My best point ever

[SweepNbeep]

Hi,

As a young man of 22 years, I was working for a building contractor in North Dakota. At the time we were building a beautiful home, and horse barn overlooking the Missouri River, just south of Bismarck. I always loved working there, because the scenery was gorgeous, and I would often imagine how Louis and Clark came up the very river that I was now looking over.

One day we were drilling post holes with an earth auger attached to a Bobcat skid loader. I was standing close to the auger and was watching the dirt come up. All of a sudden this point came right up out of the ground. I saw it instantly, and grabbed it. It was the first arrowhead I ever found, and remains my best to date.

Many years went by before I found another, but I wasn't really looking for them either.

I would love to hear your thoughts on it. All I know is that it is probably from one of the Sioux tribes, but I don't know that much about materials, or different types of points. I'm only just now starting to get really interested in such things. Thanks for looking.

I also found this piece about 30 miles from that site. I always thought it looked like it had been worked, any idea what it could be? Artifact or Geofact?

 

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[arrow86]

Nice find .... Crazy that auger didn't destroy it. The other piece is hard to tell looks like it may have been worked but is really worn down from being In the water

 

[Chessmen Trip]

She's a beauty, and the story to go with it.
I'm a young man as you once were and have just taken an interest myself, have yet to find my first point but I look forward to the day.

 

[SweepNbeep]

Nice find .... Crazy that auger didn't destroy it. The other piece is hard to tell looks like it may have been worked but is really worn down from being In the water

You have no idea how many times I thought that exact same thing. It must have come up just perfectly, and been protected by the dirt around it. Also, you are spot on with the other piece, I found it on a lake shore.

Edit to add: It really makes a guy wonder how many exquisite pieces are laying beneath the surface??

 

[SweepNbeep]

She's a beauty, and the story to go with it.
I'm a young man as you once were and have just taken an interest myself, have yet to find my first point but I look forward to the day.

In my defense, I'm still only approaching my late 30's. I'm not old, just not getting any younger. And I guarantee that if you keep looking, you will find that first point, and it will be awesome, and you will never forget it, just like I remember every detail of my experience.

 

[The Grim Reaper]

Your Point is much older that the Souix that were there and I think most of the Bismark area was Mandan and Arikari. It looks like an Early Archaic Side Notch type which would make it around 8500 to 7500 BC.

 

[SweepNbeep]

No way! That makes me as excited as the day I found it. I would have never guessed that. Your placement would make it about 10,000 years old, is that really possible?

 

[NCPeaches]

It's a beauty and what a lucky find! Love the story as well!

 

[The Grim Reaper]

No way! That makes me as excited as the day I found it. I would have never guessed that. Your placement would make it about 10,000 years old, is that really possible?

If I am correct and it's Early Archaic then yes it is that old. There are a lot of different Side Notch types though and my not be as old as that.

 

[Mrdigz]

Cool story about how you found your first point!! It's awesome!

 

[jamey]

sweet point,nice first find.thanks for sharing

 

[sandchip]

Beautiful point, great edgework and color. The worn piece is definitely worked. You done good. The side-notch is a hell of a survivor.

Many years ago a fellow asked me to come over to where he worked. He showed me a beautiful red quartzite cupped discoidal and asked if it was anything. I filled him in on what he had. He had been running a trencher through his yard for a water line to his house and this thing is what popped out and without one scratch. He said he'd never get rid of it and I respected his decision and never bothered him. His neighbor however, pestered him until he finally relented and sold it to him. Now, I wish that I had been a bit more aggressive and not such a gentleman. Never even got a picture of the thing.

 

[bill_wabo]

Very nice post, thanks for sharing! I suppose the small notches ran along to the base, just curious

 

[SweepNbeep]

Very nice post, thanks for sharing! I suppose the small notches ran along to the base, just curious

I'm not sure if you're making an assumption, or asking me a question? I could get it from another angle if need be.

 

[SweepNbeep]

If I am correct and it's Early Archaic then yes it is that old. There are a lot of different Side Notch types though and my not be as old as that.

Thank you for identifying that point, it's amazing to me. I didn't even know there were humans in the present day U.S. that long ago. I guess I figured 3 or 4 thousand years, maybe. I must have been sleeping that day in history class. I have so much to learn. I found a great website called projectilepoint.com, and have been looking up various points that I have found. It's fascinating. I had no idea just how old some of them really are. I believe I may have some points from down south that could date all the way back to the Paleolithic era. But, I must say, a lot of them look so similar, I can't tell for sure with my untrained eye. I am going to come to one of the shows you guys talk about some day. I can't wait.

 

[SweepNbeep]

He showed me a beautiful red quartzite cupped discoidal and asked if it was anything.

I just looked that up, because I'd never heard of one before. That I would wager was a rare piece.

 

[11KBP]

Hi,
I would love to hear your thoughts on it. All I know is that it is probably from one of the Sioux tribes, but I don't know that much about materials, or different types of points. I'm only just now starting to get really interested in such things. Thanks for looking.

Your point looks similar to a Lookingbill point but has the wider notches like the Hawkens point has, (both types are from the northern High Plains and are early Plains Archaic types).

I cannot tell for sure from your pics but the material could be heavily patinated Knife River Flint.

 

[tonykidd]

Thank you for identifying that point, it's amazing to me. I didn't even know there were humans in the present day U.S. that long ago. I guess I figured 3 or 4 thousand years, maybe. I must have been sleeping that day in history class. I have so much to learn. I found a great website called projectilepoint.com, and have been looking up various points that I have found. It's fascinating. I had no idea just how old some of them really are. I believe I may have some points from down south that could date all the way back to the Paleolithic era. But, I must say, a lot of them look so similar, I can't tell for sure with my untrained eye. I am going to come to one of the shows you guys talk about some day. I can't wait.

History gets re-written seemingly every year. When you were in school, there was no common knowledge of the earliest inhabitants. Just last year, a new find turned all of the old conventional thinking on its ear regarding the age of early Indians. You weren't sleeping in class (or you may have been) it's just that nobody had proven how early these people were here. i suspect that date will change as well to an even older age.

 

[sandchip]

I just looked that up, because I'd never heard of one before. That I would wager was a rare piece.

It is for around these parts, and I didn't mention the size being 2" thick x 6" in diameter coming out of hard clay with a 4" trencher.

 

[redbeardrelics]

Thank you for identifying that point, it's amazing to me. I didn't even know there were humans in the present day U.S. that long ago. I guess I figured 3 or 4 thousand years, maybe. I must have been sleeping that day in history class. I have so much to learn. I found a great website called projectilepoint.com, and have been looking up various points that I have found. It's fascinating. I had no idea just how old some of them really are. I believe I may have some points from down south that could date all the way back to the Paleolithic era. But, I must say, a lot of them look so similar, I can't tell for sure with my untrained eye. I am going to come to one of the shows you guys talk about some day. I can't wait.

Congratulations, that is a beautiful point you found, and it proves that it pays to keep a close eye out, for what might be laying upon, or coming up out of the ground.

Most of us were lead to believe from an early age that native American artifacts would probably only be about 500 to 1000 years old, and that really old human artifacts came from Europe, or Greece, or Egypt etc.
I remember what a wonderfully amazing shock it was to me when I first learned that some early archaic points, like the one you found, were probably laying there in the dirt for 4000 or 5000 years before the Egyptians ever even thought about building the great pyramids. HH