Gem ID Challenge

[scepter1]

Found this incredible Gem... and now I'm trying to ID it. I've looked at "Washington Projectile Points (Arrowheads) by shape", on http://www.projectilepoints.net as well as a couple of books. I'm not able to do a match - maybe I'm trying to be too exact (?) To my limited expertise, it appears that it was expertly crafted, then the tip was later resharpened by someone less exact, or in a hurry.

It has been flaked on all surfaces. It's a liittle over 2" long, by 1 1/4" wide - a monster compared to what I've found before. There is the beginnings of a white patina on the ridges of some of the flake scars. I found it way up high on the bank where only rare storms can move gravel at very high tides, which accounts for it being in such great shape for a tidal beach find.

Rich.

[Twitch]

No idea what the type is but as usual you are blowing my mind with these finds. Amazing. Great find Rich.

Joe

[tmodel]

hello and welcome Scept!! from Tmodel!! on the eastern highland rim of Tennessee. here is what i think you have, a [Spedis], that has been broken and been reworked into a scrapper. look at your point it has a small notch in center of base pointed at lower right corner of #2 and #3 photos that look like it goes up from notch on both sides to weak shoulders. left side is break at an angle and reworked. go to your ID link shape, leaf, [Spedis] and compair pictures and writing and tell me what you think i am still learning and trying so you want hurt my feelings it you do not agree.. Terry

[GaRebel1861]

Impressive material.

[scepter1]

Thanks Tmodel. Your thinking is the same direction I was going at first - there isn't a real good alterative to Spedis on the projectilenet site. But so far I've rejected that as the ID. First, what bothers me is the time period (10000-8000 B.P.). From what I've been able to research so far, the oldest archaelogical site located on Puget Sound has been dated to about 4300 B.P. (because of rising sea levels) And the inland areas of Western Washington only go back to about 7300 B.P. Second, after looking at about 20 examples online, it's apparent that the widest spot on a Spedis is always about 50% down from the tip, whereas the widest spot on my artifact is about 90% down from the tip. But it has been modified (?)

One of the examples of a "Cascade" that I saw had a short stem area, and it looked similar to my find - but there may be a time frame problem with that as well, and so far I haven't find any that had been found on a beach...

The best site that I saw that had more info on the Spedis was about "Columbia River Artifacts" at
http://home.comcast.net/~heathbiz/ar..._Artifacts.pdf
The Columbia River is a fair distance away from Puget Sound, but the obsidian point I found either came from Oregon, or the material was brought in from there. This article has some fantastic points, and the first page alone is worth seeing all the eye candy. Page 14 has more info on the Spedis. Page 11 has the 14 Clovis points found in Eastern Washington, which includes the largest ever found. Distracting from my research, but that makes it all the more fun !

Rich.

[scepter1]

No idea what the type is but as usual you are blowing my mind with these finds. Amazing. Great find Rich.

Joe

Thanks Joe. Probably the best I'll ever find ! While a mile of beach to search sounds like a lot, I've definitely picked it over on an almost daily basis. I'm getting to know each piece of gravel on a first name basis, some I know I've picked up over and over again. With no digging/sifting allowed, I'm at the mercy of mother nature to expose new material...

Rich.

[River Rat]

Oh, W W!! Stunning!!!!!!!!!

[scepter1]

Hey Bobbie, no pact with the devil. But I do have a deal going with the beach gods. I pickup the plastic I find, and they wash up an occasional wonderful artifact...


Rich.