Red and White Arrowhead...Southern Illinois/Shelter Bluff/ Drip Line

[salukihunter]

All,

This is my first post on the site and soon to be many more. I have been a non-active artifact hunter in my days strolling through the woods. I have found a few artifacts however my father-in-law just passed on his enormous collection to me. I am an environmental educator an use these artifacts solely for the purpose of educating those in my programs however after the inheritance it is now up to us to go through the identification process to get information on history and origin as well as monetary appraisal for insurance purposes. I will be allowing the university and USFS archeologists to also appraise the collection however it would be nice to get second opinions from all of you. I will start with this piece from my personal collection.

Found: During spring thaw in a sandstone shelter bluff drip line. Bluff looked very much like a large area for inhabitation site and i know from others that there have been multiple artifacts found at this bluff.

Color: Deep Red with striation to White or Cream. Unlike coloring of other chert found in the area.

Other Notes: Still very sharp. clean break on dovetail. found broken.

 

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[flinthunter]

My first thought on the material is Payson Chert. Does the color on the other side match the side shown? I would call it a side notch but without the base a positive ID will be difficult. I would value it at less than $1.00. You might post it on the Treasurenet artifacts forum for a better informed answer.

 

[Digs68]

I agree with flinthunter. Broken artifacts (unless extremely rare or exceptional) aren't worth much. It looks as if it could be a heat-treated material as well. If it's glossy & almost feels waxy, then it has likely been heat-treated. I look forward to seeing more of your artifacts.
Thanks!