First Ever Find: Little Pot with Iron Bit on it.

[Tippy T]

I'm so excited. This is my very first Indian artifact. I've looked for years for arrowheads, but never any luck. I found this little pot yesterday (Sunday) when hiking with my sister in a dry creek bed. Last year's dried leaves covered much of the little pot - it's only 5.5 inches tall to the highest point, and 3 inches wide at the widest point. But, part of the rounded side was sticking out. I thought it was a round rock and scooted at it with my foot. It rolled out pretty easily and I could see it was a real artifact.

I've hunted on the net and I think it might be a water bottle, except it's a bit different from the other ones I saw that were wider at the base, whereas this one has a smaller base and tapers upward and outward more.

What I would like to know is what the little iron thing is on it. I took a close up. It looks like a "C" shape, and it's definitely iron. Looks like it was fired into the pot. I wondered if the indians might have had little chains that held a lid on to the pot - with such a hook. Maybe part of the hook is broken.

We hunted around but didn't find any of the broken off pieces. Still, I'm very proud of this little pot, my very first find. The first of many, I hope.

I found it in central Ks. McPherson county.

 

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[catherine1]

Great find! All I ever find are pottery shards. I would sh"t if I found one whole.

 

[The Grim Reaper]

I'm not 100% sure that's an Indian Pot. It may be more modern and only a 100 or so years old.

 

[Tippy T]

Gosh, I was really hoping it was an Indian artifact. I should have thought it could be from another time. But we were hunting close to the Sharp's Creek archaeological site where the Great Bend Indians had a settlement, so I just naturally thought I would find an Indian artifact.

Maybe I still have yet to find my first Indian artifact, I guess. It's very nice, though, and I'd still like to know more about where it came from. I can feel little finger marks inside the neck and someone did a good job, because it's pretty symetrical, just a bump here and there. The light part that is seen in the first photo is the part that was exposed, the rest is pretty dark.

I'm still happy with it - now, I just have a mystery to solve. thank you for the comments.

 

[Jonzer]

Modern or not, you found a nice piece.
I agree, I would s**t too if I found that.

 

[NorCal Gal]

Regardless if it's an Indian piece or not, I agree -- it's STILL a GREAT FIND!

NorCal Gal

 

[ShieldJaguar]

Looks ancient to me. I find shards like that pottery in my creek all the time.

Is there a glaze on it? It doesn't look like it.


My guess is it's very old.

 

[tmodel]

Tippy T!! what state was that little pot found in, are you sure that the piece of metal is iron or could it be copper?

 

[lostlake88]

Where was this found? It sure looks like a prehistoric water bottle. The iron could be a large build up of ferric oxide which can occur naturally.

 

[chong2]

i agree with lostlake, mat will know for sure on that one

 

[Neanderthal]

Tippy, you need to check the tempering of the clay. Tempering is a bonding agent used by pottery to help hold the clay together, it can be shell, bone, quartz, sand, grog (previously fired clay)..etc. Check the broken area of the bottle and see if you can distinguish any tempering agent.

 

[chong2]

also how does the base look?

 

[Tippy T]

It DOES resemble the bottle lostlake showed.

It was found in Central KS, in the bottom of a deep dry creek bed. We have a couple of archaeological digs in the area that turn up Great Bend Indian artifacts and also some that have metal Spaniard stuff. The digs are known as "Sharp's Creek" and "Paint Creek."

I'm not sure how to tell if the metal is copper, but it could be. There does appear to be that iron discoloration on the pot.

I'm lost about understanding how to determine the tempering agent. Is there a way to distinguish one from another? I'll take some closeups, if I can get my camera to focus that close.

The neck appears to have broken long ago, the edges aren't really sharp, kinda smoothed down now.

the base is just flat, like someone pushed it down when the clay was soft to make it sit straight. It's dark like the dark portion of the bottle.

 

[Neanderthal]

Take pictures of the broken area of the bottle and of the bottom. Close-up pics of the broken area please.

Here's a pic of a pot from Kansas that I restored some years back. It was found by Rocky & Deb Bornholdt and was a chore to restore.

http://www.arrowheads1.com/graphics/ksbowlbeforeandafter.jpg

 

[chong2]

All most if the pieces from this area, have what looks to be a outer area and a inner, from where it was fired or the slip was put on, get some pics like he said of the break, clear and close as possible

 

[naturegirl]

Wow Matt, that restoration is awsome Looks like fun to me...

 

[Tippy T]

Take pictures of the broken area of the bottle and of the bottom. Close-up pics of the broken area please.

Here's a pic of a pot from Kansas that I restored some years back. It was found by Rocky & Deb Bornholdt and was a chore to restore.

http://www.arrowheads1.com/graphics/ksbowlbeforeandafter.jpg

That's amazing, Neanderthal! How you were able to put that together so perfectly is an incredible gift.

 

[Tippy T]

I took some more pics. This is the closest I could get on the broken rim with my camera.

One more thing - this little pot is kind of sparkly in the sunlight. Not like glitter, but here and there, it appears to be a very tiny bit of sparkle. Mica, maybe?

 

[lostlake88]

Looks like it's grit tempered pottery. Probably prehistoric. Looks a lot like the one I posted, your is a little bigger.

 

[Tippy T]

Thanks lostlake.

This is so exciting to me! I can't wait to get back out there and keep looking.

Thanks everyone for looking at my little pot.

Oh, and lostlake - that's my niece with small hands holding the pot. Just for reference.