🥇 BANNER Unreal day!! Relics, and a 13 projectile point cache!!!

Jon Phillips

Hero Member
Mar 10, 2009
535
326
Riverview Florida
🥇 Banner finds
1
Detector(s) used
F-75, MXT, 6000di sl
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I'm still amped up from this, even though I'm exhausted!

Me, my father, and a good friend went relic hunting today at a site that my friend had hunted for years. It's been a good spot for him in the past, but isn't producing a whole lot these days. He had found a few musket balls recently, and invited us to hunt with him. We gladly took him up on it, as it was a beautiful day, and had rained yesterday, so the ground was conductive, and easy to dig in the sand. (not so much in the wet clay).

Not long into it, I found some melted camp lead, and then a nice .69 cal. musket ball.

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After a while, we had all found some musket balls, some buck shot from buck and ball loads, and some fired pistol shots, more camp lead, some iron relics, and some glass from an 1800's wine bottle, common to these sites.

Towards the end of the hunt, we decided to try another area at the site.

After a few more musket balls and buckshot, I got a signal that indicated another piece of buckshot.

As I was digging it, I heard a scrape that sounded like glass or ceramic, and saw what I thought was the side of a milkglass medicine bottle, and assumed I had detected the metal lid of it......As I put my fingers under it, and popped it out.....I almost had a heart attack, when out popped this.......

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Not only was it the first complete point I had ever found....It is one of the nicest ones I have ever seen in person!

I was in shock, and called my dad over to look....I told him I hadn't dug the target yet, but he needed to come look! I was shaking!!

I dug the target, and it was a tiny piece of buckshot....

I calmed down, and we went back to hunting...but my mind wasn't really into it after that!

After about 30 or 40 minutes, I came to an area about 50 yards away that was covered in flakes...I picked up a handful to see if they matched the material of the point.

When we had about all we could take for the day, my dad said he had once found a nice point in a wash while bird hunting, and then found another on in the same spot a few weeks later...so I should go back and check that hole again......

I found the spot, and used his relic shovel to loosen the dirt (very carefully).....I heard a scrape, then pulled it out....and heard another scrape.

I stuck my hands in there and pulled this out.....

IMG_20121227_141154.jpg

I was freaking out, but managed to remember that other scrape....and reached back in and pulled out two broken tips.....I was about to be sick, then I noticed they had already been broken by the looks of them....so I decided to see if the rest of them were in the hole. They weren't, but the next handful brought these up....

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Of course at this point I am like a dog digging for a bone, and the next handful is a stack of about FIVE of them in one stack....I guess they were burried in a leather sack maybe, the way they were stacked up. They were all obviously made by the same man....then I guess stashed and he either died, was run off, or forgot about them or something...who knows....but they sat there for what thousands?? of years until I dug them up?

I imagine they represented some kind of wealth at the time.

It ended up being 13 points in all, counting the 3 broken tips.

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I calmed down enough to get my buddy to come over...I showed him the first point, which I had put in my wallet, and he about freaked at how big, and nice it was....then I said: "Hey....look at this", and opened out my pockets with them stuffed in there!!! He perked up even more, and said: "What have you got there???" I said "thirteen in all....come over and see if you can find any more."

He dug up all around and finally popped out these two chunks that never got worked, about two feet away.....

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We called a couple of people on the way home...My buddy thinks they are Hillsborough Points. The consensus was a cached stash, and a hunting camp or villiage because of the abundance of flakes. I haven't cleaned them yet, but most seem to be coral. I've heard it's a one in a million deal to find a cache of points...let alone ones like these.

It's definately a once in a lifetime deal for me...and I'm thankful for my dad and my buddy being there to witness, and share it with me!!!

A very nice start for my point finding career!!! :laughing7:

We talked about how hard it would be to believe, if we didn't see it with our own eyes...


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Everything together except some big iron...mostly railroad stuff...and one item that might be a section of musket barrel....I'll have to get a better look tomorrow.....

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Those are camera phone shots...and that's a quarter in those last few shots.....

I'm extremely happy with the way today turned out!!!


Edit: Added some new pics to the thread in the North American Artifacts forum...

http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/n...-found-point-cache-today-help-i-d-please.html



artifacts 003.JPG

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And what I think is a rifle barrel that my dad found...

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Last edited:
Upvote 54

Papa Bear

Bronze Member
Dec 30, 2011
1,153
485
Western Territories
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I just saw this and I was going to nominate for banner but you all beat me to the punch! Glad it made banner! Well done rescuing some great history.
 

SilverPirate

Sr. Member
Dec 23, 2012
414
129
Boerne Tx.
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Metal Detecting
I just saw this and I was going to nominate for banner but you all beat me to the punch! Glad it made banner! Well done rescuing some great history.

I agree! Even though many people think that we're destroying such digs, we are actually rescuing many items that could have been lost forever.
 

jewelerguy

Gold Member
Jun 28, 2011
11,428
8,911
Oklahoma
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absolutely amazing spear points. fantastic find for sure. I'd hunt that place hard and heavy
 

OP
OP
Jon Phillips

Jon Phillips

Hero Member
Mar 10, 2009
535
326
Riverview Florida
🥇 Banner finds
1
Detector(s) used
F-75, MXT, 6000di sl
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We went back out today. I found tons of flakes, and a few bigger chunks of material....about 23 more pieces of buckshot from buck and ball loads, a small piece of pottery, and a piece of old green glass. My dad found a nice musket flint.

artifacts 002 (2).JPG
 

luxefaire

Jr. Member
Dec 21, 2005
52
6
Jolly Corner FL
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Any
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All Treasure Hunting
Those appear to be hillsborough points, there are crossovers between the newnan marion and hillsborough types, but I would call these hillsboroughs....florida cache points are fairly rare, and these are nice, are any made from agatized Coral?
 

SCdigger

Sr. Member
Apr 6, 2003
488
682
South Carolina
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Wow! Not sure if you understand the significance of making a find of a cache like that! Simply amazing!

GT
 

OP
OP
Jon Phillips

Jon Phillips

Hero Member
Mar 10, 2009
535
326
Riverview Florida
🥇 Banner finds
1
Detector(s) used
F-75, MXT, 6000di sl
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Those appear to be hillsborough points, there are crossovers between the newnan marion and hillsborough types, but I would call these hillsboroughs....florida cache points are fairly rare, and these are nice, are any made from agatized Coral?

They appear to be....I found a few chunks of waste material in the area. One chunk even has crystalization in it.
 

karenkayvandi

Newbie
Jan 3, 2013
4
0
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metal
eyes
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Those points are just beautiful! I am very jealous of your finds! I want them all, lol!
 

Ted Mac

Full Member
Sep 11, 2006
105
8
Sylvania, OH
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So the points inter mingled with the musk balls. What do you think this was. I mean I have about 100 questions but, what time period are we talking about. Once again, since the points are in the same area as the musk balls and the rifle barrel. The barrel seems 1600ish. Any wow.
 

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Jon Phillips

Jon Phillips

Hero Member
Mar 10, 2009
535
326
Riverview Florida
🥇 Banner finds
1
Detector(s) used
F-75, MXT, 6000di sl
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
The points were under a piece of late 1830's, to early 1840's buckshot that was part of a "buck and ball" load that was common to the era, and theater of war. The points were probably in an animal skin bag at some point because of the way they were stacked together. The consensus was that the points were made and lost between about 6,000-2,500 B.C., so........they could have been there for up to 8,000 years while life just went on around them....until I happened up on them digging a target that was in the ground for about 174 years.

The rifle or musket barrel was probably from the same 1830's-1840's period, as were most of the other items, except the railroad stuff.


Just pure luck that I found them!
 

swamp yankee

Sr. Member
Jun 22, 2012
288
117
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Nize collection of points and relics,congrats on a great hunt and many more to come......
 

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