- Mar 30, 2020
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Found my third copper kettle arrowhead, the small one on the right. Corners are broken off but found in the vicinity of the other two. (The largest one was complete, but someone I was showing it to dropped it on a concrete floor and chipped it!). I find this exciting because either it is from a contact period site or dates to well documented 1650's conflicts with the Narragansett of RI. I actually located in a web search a match to the larger one which was found in RI. The contact period on eastern Long Island, NY was pretty brief. European settlement occurred in the 1640's and by the early 1700's it is estimated around 3/4s of the Native population had died from smallpox. Besides, while copper arrowheads may have been a leap in technology, I'm sure people wanted to progress to black powder firearms as quickly as possible. The Natives on Eastern Long Island were at the center of wampum production and trade. Just as wampum flowed out we can expect to see trade goods flowing in.
Interesting note: When I found the first point last year I wrote to the Director of the local Indian Museum informing them of my find. Introduced myself as a Graduate Level Field Archaeologist (retired) who has resided in this area for over the past 25 years. Didn't even receive any acknowledgment or reply! Either people are lazy or not interested in their jobs. It's not as though I am in an area of an undisturbed site. From the colonial period right through post-WWII this area was farmed and tilled. Housing continues to chew away into these areas. And it is private property which I have obtained permission to detect. So we have lost the in situ information and are down to the artifacts themselves. I find this history fascinating and will concentrate on exploring it this fall. I now realize that small copper scrap pieces I have previously found may not only be European colonial as I first assumed. Can't wait to find a Dutch drill that was introduced to speed up wampum production. This along with glass beads caused the shell bead market to collapse. During the colonial period there was time when local wampum was valid currency. At one point you could pay for your Harvard College (founded 1636) tuition with about 1900 beads of quahog wampum!
Found my second religious medallion this year. Jesus on the front, Mary and baby on reverse. Both medallions were isolates' found away from any foundation stones. I'm happy the Nox 900 (and 800 before it) easily picks up these small objects at depth. I now have three small old religious medallions.
Found the small 1/2 oz bottle next to the pocket watch pieces. I find many iron shoes but this may be the smallest one yet.
Interesting note: When I found the first point last year I wrote to the Director of the local Indian Museum informing them of my find. Introduced myself as a Graduate Level Field Archaeologist (retired) who has resided in this area for over the past 25 years. Didn't even receive any acknowledgment or reply! Either people are lazy or not interested in their jobs. It's not as though I am in an area of an undisturbed site. From the colonial period right through post-WWII this area was farmed and tilled. Housing continues to chew away into these areas. And it is private property which I have obtained permission to detect. So we have lost the in situ information and are down to the artifacts themselves. I find this history fascinating and will concentrate on exploring it this fall. I now realize that small copper scrap pieces I have previously found may not only be European colonial as I first assumed. Can't wait to find a Dutch drill that was introduced to speed up wampum production. This along with glass beads caused the shell bead market to collapse. During the colonial period there was time when local wampum was valid currency. At one point you could pay for your Harvard College (founded 1636) tuition with about 1900 beads of quahog wampum!
Found my second religious medallion this year. Jesus on the front, Mary and baby on reverse. Both medallions were isolates' found away from any foundation stones. I'm happy the Nox 900 (and 800 before it) easily picks up these small objects at depth. I now have three small old religious medallions.
Found the small 1/2 oz bottle next to the pocket watch pieces. I find many iron shoes but this may be the smallest one yet.
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