Cent IL points n pottery today.. very old point??

Mr Tuff · Aug 15, 2017

been a slow few years .. only a few busted points this year.. got a nice what i think may be a very old one today.. 1st decent point this year. help id...
ty and best of finds to all...

Mark Todd · Aug 16, 2017

Greetings Mr Tuff,
Congratulations on your finds. Actually the older piece in the line of three of your picture is the first one I don't have time to put up pictures for you but it is probably an archaic point from the Kirk cluster it's almost undoubtedly made out of high-quality Burlington chert and shows a lot of pressure flaking which is common to high-quality kirk points. One thing to keep in mind is that an arrowhead or a knife that looks crude is not an indication that it's older, it can be due to the fact that the material is just harder to work or of poorer quality. The oldest periods and cultures " Paleo and Archaic " consistently made some of the finest flint artifacts out there.
I would guess the larger point in the middle is probably Mississippian and the material looks like glacial till rather than a high-quality material. I'll try to get back to you with more information and some pictures later this evening I've got to get off to work right now.

rock · Aug 16, 2017

a broke beats the skunk any day of the week in my book

Mark Todd · Aug 17, 2017

Mr Tuff,
Here are some pictures of points and pictures of information that I hope you'll enjoy. One of the greatest joys of Indian artifact hunting is learning from what you found. These days a lot of people are happy just to have someone on a particular web site tell them something,
that something is thus and such, and they accept that information without any critical examination. The opposite extreme is to be given good critical advise about an artifact "or not" and the poster rejects the criticism because they "feel' the artifact (rock) is certainly an artifact.
My point is not to put down my opinions or anyone else's, there are many very experienced and knowledgeable artifact hunters on this forum. My point is to encourage you to read good books, at least a few. That will inform your mind and liberate you to critically evaluate the artifacts that you find, and still leave you with a forum that has the a bunch of people with more experience and more specific knowledge in certain regions and categories.
Following are.some pictures of points and of information that will benefit you in understanding some of your artifact finds. Keep in mind some artifacts can only be properly typed under a microscope, because there may be three similar types that are separated five or a thousand years.