15 minutes of daylite and a question (SEE PHOTO)

[Airborne80]

Ok... here is how it all went down Yesterday... once again , while on my way home, I decided to use the last few minutes of daylite to try and fine another gar scale point. Now... until two days ago (when I posted the first one) I had never heard of a Gar Point. I ran to my spot and sure enough.... found SIX more of them as seen in this photo. I also found the heartbreakers that you can see and a couple of very small..."bird" points. Now... my question is this. Regarding the Gar Scale points.... I read about them last night and understand that they are from 400 to 1,800 years old and that the Indians used them as points and such. What I do not understand is..... are all of the ones that I find, actual Indian artifacts, or do they fall off of the fish and just wash up on the shore? I hope that they are all artifacts, but how can one tell. Now.... where I find them, is a place that seems to always have small bird points and rarely yields large ones. In other words... it is most definitely a spot that has lots of artifacts. I would just hate to get excited and frame these things, only to discover that they fall off of Gar fish every day and are on every shore. I hope that the Indians removed them from the fish and used them. Also... some have barbs on them. Is that natural or did the Indians modify the scales to include the addition of the barb? All opinions and thoughts appreciated and thanks for looking.

 

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[tomclark]

They should be modified to be called actual points.

http://images.google.com/imgres?img...rev=/images?q=gar+scales&gbv=2&hl=en&safe=off

 

[Airborne80]

That makes sense. I guess........ I am wondering if the presence of the barb is the modification. Know what I mean? In the photos on the link (thanks for that ) some have it and some do not. I know the quality of my own photo is poor but you can still see the barbs on some of them. I wonder if those barbs are natural or are in fact, the modification. Thanks for your thoughts.

 

[luckyinkentucky]

Gar scales do have barbs. It all depends on what part of the fish they were on. Some of the scales look barbed, and some are smooth.

If I found gar scales on the beach or within 2 miles of water I would assume they were NOT arrowpoints, but just scales. I run across Gar Scales all the time around here. Most of the time they are from the fish dying and some scavenger pics it up off of the shore, and brings it inland to eat it. Unless the scales show signs of drilling for jewelry or signs of reworking by humans for weapons I would assume they ARE NOT artifacts.

I'm not trying to discourage you in any way, nor am I trying to be negative in the possibility. I just think there is a point in Indian Artifact hunting where we need to quit being so imaginative. For instance .... just because you find penile bones of small animals on campsites doesn't make every single one a hairpin or necklace. See my point?

 

[Airborne80]

I hear ya. That is the answer that I needed... so that I don't frame a ton of meaningless scales haha. Thanks again for that.