Central Florida Spear Point

[Btoots]

Anyone care to comment on the possible age of this...All I could find was an Alachua catagory possibility, and maybe made of chert. Any help would be great. Thanks

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Diving for Pleasure and Treasure - Grab it through Amazon!

[tomclark]

https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/flarch/collections/bullen/

Marion dart, Late Archaic imhop

 

[newnan man]

Alachua is a good call but I defer to Tom. The shoulders have the upward angle more common in Marion's. It looks creek stained too. Middle Archaic so pretty old, been in a creek a long time. Nice point, good to have another Florida boy posting.

 

[Btoots]

thank you gentlemen, however, I found it nowhere near water, not to say it wasn't transported over its life, but it was basically in the woods behind my house...I live very near the Kennedy Space Center if that helps in any way.

 

[newnan man]

You're not far from me. It's been in the water. The Army Core dug canals all in your area along with developers since the 50's so there was dry land to develop. It probably spent thousands of years in a swamp before they drained the land. Could have been brought in with fill too. I found some nice shell tools near Titusville on a construction site back in the 80's. Keep looking. Points like yours are a very rare find on the East coast of Florida. No source of good material nearby.

 

[Btoots]

Hello Newman....(Jerry Seinfeld voice...) Sorry, couldn't resist. Thanks for the info. If you're not far from here, are you detecting as well or just indian stuff. I have a good friend who's all over fossils, indian, and anything to do w/ the like. He likes to hunt for shark teeth in upper Florida and has a few really nice palm sized chompers. We detect in Orlando, Clermont etc. when we have permission. Based on all you and the others have said, I guess is it must have been transported to where I found it. There are no waterways, creeks, swamps, or canals anywhere near me(western Titusville). But who knows. The almost black look to the material is a head scratcher for me. I have not really seen anything resembling the color in a Marion or Alachua but my buddy Dave mentioned they can get that color when exposed to water or maybe salt water. I'll keep digging. Thanks again

 

[newnan man]

100 + years ago the land you live on was one of if not the largest Cypress swamps in the world. Some trees were over 200 feet tall. So much of Florida's landscape looks nothing like it did a century ago. It's lamentable but so much of Florida is gone never to return. If I was to bet I'd say your point was in that swamp and finally you found it. It is definitely water stained but not slick like it has tumbled in a river or in waves. It sat in a swamp & turned black. Impressive find for Titusville. Have you been to Windover?

 

[Btoots]

Sounds completely plausible. I used to live on the eastern side of Windover, long before I liked to hunt(detect). I moved to west of 95. I read all about the discoveries, neat stuff. And a swamp in my back yard is not a stretch. Funny thing though, the point is getting lighter...Found two days ago and now one side is considerably lighter and the darker side is now a more brownish color. Do you think it's chert, or something else. thanks

 

[newnan man]

Hard to tell what the material is. A lot of Florida points will get lighter and chalky. Soak it in mineral oil to keep it shiny.