Petrified Palmwood Point

[Atlantis0077]

Howdy,

One more pic and I will quit for a while. This is a rather rare stone in Louisiana, but a pretty one that comes in a variety of colors. This nice little "dovetail" point is made of petrified palm wood. Palm wood comes in white, grey, yellow/gold as this one is, pink and variations of the above. You tend to find it more in the central part of the state. I know of quite a bit being found on the southern part of Toledo Bend Reservoir as well as Bayou Toro near Leesville. This type of material chips quite well for a petrified wood as it isn't chalky or crumbly. In many cases its agatized without the fractures often found in such materials. I have found large chunks of it from which early knappers could have obtained quite a few preforms. Depending on the angle of the cut some has long grain, while other points give a leopard or polka dot appearance.

Happy Hunting

Atlantis

 

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[Rockhunter in Ohio]

Nice material!

That point resembles the Hopewell points found around my state.

Cheers!

 

[Gypsy Heart]

Well that is certainly a fantastic find! How many of those have you found over the years? Excellent!

 

[Atlantis0077]

Morning Gypsy,

Nope that is the only point of that type I have found out of petrified palm wood, though I have found a few others. The neatest ones are the paleo points. I have one large palm wood spearhead that is white with grey stripes(grain) of the wood. I probably have a dozen or so palm wood points of various colors and types. Some time I will go through my boards and scan a few to show the variations.


This photo shows the palm wood point again...the wider one to its left is a different type and the grain is running across the point rather than up and down. Also there are a couple of Evans points and some odds and ends I thought were neat little finds.


Happy Hunting

Atlantis

 

[Gypsy Heart]

These are really fantastic finds. I love looking at them. I have been pouring through books lately trying to bone up on my identifications, because in two weeks I will be exploring an old Indian summer campsite and burial grounds in Northern Wisconsin. I have found paleo over the years and some items of the copper culture ,so I am finding your posts very informative. Love the pics ...I like visuals. I will be calling on you for help when I get back!

 

[Atlantis0077]

Howdy,

Be happy to help any way I can Gypsy. My knowledge has come from years of hard bought experience and a few college courses I took for fun after I graduated in my "real" degree. I should have followed my heart, and gone into archaeology full time. Hind sight is 20/20. But hey, I can still look now and can come and go on my schedule so still getting to do what I love and make a living too. By the way Paleodian says hello and he is busy surveying some new spots. Wish I lived a little closer to his location....I would help him dig. He is the best source for typing your points, very knowledgeable on figuring out what something is.

Good luck with your old sites, I know you will find some great stuff. The internet is a great source of information on relics....just don't pay too much attention to the prices....lol The thing that always throws me is that points that look identical are called totally different things depending on your location...North, South, East, West. Overstreet is a great source for identification because they usually have several photos of any given type and also the variations of each.

You know we have copper here in Louisiana. There have been several mounds dug....most notably Gahagan and Belcher that had copper implements.....ear spools, long-nosed God masks, copper hands, etc. I have never found any such items, but haven't dug the burials either and normally such items would be found with high status individuals. The shaft graves in the Gahagan mound were 15-18 feet deep in some instances with tons of offerings.

Happy Hunting,

Atlantis

 

[Gypsy Heart]

Hey Just wanted to make one thing clear...I have no intention of digging in the burial ground. I have total respect for these places and wont dig in them. After many years of researching this particular area, I pinpointed it. Its location makes it difficult to locate and access, which is good. I have not nor will I reveal the location ,because I believe it should be kept a secret.But I have explored it many times and will be taking photos this summer. The campground,however is a different story. Thanks for all your help and great info.

 

[Atlantis0077]

LOL,

Two words......surface collecting...........................amazing what can be found just laying about. I also find it to be discrete with sites, not everyone shares our respect and once one other person knows locations, you can bet they will tell their friends...."I'll show you, but you must promise not to tell another living soul."......lol that never works!


Atlantis

 

[Atlantis0077]

Greetings Paleodian,

"Help a brother out"....gee thanks. Yep I have been collecting the little paleo points since the beginning. Got a ton of them for sure. I have a dozen or so of what I called the "shark tooth dalton" because it looks like some fossilized shark teeth I have. Later I learned that someone else had already named it Dalton Kisatchie....darn, my chance at fame slipped away again. I have found a variation of the Agee point here in Red River parish, trouble is there are so few and most are broken in some way. Instead of the dove tail, it has a base that looks more like a friley with the more "v" or fishtail shape. I am going to dig in a site probably this coming winter where I hope to find a few of these whole, but that will take some luck.

Believe me though if ever I run out of space for my paleo points, I will give you a holler and share the wealth. You know I do stupid things and then slap myself later, but I bought a couple of WW2 pistols last month to start a new collection...then thought to myself why didn't I offer that money to my friend with the Clovis point he found near my house....that might have jarred it loose.....LOL go figure. He also found a nice scottsbluff point on the same island......why is dumb luck so often wasted on the beginner....its just not fair. I suppose when "dumb luck" happens to the veteran, its called skill and experience....

Enjoy your new spots and be mindful of the heat.....I about passed out one day doing the summer thing....you get to walking and looking and lose track of time and condition, can have a heat stroke before you realize it.

Happy Hunting

Atlantis

 

[River Rat]

Atlantis,

I'm about to turn green with envy. That point is just beautiful. I'm just gonna haf to leave this dust filled swamp & go to Northern La & hunt in those hills up there with ya. Hope it's about 10 degrees cooler there. I'm sure not gonna go tramping around in the desert here in the broiling sun looking for artifacts. I'll just wait till around Nov/Dec to start hunting again.

HH

River

 

[Atlantis0077]

Hey RR,

Hate to disappoint, but its never 10 degrees cooler here than ANYWHERE.....lol Also factor in our humidity and it just makes for miserable searching past the first of June or so. I killed a mosquito this morning that looked like a hummingbird literally....dunno where that thing came from. I got rumors of a fellow in a pawn shop with some relics for sale....must approach with due caution...many fakes abound. But to me the thought of legitimate relics being in a pawn shop is just sacrilege. Will post photos if anything comes of it......I feel I am rescuing orphans...lol You are welcome to hunt my hills anytime...just watch out for snakes and flying creepies.

Atlantis

 

[dishinet]

All i can say is WOW!! I have heard a lot of people talk about these points, but this is the first time i have ever seen one. Awesome Find Atlantis!!! That would make a nice background for my PC. Thanks for sharing!

 

[Atlantis0077]

Hey Dishinet,

Feel free to put the pic on your computer, I would be honored. I have seen some really beautiful palm wood points and have several nice ones myself. People used to collect the palm wood from an area near here called Dolet Hills. Sadly the majority of this area has been totally destroyed by lignite coal mining. What is left people carry to the gem and mineral shows and slap it for jewelry. Slabbed and polished it is truly stunning and comes in a variety of colors.


Atlantis

 

[luxefaire]

Awesome Stuff. A lot of heat treating went on in the making of the projectiles...I hunted Florida extensively, down there is a solid type of agatized coral, resembles in silicification some of the palmwood here. Bright colors, glass-like appearances, sharp. Lots of reds blues oranges even yellows. Problem with the agatized coral it has that polyp structure, the calix or calices artifacts, and these cause a pinhole effect in the polished surface, which is too bad. This rock here looks exemplary and I have gotten some REAL cool cycad and palmwood for lapidary purposes from a man in TX once, I would suppose Southeast, do not actually know though where his spot was at.

I cut my teeth on surface hunting at a dump on an airbase a long time ago. For the time spent, if the surface has been disturbed, Surface Hunting is #1 as far as efficiency and rewards go. Even metal detecting is a type of surface hunting, and manys the time I have found good MD'ing targets with my eyes, before getting to them with the coil field.

Thanks a lot for sharing is there enough to consider a flat rate box trade of rough materials through the mail?

8)

 

[Atlantis0077]

Hey Man,

Nah, the photos are just for comparison, I don't have that polished palm wood. Though if you do a search on google for palm wood under images, you can find the site I got it off...you might want to purchase some from there. That was just show the possibilities with the stone. Yes there is some of it to be found in Texas.

At the gem and mineral shows here there are always some lapidary guys with large slabs of it polished. Normally the gold color is more sought after, though to me the pink and yellow is the prettiest. I have found a dozen or so arrowheads made from palm wood...a couple of spears, even some paleo points of palm wood....very pretty stuff.

Keep lookin'

Atlantis