Topography Maps Help

[Cameronstrause]

I have heard of people using topography maps to find potential places to look for arrowheads and other artifacts. What should you be looking for on these maps that would be indicators of a place a camp could've been?

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Treasure of Victoria Peak - Grab it through Amazon!

[redbeardrelics]

You should look for relatively higher elevations, meaning well draining areas, close to good water sources for typical habitation sites. Hunting sites can be harder to find, and depend upon whether they were hunting for plant or animal prey, and where either of those two could be dependably harvested.

 

[monsterrack]

Google earth can help also, it will show high ground ,water ways, fields and water ditch drainage(that is what I look for).Sometimes you can just see things better from above.

 

[RGINN]

Where I grew up, generally on the second terrace back of any creek or river. Where two water ways ran together was a good spot. For historic camps, anywhere a major waterway looped and made a sort of peninsula was a good bet, as they liked these areas because they were more defensible. A detector can be useful at these sites. Along the Canadian River in Oklahoma, all the sites we found were out of the river bottom up on the bluffs, maybe a quarter to a half mile away from the river.

 

[georgia flatlander]

It also depends upon the age of the site. Early archaic/late Paleo sites are typically altered tremendously over the past 10,000 or so years. Water sources will have changed or disappeared in that amount of time. A river or creek with 5' cut banks may have been at today's ground level. You can get a general idea from topography maps, but in my experience only general, depending upon the age. In Florida, I seem to find things closer to water sources, while in Georgia and Alabama the sites seem to be at much more elevated locations. Florida is typically at a lower elevation overall, but sites tend to be much closer- and in many cases adjacent- to water.
An early Archaic site I am currently searching is situated on a saddle between two dry bottoms, which were obviously spring heads thousands of years ago. The contour of the land shows that a creek or stream flowed out of each, and the difference in elevation between the saddle and the creek bottoms is now approximately 15 feet. It shows up easily on a topo map and, like Monsterrack stated above, it is more realistic on Google Earth. It was probably much greater of an elevation change 10,000 years ago, but with natural erosion and sedimentary deposit the drop is much more gentle.
That was a lot of talking to say this: look for obvious accessible water sources and a place to stay away from high water. There would also be a need for a latrine or waste disposal without contaminating the water supply, depending upon whether the site is a settlement or a camp. I was taught long ago that Indians wanted the same things we want today: comfort and accessibility. Put yourself in their shoes (or try to), and sometimes just a little common sense will help you find what you're looking for.

 

[rock]

I hunt creeks that empty into the rivers. Rivers were their main highways for traveling. Any creek that is big enough for a canoe will have artifacts in it as they liked to explore just like we do they would travel up the larger creeks till they found a nice spring and then camp.