Large Find

[BobGuy]

Hello all! I have always been interested in Native American history and artifacts but am new to hunting. I have 3 full table tops full of artifacts similar to this but I really don't know what I have. I would appreciate any help in identifying the name of the artifact, the period it was used/created and what it was used for.

All of these artifacts were found in the same creek running between high hills with farmed fields at the top in southern Illinois.

First picture - almost all of these pieces are made from limestone and some feel even softer like sandstone but I don't think that's the case. Does it appear that this may be a much older site due to the material used and crudeness of the pieces?

- Large Shoulder blade - appears to have gnaw marks from other posts I've seen. What kind of animal and could it have been used as a tool?
-Limestone effigy? - piece to left of shoulder blade. Looks to me like a pregnant woman.
-bone tool - to left of shoulder blade. It has horizontal markings similar to what I have seen on bark beaters.
- bone piece - directly below shoulder blade. At first I believed the markings to be made by hand and forming a groove down the middle of the piece but from other posts I think they may be gnaw marks. They do form an interesting feature and there is a hole drilled through the piece. Maybe a pendant?
-Rectangular pendant? - piece to lower left of shoulder blade.
- Axe heads - the two pieces to the right of the shoulder seem to me to be more elegant than the tools used for everyday use. I'm very curious to learn more about these two!
-Hoe? - piece below two axe heads.
- Odd shape heads - pieces to right of large axe heads have odd shapes to me.
- other pieces - the piece to top right of odd shapes that almost looks like a bird head is different from the others in that it is more centered and three dimensional. Looking at it from straight on it has a pyramidal shape. The other pieces look like more crude hand axe and hammer heads but I'm not sure.

Picture two
- Middle left pieces - the pieces to middle and lower left are softer eroded limestone pieces that to me look like daggers/knives hammers and even a hand held chopping tool at the very lower left. This piece fits nicely in your hand with a sharpened edge that is weighted on the other side.

Many of the pieces to the right of the previous mentioned are made of chert, or so I believe. The pieces at lower right have flat angles edges maybe for scraping or grinding? Many other various sizes shapes etc that I'm not to sure about. Please let me know if you notice any other pieces that catch your eye that you think are worth mentioning.

Any help is greatly appreciated. Let me know what you think of the overall find. I am excited about it and feel I have found something special but please let me know if I am way off base. If there are any items that you need to see from different angles I would be happy to take more pics and post.

Thanks for your help and happy hunting!!

 

[The Grim Reaper]

BobGuy, welcome to T-Net and I understand your enthusiasm, but unfortunately nothing you found looks to be an actual Indian artifact. They all look like typical natural creek stones. Limestone is not a material they used to make Tools. It's to soft of a material and would break to easily.

 

[IlliniGuy]

Thanks Steve I didn't want to be first. BobGuy, I agree with Reaper on this, I see no artifacts in the bunch. I have collected/hunted artifacts in Illinois for over thirty years so I have seen lots of them. Illinois is a very "Lithic rich" state so there was no need to use limestone or other softer rock. I would also like to point out that our earliest inhabitants used only the finest materials and their workmanship was superb. Southern Illinois is loaded with sites including some of the richest in the state.

 

[rock]

Yeah its always fun to hunt the water but there is so many geofacts in the water it is really hard to find anything for me that is. I enjoy dry land hunts.

 

[BobGuy]

How grim.

To build some credibility and show I'm not on a completely different planet I have posted two more pics of objects that are almost undoubtedly artifacts. Again, I don't know much about any of them so help on identifying what they are, how they were used and what period would be appreciated! Thanks for the feedback!!

 

[IlliniGuy]

Thanks for sharing those. In the first pic I see a wonderful three quarter grooved axe which could be as old as Middle Archaic in Illinois, approx. 6000 years or a little more. These were used into Woodland periods so it is hard to pin down an exact date. I also see a very nice hardstone celt which is later, used in Wooodland and Mississippian Cultures. Both were more than likely used as wood working tools. They rest of the pic is hard to tell but I suspect a few scrapers and some debitage. I think the oblong piece and the one dead center are just rocks. In the second pic I see a couple whole points and maybe some broken ones. The whole one left of center below the pen looks like a Matanzas, Middle Archaic and probably contemporary with the axe. I also see some probable preform/scraper/knives which are near impossible to date or assign a culture.

 

[GatorBoy]

Looks like you have a hardstone grooved axe head and celt,mabey a bar weight preform,several scraping tools.. mabey gravers.. a few complete points a blade or two and some miscellaneous.. pieces of worked material broken... I think I see a small drill towards the bottom of the second photo... and two possible hammerstones.
That's the right material there.
We must have been typing at the same time.

 

[IlliniGuy]

It's all good GatorBoy. We are both seeing the same thing.

 

[The Grim Reaper]

BobGuy. now those second set of pics have some obvious artifacts. That Axe is a fine example and the Celt looks very nice as well.

 

[rock]

Did the last group come from the same spot?

 

[BobGuy]

No there are about 4 or 5 different locations but separated into 2 different clusters.

 

[rock]

No there are about 4 or 5 different locations but separated into 2 different clusters.

Go to the spot on the last pic post. Those look good the other ones are just rocks. Water is so hard to find something unless it has just washed out of the bank when you find it. If it is covered with slime then it has been in the water for yrs. If it is fairly clean then you are close to the camp site. I really dont like looking for them in water.

 

[BobGuy]

Thanks for the tip! When you find a clean artifact in the creek how close is close? 100 yards, a mile?

 

[rock]

Depending on the current and rain flow. If no rain and it looks clean probably just feet away.

 

[NC field hunter]

I say learn to hunt the water. Water yields 5 undamaged artifacts to lands 1. As Rock mentioned, water is tough to hunt. It is practically a different ball game than field hunting. I'm learning how to hunt creeks and rivers myself. What has helped me is finding sand bars and kneeling down, for a bird's eye view. Sifters are great also!

 

[GatorBoy]

I say learn to hunt the water. Water yields 5 undamaged artifacts to lands 1. As Rock mentioned, water is tough to hunt. It is practically a different ball game than field hunting. I'm learning how to hunt creeks and rivers myself. What has helped me is finding sand bars and kneeling down, for a bird's eye view. Sifters are great also!

Nice to hear your expanding your horizons... it's a whole different way of looking at hunting.
It feels more natural to me... anywhere I go I'm drawn to the water.

 

[rock]

Nice to hear your expanding your horizons... it's a whole different way of looking at hunting.
It feels more natural to me... anywhere I go I'm drawn to the water.

Follow that point in your avatar and it will point you in the rite direction. It sure is a pretty one.

 

[GatorBoy]

Thanks rock.
Before 2005 we used to be able to hunt the water here as long as the find was reported.

 

[BobGuy]

What does it mean when something is preform?

 

[rock]

Preform is something they started to make and never finished but were going to finish and never did.