First find since moving here...a bit of a heartbreaker

[Oroblanco]

Greetings,
I am still working out how to digitize photos and get them posted here, so bear with me;

This is my first point find here at our new home, a nice (unfortunately broken) Rose Springs point of green Morrison siltstone, which had to have traveled some to end up here as the closest deposits of this type stone is in extreme NE corner of AZ. The first photo is taken exactly as I found it - I had not even moved it yet, it was literally sticking out of the dirt in a large prairie dog mound! I held my breath as I lifted it, hoping it would be intact but no such luck.

On the plus side, this turned up only a couple hundred yards from my front door, and have found two more points much closer to home than that - one little obsidian bird point was less than thirty feet from the door, and showed up after one of the torrential rains of the monsoon. Also found many pottery shards in the same area, will see if I can post them too "for your approval" as Rod Serling would say...

Oroblanco

[SHERMANVILLE ILLINOIS]

O,

just outside the front door, points, shards.

Now that sounds good. Hope you are able
to locate many more. Just step out the door,
walk around, fill up your collection

Never know what you will find

have a good un..............

[Oroblanco]

Thanks Shermanville! I can tell you that I was thrilled. The first point was found while out checking the fence, a few days later I spotted some pottery shards, and again less than ten yards from my doorstep and lying on the surface. I did spend a few minutes one afternoon doing some sifting on the spot where several shards were, which turned up only one more piece. Here are the first shards (I don't have photos of all of them, but this is a good representative of all) anyway since then I found a whole hillside covered with stone workings, stone flakes, hammer stones, cores etc of a very pretty bicolored volcanic rock - but not ONE point of this stone; the points have all been of stone that is not native to these hills. As you can guess, I plan on doing a lot more poking about, soon.

Anyway here goes another try - the first photo is the assortment of shards that were scattered about to the SW of our home, and none more than fifty yards from the door (grouped by types on a barrel head) and the second photo is of the interesting Anasazi shards, tentatively ID'ed as Reserve, but possibly Roswell (though I doubt that - we live within the area known to produce Anasazi Reserve pottery, well outside the Roswell pottery region but it is possible Roswell pottery could have gotten here by trade, etc) Sure wish I could turn up some intact pieces, but who knows - maybe I will "get lucky"? Like you said, you just really never know what you will find next! Now if only some -GOLD- would pan out of the dirt here, and I would not be run out of here even if they built a pack of condominiums all around me! (Heck the condo occupants would have to learn to live with that cranky, crazy old coot firing off guns all the time right next door! Hee hee! )
Oroblanco

[SHERMANVILLE ILLINOIS]

O,

thanks for posting.

Cranky, crazy old coots, are good.

I know

have a good un..........

[River Rat]

Oro,

Love that color...love how it stand out amidst the surroundings. Love those pottery shards too. Awesome finds!!

RR

[Oroblanco]

Thanks RR! I am happy with them, and still hoping to find an intact bowl or pot - I think these are washing down the hill as they seemed to "turn up" after each heavy rain during monsoon season. I have HIGH hopes (like that old song about the ant and the rubber-tree plant! ) heh heh! Good luck and good hunting to you buddy!
Oroblanco

[badandy]

Very nice in-situ photo Oro! Shame it's broken, but I'm sure you'll find a real killer sooner or later.
badandy

[Oroblanco]

Thank you for the kind words Badandy - it was only by chance we happened to have the digital camera along while we were checking the fence, thought we would get a shot of "home" from the back of the western hill and spotted what I thought was a piece of green flannel on the rodent mound. (I called it "prairie dog mound" out of habit, haven't seen any prairie dogs here but have plenty of ground squirrels that make very similar mounds) The way it was sticking up I could not believe it, and really held my breath as I pulled it, hoping....but no luck the point was gone. I dug around in the spot hoping the tip or the corner might be there too but I think it just got tossed into place by the ground squirrels.

I have never once found a completely intact point, had one I found in Virginia that looked almost entirely intact ( a common woodland type) but it was re-worked and had a small crack. To be honest, for a long time I suspected that the points found in "perfect" condition we see posted on the internet and in magazines were possibly fakes, as I never see them come out of the ground like that, but a few years back saw genuine points (from a cache, plus two that Mrs Oro found in North Carolina while we were prospecting for gold - some people just have more luck!) that were perfect so I just have bad luck it seems - at least as far as finding points in pristine condition.

There is a magazine that specializes in "in situ" photos, so NOW I am going to make it a habit to carry along a camera when hunting points - their website (you probably already know of but if not...) is at

http://www.arrowheads.com/insitu.htm

and you can download a PDF version of the magazine (GREAT photos, though some look a bit questionable) at:

http://www.arrowheads.com/INSITU/InSitu_V2I2.pdf

I love to look at the finds others have made (posted here and elsewhere like In Situ magazine) as it gives new hope of finding more - but sometimes it just makes me GREEN with jealousy! You never know though, tomorrow or your next trip might turn up something great, once-in-a-lifetime type finds. Anyway thanks again, good luck and good hunting to you!

Oroblanco

[badandy]

Thanks Oro, but I already have some of my points pictured in there. That pottery you found is also nice, but I'm a flint man myself. Keep up the hunt and I'll be looking for you next in-situ photo in that mag.
badandy