Had An Honor This Saturday.

[monsterrack]

This Saturday I was invited to come and be part of a panel at an artifact ID forum. We had 5 state archaeologist and my self and it was open to the public to bring in your artifacts to have them looked at. I want to post some of the photos and let members guess what is real and what is a reproduction and they are mixed. Some photos are not all showing but if you know what a red flag is you will spot them and no doubt what is real. The response of the people was the same that you get every where like ,but I bought them are I found this. I wanted to show just how rampant the reproduction of fakes have gotten and most of the buyers of these items had no prior knowledge of artifacts. I want to hear some guessing, but I had a blast. I learned some things and I got to show the big guns a few things that 5 archaeologist didn't know on reproductions. That's why I was asked to come and join in on the panel, so lets hear some thoughts and say why you think it is real or fake.

 

[NCPeaches]

That is awesome monsterrack! I'm sure they appreciated your knowledge. As for myself, I'm an easy target but I don't buy artifacts so not much chance I would get a fake one I hope.

 

[kingskid1611]

I don't buy only find ones for myself....Not an expert and probably never will be but love the history behind them......

 

[unclemac]

are any of them real?

 

[Igyjastabay]

First 3 are good, the rest junk except for a few smaller points in the frame.

 

[monsterrack]

Yes there are some real points in the frames and other items are real.

 

[Tnmountains]

What stone was the chunky made out of?

 

[welsbury]

I'll bet that was an interesting experience seeing the things and hearing the stories. Supposed to be something similar happen where I live in June. I am looking forward to it.

 

[BearCreek]

That certainly is an honor! I am just learning to identify artifacts, but something about the circular stone item - I'm assuming that is possibly a Cahokia discoidal (of which i know almost nothing about) - the peck marks look maybe too symmetrical. It also has a "cookie cutter" kind of appearance and is it a little large for a discoidal? Should there be any polished looking areas? Making a wild guess for sure!

 

[joshuaream]

I see a lot of pieces that would need an in hand view.

I marked a couple with a star that look right for the type and appear to have some use wear.

A couple of fluted points look wrong, a couple look ok but maybe not from Mississippi. There is a Folsom in there that, if as thin as it looks, would be worthy of a close look.

 

[IAMZIM]

I obviously am no kind of expert, I consider myself very very green, but, I wanna try! lol! I'm not sure on the effigy(if that is what the first pic is) or the discoidal (sp?), I know nothing about these kind of pieces. BUT, the big brown blade in your hand to me looks like it could be real. pic 6 with the points in the case look to me to possibly be real, and the last pic, imo look too good to be true, fake? Those are my guesses, I'm excited to know if I got any right lol! ( I'm probably way off on everything lol!)

 

[monsterrack]

I see a lot of pieces that would need an in hand view.

I marked a couple with a star that look right for the type and appear to have some use wear.

A couple of fluted points look wrong, a couple look ok but maybe not from Mississippi. There is a Folsom in there that, if as thin as it looks, would be worthy of a close look.

View attachment 1423186

The Chunky stone was from Al. and it is real. The large point in my hand was found by a man father and it is real. The clay pottery bird head was real that is in my hand, it had been broken off a pot. Josuha did very good considering that that photo was taken through the glass of the case. He only missed one and that is the point in the top right in large case that looks like it has some white in the stone. The white stuff is lichen and the over all vote was that it was real. The Folsom that he mentioned was made from Ar. novaculite so it was fake and the other case was all fakes , even the one with over shot flaking. I saw so many pipestone pipes that were found by folks(so the story went)that my grand kids could have done a better job at faking them. Perfect drilled holes, all tapered holes were super perfect, no patina on the pipes or in the bowls. Styles of the pipes were all wrong for Ms.,Al. and Tn. but I did see a lot of good points mostly field grade. One guy came in with a large box of artifakes that he said he had found, an when we told him the only thing of value was a very large Dovetail(a true Grey Ghost) then his story changed. I felt bad for some people they had no idea and others after hearing about the around the world tail they had to say, I didn't feel so bad for them when their bubble got popped. Artifakes are at an all time high and with the help of the internet it has gotten worse. Like one archaeologist told one man.If your Doctor says you have cancer, which most of us know nothing about get a 2nd opinion and not from his co-worker and if they say you have cancer get 2 more opinions from 2 more doctors that have no ties to each other. So if you don't know about an artifact and you want to buy one get some help.

 

[rock]

I had a guy at the last show bring in some fakes. Guess I look stupid, ha

 

[unclemac]

i know for a fact that a lot of those G10 perfect (and real) points were made specifically for trade to white settlers, missionaries and the the like post contact...which technically makes them "real" but in my opinion, taints them. And in saying that...this is why I like to find my own.

 

[BearCreek]

That was a lot of fun! Thanks for the interactive post