Any successful diggers in here?

[Coosakid2]

I've thought about digging for some points before , but I've never put forth much effort. . Mostly because I've never known exactly where I would want to dig. So I went back to the field where I found my point yesterday, without any luck, and noticed there was a lot of chips and broken pieces in two particular spots. One is on a high hill the other a small knob by the branch. I've got a couple of pictures of the ground showing alot of quartz flakes. Just wanted to hear y'all's opinion on if it would be a waste of time or not.

My phone was dying thought I had better pictures than I did but hopefully you can zoom in and see all the quartz flakes. And everything you can see is a flake or broken point not just where the tractor hit a pile of rocks

 

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[willjo]

You won't know until you try it. If there is chips and points there is a possibility, go to you run out of flakes.

 

[ptsofnc]

IF it is on your property and permitted in your state, I'd give it a shot. Are there any other flakes other than quartz? I understand that in your area quartz is predominant. But if was a little work area, there should be at least a little of some other kind of stone e.g. jasper, rhyolite, something else.... You can get a couple of sawhorses, make a flat, lightweight 1/4" (or 1/2" which will be easier) screen in a frame that will lie on the sawhorses and try. It is a pretty big thrill to find a work/camp spot. Good luck. If you find something interesting, you MIGHT consider contacting a local archeologist (I've found them friendly enough). Good luck!

 

[catherine1]

I found chips like that in a few spots on the dirt road on the farm. I would take a knife when the ground was moist, and basically use it like a plow to search just below those chert chips. Yes I did find some arftifacts this way. Now if you are allowed to dig with a shovel. I would dig a couple of small test holes in the high spot first. Just sod out a plug around two feet in diameter. Search the plug and the hole down to the pan. You are not only looking for rocks, but charcoal, shell, bone fragments, and other signs like darker soil to indicate anything worth digging. Let us know how it pans out....

 

[Huzzah!]

Agree with catherine1. Best way to find out is to dig a few test holes and sift through dug material. Dig based on a grid pattern. Good luck

 

[Indian Steve]

I dug 55 trash pits on a woodland camp site in the late 1980s. The plow had cut deep and in places, there were circles of bone, pottery, charcoal and periwinkle shells. The plow had cut into the pits and flipped them to the top. When the ground was wet, you could see dark spots from the charcoal. When dry, you couldn't see it. I used a probe for finding the pits that weren't showing. The probe would go easy until it hit the hardpan at 18 -24 inches. If the probe kept going past hardpan, it was usually a pit. I would probe outward to find the edges and then dig & sift. The pits averaged 4 feet across and 3 to 4 feet deep. If your probe goes down easily past the hardpan and then seems like it drops for 6 inches or so, you are in a burial and need to move on. My probe had a head on the end that was bigger than the shaft so when you pushed it in or pulled it out, the friction from the ground was only at the head and not the full length of the shaft and I kept it roughed up so you could see charcoal on the end. Trash pits have a little bit of everything that you would find in a camp, including animal bones, pottery shards, shells, beads, points and seeds. I had one pit that had 29 drill points in it. I found a crushed pot with corn kernels in it that had carbonized. Lots of fun & lots of work. When digging, I would take the loose top dirt off with a shovel & sift, then used a trowel to scrape the "soil" out of the pit & sift it too.

 

[tomclark]

 

[Coosakid2]

Thanks for the inputs. I may give it a try in a few days... Hopefully I'll find something before I run out of patience, that'll be a the deal breaker. I let y'all know how it goes

 

[Indian Steve]

Tomclark, put a whole lot more hair on him and it would look just like me digging my own grave. I'm taking my time. Can't die until its done.

 

[catherine1]

Yeah your gonna need some patience alright. But if you find a campsite you will be rewarded for your effort. Indian Steve is right about digging your own grave. LMAO. The midden I dug would fill with water after a big rain, so my buddy dug a trench over the bank to drain it, some hunter seen it, and thought we were putting in a septic system.....

 

[Indian Steve]

If you dig, be careful if your hole starts to get deep. I was buried under a couple of feet of overburden while digging a pottery dump many years ago. If I hadn't had someone with me, I'd still be there. I'm still surprised that he dug me out. We weren't very good friends. The next day dummy me did the same thing and was pushed back about 10 feet and buried waist deep. I left that site and never went back. I've done a lot of dumb stuff in my life but that was one of the dumber ones.

 

[gilmerman]

From your Satellite pic, you have surely found hunting camp sites. I have four sites on our farm, the best at the head of a branch that runs to our biggest bottom acerage. I have raked leaves away from around a spring and found several points and partials, no digging and no shards. I'm 76 years old and haven't hunted in a while. I am being made interested in trying a few spots again. I must consider my poor balance. I'll try to see if my grandson will go with me. I have and will show the first point he found and gave to me. It's a very worn but precious gift to me . My son has little interest in my collection but gives me those he finds, he jokingly says to give it to my grandson or he will put it on ebay. I think he's joking , I think. It takes it up a lot of space. Its 64 years of collecting after all.

 

[Tnmountains]

I would concentrate in the gullies and wash outs and of course in any water with a rock bottom. Good luck!

 

[arrow86]

I have a site iv been wanting to dig also but like you I’m hesitant I tried probing and dug a few test pits but didn’t have much luck but honestly I didn’t put as much effort in as I planned originally ... my brother backed out and it’s a lot of tedious work so help is nice another thing to consider around me is how much the water levels have risen so a lot of the original camp sites may be under water now but I’m sure there’s still some camps on land too
When I was looking for info it was very helpful watching YouTube videos there’s some good ones to help you get a feel for equipment and how they pick a spot

 

[Coosakid2]

This is the elevated spot in the bottom of the field. I've found five or six points here and a dozen scrapers. Might give it a shot next cloudy day. I've got to hurry up before summer gets here it's already getting hot in Alabama

 

[bookummdano]

I would be focusing on digging in that creek. You will not believe the quality of the artifacts you will dig in there. Save the land digging for when it’s to cold to get in the creek.

 

[Coosakid2]

I would be focusing on digging in that creek. You will not believe the quality of the artifacts you will dig in there. Save the land digging for when it’s to cold to get in the creek.

I ain't found one in it yet..... But the creeks a rock bottom I know there's one in it somewhere. Its only about 3foot wide and growed up and I know there's a big cotton mouth in it somewhere too

 

[bookummdano]

I ain't found one in it yet..... But the creeks a rock bottom I know there's one in it somewhere. Its only about 3foot wide and growed up and I know there's a big cotton mouth in it somewhere too

Snakes are just part of the hobby, and the creek sounds ideal, pm me and I will give you some advice if you want.

 

[PullTabSlayer]

We dig some good stuff, this is on family property, the area we dig is littered with flakes on top the ground.
You must have healed up good to be diggin

 

[Coosakid2]

We dig some good stuff, this is on family property, the area we dig is littered with flakes on top the ground.
You must have healed up good to be diggin

Yeah finally.... At least it's not sensitive anymore.... I'm sure it's gonna be a struggle, because digging is one of my weaknesses but I try not to let it stop me from doing anything. I haven't found a prosthetic that I like or doesn't get in the way (on my budget) yet