How Do You Identify A Trash Mound?

[gator6romeo]

How do you identify a trash midden here in Texas?? Are they worth digging into?? How deep? Thanks for the help.?

gator6romeo

 

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[searcher]

i don't know where in Texas you are, but most of the Texas middens are similar...
look for pink, white, grey, angular, smallish,(fist sized or so) rocks that are in a pile/mound/hill of some sort...
alot of them have sotol plants growing out of them...
the smallest i've seen is about 3 feet in diameter, the largest over 200 feet long...!!
i don't usually dig much because i like suprises after it rains...
if you do dig, go at it slow and gentle! you might be tempted to use a backhoe, but they break alot of fragile stuff...
here's a pic of a small midden near me;

searcher

 

[SHERMANVILLE ILLINOIS]

A midden?

Looked it up in the dictionary. Here in Illinois it is not a common word.

Dictionary says it is of English origin; "a dunghill or refuse site"

Is it a common word in Texas? Or is it a archaeological term?

If I dig and old dump site in Illinois would I be digging a midden, or is it only related to Indians?

I learned something today, thanks.

have a good un............
SHERMANVILLE ILLINOIS

 

[searcher]

inTexas these are known as burnt rock middens, and only apply to indian burnt rock refuse/trash mounds.
some of these mounds were point making sites. others are just burnt rocks and trash etc.
i don't know about in illinois... what do the mounds look like there?
about the depth, usually just to regular ground level, or slightly below depending on how deep the mound has sunk over the years...
what the rocks are; broken cooking surfaces. after just so many heating and cooling cycles they crack(explode!) into angular shapes that have turned different colors because of the heat. if you look under a burnt cedar pile you'll find many pink, white, limestone rocks...or use some as a fire ring and watch what happens...!!!
searcher

 

[gator6romeo]

Thanks alot for the reply searcher. its going to be a great help. I think Ive found something like that here where I live. Im in south Texas by the way. If its a trash mound, will most of the artifacts you find there be "trash"? also, how far down do you usually have to go before you hit the pay off? Thanks again for you help. Take care.

gator6romeo

 

[searcher]

gator6romeo
all midden mounds are different from each other! if you have a point making site then you'll find lots of small flint chips at the base of the mound, up wind of the normal wind direction... these mounds usually have half constructed to "dang it i broke another one" points. some of my best points came from a point making midden...
the trash middens usually are just that... trash! sometimes you'll get a mixture of both.
if you don't want to dig, look where the water has drained away from the midden to find the lighter, more "feathery" points. be sure and check quite a ways "downstream", some points like to travel...
if you want the "tools" dig! i start at the base and move in. that way i can see the layers and not go busting through something good in the middle of the mound. if you don't like to sift through with your hands set up a screen...works pretty good!
also look for antler and bone tools, flint hooks etc.. anything that might have been used....depth on good finds in a midden isn't ever the same, it's just hit or miss... usually they're not much deeper then the surrounding soil
searcher

 

[gldhntr]

the ones i have found in n.c. all have broken pottery shards in them where each year they would break/punch holes in the pottery to release the spirits before making new improved models.....i have found three large round depressions with burnt sign in them, and figured this was just a primitive fire pit where cooking and lying about fishing/hunting happened.......gldhntr

 

[tlbuck]

Be sure to check around old creek beds. My daughter found a midden in Barton Creek one day (yes, IN the creek) and she was able to pull out a large piece of flint that should of have been a spearhead (dang it, I knapped too much off of this end...). One of the professors at UT Austin was able to ID it to about 3000BCE. It is still sharp and we keep it hidden from her.

Theresa

 

[Paul in WA]

I find most of my points here on the Columbia River by walking the banks after the water level drops .Opening & closing of the dams cause a fluctuation as much as 5 feet, which doesn't sound like much, but makes a huge difference in the amount of exposed river bank. Anyways, it is my understanding that the Indians heat treated a lot of the materials they used in point making. Petrefied wood was commonly used, and it is extremley hard as far as rocks go, so they would heat treat them. The way it was explained to me at the museum was that they would dig a pit, then they would get a good layer of red hot coals, then they would ad a layer of sand on top of the coals, then they would add a layer of point making material, then another layer of sand, then the rest of the pit was filled in with the dirt originally taken out of it. The Coals would usually burn all day long. The reason for this process was to slowley heat up the material, and then slowley cool it. The sand was the key to the process, it acted as an insulator, and insured that the material wasn't heated to quickly (that would cause cracking of the materials), and it also slowed the heat loss during toe cool down period. This whole process was to "Soften" up the material so it was easier to "Knapp"..........Sorry this post is so long, but it may explain the "Heating" of the lithic materials you are finding. I have only ever found one of these pits while gold dredging on the river, it still had unworked blanks in it.

Paul

 

[tallpaul]

hey shermanville in other words we english call it a sh*t hole,,

 

[dano91]

I've been schooled to call it an ash pit.. 10 foot deep isnt uncommon...it could be an outhouse pit or just a dump area.
Yes you can find many things worth $$$$ in them, and careful digging is important.
Dano

 

[root]

Kitchen Midden is a term used for 'trash' accumulated via throwing refuse out the kitchen door. Most old houses near here were built at higher elevations usually with a commanding view of creeks and millsites. Before local trash collection which began at the turn of the 20th century,trash was literally thrown out the back door and rolled down the hill where it eventually would be covered over with subsequent erosion. I look for shards and clam and oyster shells on the surface which is usually a good indicator for treasure below.

Hope this helps.

HH,

root

 

[Monty]

Look for a mobil home Sorry, that was tacky Monty

 

[kelseybg]

I

 

[kelseybg]

Some things I found in a midden

 

[Garscale]

Every Texas hidden is different. Some are burned cooking and heating stone. Some are mostly just ash and charcoal. Some are huge piles of oyster or mussel shells . ALL have artifacts in them. Some very fine poi rd are regularly dug from Texas middens. Go slow and resist the urge to sling a pick really hard. If its a sudden you will know it by the time you are 2 ft down.