young men hunted and fished

the old men sat around and smoked
the old women made arrows and arrowheads with the young boys finding some of the raw material for such

maybe this should be under another another topic, now what do you people(with native relatives) think?

[coteau]

I really appreciate your handed-down knowledge of Native American history. That's the kind of info we all want to know... My ancestors came from Eorope, so I guess my opinions don't have any merit. I have to rely on books written by non-natives, and who knows how accurate their interpretations were... But I really do like reading those books, one of my favorites is "Buffalo Bird Woman's Garden" by Gilbert Wilson.