How do you guys/gals do it?

[KirkS]

I'm a metal detectorist, not an artifact guy, and I was wondering how you artifact guys find your stuff? Are you just walking around in known/suspected Indian sites, looking for anything that would have been used or made by the American Indians? Are you digging in these areas?

To me, it's like coin hunting without a metal detector. We know there are coins/relics in almost every yard in America/the world, so we could just start digging and poking around without a detector, and eventually find something. From what I can tell, that's what you artifact hunters do, but there has to be more to it.

So from someone who really only even gave Indian artifacts a second thought because of this forum, how in the world do you guys find your stuff? And kudos to you for doing it!

 

[diggingthe1]

I imagine I am with my family trying to find a good spot to camp or winter. I look at those camp spots. Then I imagine I am hungry and I have to find a good spot to hunt. Then I look there. Permission is key, and you need land that seems untouched. It's amazing to walk upon a site, and find tools as they left them. Colorado has humongous ranches. Any water site usually has traces. Having my kids with, the extra eyes sure help. Hope you get out and find some. I spend way to much time wandering, but I love it! It's probably mind blowing the amount of time I just have wondered, not finding anything. I tend to look in heavily eroded areas. Hope this helps, I am just a novice hunter. I have no idea what it's like to hunt in Florida. Good luck.

 

[Indian Steve]

If I was in Florida, I would be hunting the creeks. I hunted some creeks in SW Georgia years ago and got some of my best points in them. The creeks that I hunted had a hardpan clay bottom and you could walk in the creeks almost like you were walking on rough concrete. In places, you would see circles {potholes} or ledges of sand and gavel. I used a 1/4 inch screen sifter and would scoop out the holes and ledges down to hardpan and sift it all. In one spot I started moving sand out from behind a ledge thinking it would only be a few inches deep. By time I hit the bottom, I was submerging the whole upper part of my body under the ledge {under water} and pulling out small boulders, rocks and sand. It was March and that water was cold. After moving almost a pickup truck load of material, I hit the bottom and got 7 points, a flaked celt, a broken clay pipe and hundreds of sharks teeth and other fossils. Two of the blades were over 5 inches long. Get out and hunt!

 

[newnan man]

If you get caught searching in creeks now in Fl. you will go to jail, no question. That being said, it is a great way to find artifacts. I would love to see a pic of all those things you found. If you still have them post us a pic or two.

 

[Jon Stewart]

Out west you try and walk into the sun. Early mornings and later afternoons. Flakes and points will shine like a new dime in a parking lot BUT most of the time it will be a flake. I also check the east side of hill slopes that ends at what looks like an old river bed or lake bed. Natives like to camp on the eastern slope in the winter months so they could appreciate the sun more.

 

[creekhunter]

We walk, walk and walk some more! When I find a flake or debris that looks out of place, that's when I slow down and really search.

 

[jamey]

there is really nothing too it,they made so many for so long that you could find them at they drive thru's while they are taking your order.

 

[BearCreek]

I don't do ANY digging. There are very specific laws in each state regarding surface hunting, digging, and what you are allowed to collect. I just keep it simple. I keep my eyes on the ground and I only look on our own property. My tip...mud, manure, and horses in the pasture seem to bring them to the surface. So yea, I don't have but a few. I'm a rule follower

 

[BagLady]

Here in Ms., most folks that hunt indian rocks will have spent time with others who know the area's where camps were.
There may be a 100 acre soybean field there now, but we wait until the field has been cut up in the spring, and after a rain.
Then we go out walking. If you begin to see chips of flint rock, then you slow down and look hard. You will pick up some, or nudge some
others with your foot.
Once in awhile you'll get lucky and find a whole arrow head, or a good broke point. Maybe a drill or spear point.
Unfortunately, the tractor discs will break a lot of what might have been a good arrowhead.
Some hunt some creeks, but with as much sand as we have, the creek has to be a gravel bottom to find anything.
Some people look at the banks by creeks or camps that have blackened soil indicating a camp fire, and will dig around those areas.

 

[Mrdigz]

I think with some knowledge, hard work and luck you will be successful. The #1 rule and most important I feel is learning from more experienced hunters. I feel their knowledge is undervalued a lot of the time because there's no DR. Title Before their name. That's a big mistake since many guys and girls are called upon by Archie's to help evaluate sites and finds. Having a mentor will take years off of doing it yourself.

 

[dts52]

When I was younger, we'd hunt newly plowed corn fields. After a rain was best but you looked when the opportunity was there. Close to a water source was preferred as rivers were often used as trails. Now that most of the cornfields have been turned into parking lots or soccer fields, I hunt shorelines where the wave action has washed the cover soil away. I do NOT dig. I have found points on golf courses and playgrounds where a little erosion has exposed them. Good luck.
HH
dts

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

I walked hundreds and hundreds of miles of creeks and streams in Missouri for 20 years finding thousands of artifacts. Most of the streams and creeks were stone bottom so they were easy walking, (you just had to keep eye out for rattle snakes, copper heads and water moccasins), searching behind anything that interrupted the flow of the currents, the banks would collapse from heavy rain and points from old camp sites would fall in the water and wash down stream. Many of the creeks were spring fed with meant year round water sources.

 

[rginn]

Depends upon where you live, but in Western Oklahoma there was a village or occupation in every mile along every major tributary, at some time or another in prehistory. These were plains village farmers, and pretty much where the modern farmers have their fields is where they had theirs. Some things I did look for is where the river or creek looped around and formed a peninsula, they would camp their as there was protection on three sides. Where two creeks ran together, or a creek ran into a river, that was a good place as a good chance of water always being present. Along the Canadian River, they lived up on the bluffs above the river. If you saw pieces of mussel shells, that was an indicator of a site. And if you located a village site, look around and if there was a high rise around there without fail you would locate a workshop on the south facing side of that hill. Because you know the missus wouldn't want you chipping flint inside the house.

 

[sweetmimzim3]

My husband and I were talking to our neighbor who farms most of the land around us. He said there were lots of arrowheads found in the plowed fields. He said we could look if we wanted. I've been hooked ever since!

 

[kingskid1611]

I am a metal detectorist also and was out working I a field that had been deep plowed a week before. It had rained the previous day and lying on top of the ground was the shiny pieces of flint that led to arrowheads and a spear point......I've been hooked since.