๐Ÿฅ‡ BANNER My smallest point and largest point in the same day -Epic too small a term

smokeythecat

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I drove to one of my far away places yesterday, I was trying to get there between rain storms as the corn is just starting to come in.

Place #1 was inaccessible as the creek was flooding. I was hoping the flooding would have subsided but it didn't. So...I went to Place #2 on the same farm, you have to cross the railroad tracks, then go down a 3/4 mile lane/dirt path/ car and truck eating swamp thingie.

Well, I called the owner from the high side of the field, there is a small place there you can pull off a car. He said it would not be wise to try it. A couple had been down there in their jacked up 4x4 pickup and got stuck. So I used the detector as cane #1 and shovel as cane #2 and started down the path, looking on each side for artifacts. Found zip. Got to the bottom and went over the known "good" spots. all I found down there was a broken net sinker. Bummer. I wasn't even finding any flakes. I found some fire cracked rocks, but not enough to concentrate on, PLUS every time I took a step it was like sink down 6" in the dark mud.

You couldn't really grid this field, it was too wet. So I started meandering back to the truck. I finally started finding a few flakes. The ONLY material found there, with the exception of one Flint Ridge, Ohio flake from a couple years ago is the Onondaga Chert, out of NY which is like 5 miles away.

Moving toward the driveway (mud puddle road thingie), calling it a road insults all other roads in the nation, I spy something thin poking out of the dirt. I snagged it and found the smallest arrowhead I have ever found. IMG_2895.JPG IMG_2896.JPG This is absolutely the smallest, complete point I have ever found. I washed it off a bit in a mud puddle and realized the material is different than the normal lithic material from this spot, but couldn't ID it at that time.

It is just over 1/2" long, is PERFECT and I was holding it between my fingers last night it punctured my little finger! Sharp as a razor after all these centuries! Wow! And it is nearly transparent. I'm having a problem getting a picture but light shines right through it. Here's my best try. The dark veins are still attached dirt. I haven't scrubbed it, I rarely "scrub" artifacts. IMG_2902.JPG

So, I safely put it in the side pouch, at least I found SOMETHING. I then crossed over the one glacial pond, scoured out by the last glacier to hit the area and started grubbing on the other side of the imaginary road. One horrid step at a time with the mud trying to suck me down down down. I spied a few more flakes, no tools. There were, again some fire cracked rocks, but not many.

A few more steps and I saw another razor edge of rock of a lighter color sticking out of the ground. I went to retrieve it, slop slop slurp of the mud, and pull out a monster! I took it over to the mudpuddle and washed it a bit and freaked! First, it's an archaic dovetail and after I got more dirt off of it, it is also made of Flint Ridge, Ohio flint! No doubt on this one! It is almost 6" long and NO DAMAGE! Now how the points on this farm have survived, I have no idea but it may be because the floods there move them in and out of the plow range over time and they only appear in the plowable zone every once in awhile. Flint Ridge is 400 miles away! I know the material was highly traded. I found an Adena blade near where I live when I was maybe 18, but none of the material since then till yesterday, of course with the exception of the Flint Ridge materials I have found at Flint Ridge itself - duh.

Definitely once in a lifetime hunt! IMG_2894.JPG IMG_2899.JPG

And as an afterthought, the mud was so bad truck would not let me in it until I got some of so I used two Cokes to rinse off my shoes to some extent. It's pretty hard for an old "mudder" like me to do this, the wash this am included my shoes -yeah, to haul myself through a mud pit anymore.

Make sure to zoom in on the points to check them out better. I suppose if you drove a total of 400 miles, round trip, these two make it worth while.

Here are the rest of the flakes, a few cores and what may or not be part of a broken banner stone. I don't think so, but...

IMG_2916.JPG IMG_2917.JPG And a hammerstone. Perfect hand size and lots of pecking done on the one end. The upper side is hand polished due to use. IMG_2918.JPG
 

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smokeythecat

smokeythecat

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pepperj

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Truth, too many monsters in the woods to go there right now. Friend just got nailed by a probable brown recluse spider Saturday. Monsters I tell you.

Congrats on making it up on the Banner Smokey!

I got nailed in the calf by one of those spiders, while sitting in Swiss Chalet having a bite to eat. (Last time I ever went there)
One little spider=one nasty trip to the ER, they thought it was the flesh eating disease.
 

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smokeythecat

smokeythecat

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A 6" Flintridge dove that's probably a G10...worth a grand or more. I'm guessing the material your triangle is made from is Normanskill chert. Just a guess though as east coast is out of my range. Banner vote for dovetail. Gary

Toddspoint, I assume a "G10" is part of some official grading system. I have never purchased a graded point. I don't trust coa's on much of anything. I hardly ever purchase a point unless I'm doing a study myself then buy one (normally the $10 kind) for study purposes and its from a local antique store or such. Like most people I guess I like the local materials best. The materials most used here in order of abundance are sugar quartz, the kind that is grainy and you can't see through, white quartz, rhyolite, black "Delaware River" flint, argillite, Newark, Carsins Run and Vera Cruz jaspers, a greenstone which is local and slate (only 1 piece ever found last year) which is local.
 

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smokeythecat

smokeythecat

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Congrats on making it up on the Banner Smokey!

I got nailed in the calf by one of those spiders, while sitting in Swiss Chalet having a bite to eat. (Last time I ever went there)
One little spider=one nasty trip to the ER, they thought it was the flesh eating disease.

I have only been bitten by a spider once. Was in bed, asleep, the bugger came down or from somewhere and bit me on the top lip. Swells some, but must have been a house spider. I have pest control folks now. I see a bug near the house outside, they get called.
 

relichound

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Smokey the Cat! Awesome story and hunt; love the points. I must confess I know ?diddly squat? about anything Native American artifacts as I have never found nor what to look for with respect to points. Arrowhead hunting etc. These are on my bucket list before the good Lord calls me home one day. But having said that I am happy for your one heck of a hunt and two awesome Native American saves at that. Banner is my vote!
 

Steve in PA

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Two beautiful examples. I believe those dovetails are pretty rare in Pennsylvania. I think I might have found a partial base from one once. That one is a one in a million find. Now if you would just start pulling your phone out and getting some nice in-situ pics, you can always go back and re-live the find. Like I do with this one, which is my background on my computer monitor at work....
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smokeythecat

smokeythecat

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I never remember to take it with me most days...it's only about 100' away, but I never remember these things. I think its the generation I'm in. There was so much mud on both, a pic would not have been my best pic taken for sure!
 

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HunterMF

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Absolutely amazing! I just posted on another thread stating that I have yet to find any points haha Congrats on the amazing finds! They should really put a "Warning: Sharp Object" sign on those things! :laughing7:
 

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smokeythecat

smokeythecat

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Lat year (I think that's right), I found two archaic stemmed points that were perfect, and sharp about 1/4 mile away on the same farm. I remember the finds but am really bad with dates.
 

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sandchip

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That dovetail is fantastic, a term I rarely use or even comment on for that type. Great to see a modern day find for one that we can rest assured that it's damn well authentic!
 

WannaDig3687

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Wow! Congratulations, Smokey, on the Banner, but mostly for the finds themselves. Your eyes sure are trained well to be able to find that teeny one. To find that 6" dovetail would put one on cloud nine for a few years! Well worth the muddy swamp road thingy trip. :hello2:
 

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smokeythecat

smokeythecat

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Wannddig3867, the big one only had a small portion sticking out, it also would have been missed except I was having such a crummy day I was grasping at straws, so to speak!

The points that come of this site are either smashed to smithereens or sharp and perfect like the day they were made. I think it was last year I found two archaic stemmed points that would still cut you!
 

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