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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[Muddyhandz]

Killer point!
I can help with one thing. The material used in that point is Swan River Chert which is found to the north of where your find was made.
Here in Manitoba, I have found similar types to yours but am not confident to classify it until I look over my research material.
I am confident on the material though.

 

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[joshuaream]

Great find! That is an absolutely beautiful point.

Killer point!
I can help with one thing. The material used in that point is Swan River Chert which is found to the north of where your find was made.
Here in Manitoba, I have found similar types to yours but am not confident to classify it until I look over my research material.
I am confident on the material though.

Every once in a while I'd see a Swan River Chert tool from sites in Montana (usually heat treated and reddish), but this looks more like patina frosted Knife River Flint to me. Do you have any samples you can post? It's just not a material most of us get to see, and I'm wondering if it is simply unrecognized. I remember someone remarked that Cody people might have moved seasonally between Saskatchewan & Manitoba down towards what is today Colorado and Nebraska, so the material could and should be distributed pretty far and wide.

 

[SweepNbeep]

To all, thank you for contributing to this thread. I'm looking at that point with a new eye, and new understanding thanks to you. Holding it now makes me realize just how small I really am in the grand scheme of human life on this Earth. If we all live to be 101, we will only get to witness a mere snapshot of it's entirety. What an amazing thing to be a part of.

 

[Deft Tones]

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.

What a great lesson there.

Never doesn't mean ever, and no just means no, not right now.

It does not matter if it's a woman or an artifact, a no is rarely the final word to those with persistence.

 

[Muddyhandz]

It's very hard to find examples online but there's a pdf file called "Classification of Lithic Material Types in Artifact Collections from Archaeological sites in Alberta
Shawn Bubel University of Lethbridge" that shows Swan River chert right after Knife River flint.
I can understand about patina on K.R.F. as it occurs after thousands of years. One way to tell is to hold it up to the light.
Swan River chert is not transparent but can be slightly translucent at times.
I would have to go digging in my site collections to find examples which would take some time.

 

[SweepNbeep]

A super powerful flashlight will shine right through this point, except where it is the very thickest in the middle.

 

[11KBP]

A super powerful flashlight will shine right through this point, except where it is the very thickest in the middle.

Then it's most likely KRF.

 

[joshuaream]

Great info, thank you for posting it! I know more now than I did when I started the day.

It's very hard to find examples online but there's a pdf file called "Classification of Lithic Material Types in Artifact Collections from Archaeological sites in Alberta
Shawn Bubel University of Lethbridge" that shows Swan River chert right after Knife River flint.
I can understand about patina on K.R.F. as it occurs after thousands of years. One way to tell is to hold it up to the light.
Swan River chert is not transparent but can be slightly translucent at times.
I would have to go digging in my site collections to find examples which would take some time.