Depth of artifacts

[CarsonRReese]

I was just curious as to how deep arrowheads can be found? My line of work is drainage tile and am typically digging in the 3-4 foot range. I Usually just watch the topsoil layer for artifacts but was curious if I should be looking deeper? Thanks for your help!

 

[crj1968]

That would be tough to say. A mudslide/ flood could either bring things up or bury them deep.
Impossible to know the weather and what has happened over the last several thousand years.

 

[willjo]

Some of the archeological studies I have read, the artifacts go much deeper than the 4 ft. I would assume it is where you are as to how deep the points are.

 

[coosakid]

Heard a couple of more knowledgeable folks on here say they settle on or above any clay. But im sure it depends on where u are though

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[The Grim Reaper]

Do a search for The Koster Site. I have the book and they were at depths of 25 feet or more and still finding artifacts.

 

[coosakid]

Just curious reaper how would it get buried so deep

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[joshuaream]

Carson, I grew up in Whitley County just upstream from you along the Eel River.

Years ago we'd dig sites along the Wabash river that were 6+ feet deep, and we weren't finding really old stuff. As Steve mentioned, there are plenty of sites that go much, much deeper. There are also sites that are relatively shallow. It depends on the type of site. Usually sites on the flood planes would get buried with a tiny bit of silt every year. 10,000 years of a "tiny bit of silt" can still add up to 10 feet. Along the southern Wabash you'd get loess soils, wind blown dust accumulations that could be 40 feet deep (the case with the site that Steve mentioned.)

Most of the artifacts will probably come from the first couple of feet, that will usually be late Woodland and Mississippian stuff, and they had pretty decent sized populations along the water ways. Archaic and Paleo could be significantly deeper.

 

[monsterrack]

This is a good post to learn about other areas. In my area it depends on the timeline. Any point that man used on ice age mammals could be 15ft or 100ft deep due to a dust storm that blew in at the end of the ice age. Other points from different time lines will be just above that level and up. I have seen artifacts in Tx. just laying on top of the sand, but they were uncovered by the wind. It's JMO but if an artifact that is heavy enough it will sink in the soil over a long timeline and also dust will steady cover items along with grass and other stuff. I found some trade items that were brought into this area from 1710 to 1718 just under 6 inch's of soil.

 

[11KBP]

Some of the archeological studies I have read, the artifacts go much deeper than the 4 ft. I would assume it is where you are as to how deep the points are.

I agree with willjo and as others have mentioned, there are many variables, including what part of the U.S. you are hunting. In the part of the Great Plains where I live, early archaic sites and especially Paleo sites are deeply buried under deposits of windblown loess. Paleo sites can be buried under 10 to 30 feet of wind deposited loess. Surface field finds here are mostly Late Prehistoric in age. Exceptions can be caused by agricultural land leveling or serious erosion caused by earlier poor farming practices.

 

[ptsofnc]

It depends entirely on the site and it's surroundings. You can also be surprised how some modern (last 200 years) "trash" such as a rifle cartridge can drift deep down somehow to the same depth as the NA level (maybe through tree root activity or animal activity....maybe moles). Bioturbation.

 

[Tnmountains]

On a good site Natives would build one civilization on top of another and then after contact we built our cities on top of them. Keep you eyes peeled for just worked flint and who knows what may turn up.

 

[CarsonRReese]

Thanks for the replies everybody! I appreciate the friendly helpful advice!