My Collection From The Excavation Site

[The Grim Reaper]

I posted these pictures on another post, but I thought I would give them their own thread so more people could check them out. As a lot of you know I have been surface hunting a site that has been under excavation by the landowner and an Archy for the past few years and finding the pieces that they are missing in their throw dirt after a good rain. I also used to hunt this site years ago when it was put in garden every year by a man that lived close to it. I have found quite a few very nice artifacts on this site over the past 15 or so years, both by surface hunting and by digging in the trash pits when it was owned by another person than the one who owns it now. This is a Ft Ancient site that has been dated from 950 to 1650 AD.


These first 7 pictures are what I have found in the past 3 years since they started the excavation.

This is the pieces I already had from hunting the garden and digging the trash pits.

 

[Tnmountains]

Yeah it was a good read it is what we all enjoy. You will get a kick out of the post I am doing here in a little bit.Its some bone but its hilarious what has happened to it. Not by me but you will get a kick out of it. Its ancient. Keep posting you stuff. I find very few teeth and the best I have is a cave bear eye tooth from a cave. Keep posting and I will slowly,,, post more,Later Ancient. I mean Dorkfish : )

 

[paleojoe]

Great stuff Steve. I remember when you found a lot of it. Here is a couple of trays of my finds from the Excavation Site. The last tray is of a different Fort Ancient Village Site. It is called the Goldcamp Site.(Steve has tons of stuff from here too.)

 

[The Grim Reaper]

Nice pieces Joe. Thanks for adding them to the post.

 

[Tnmountains]

Dorkfish

I read your link and went back thru some hamiltons I had. I am not sure but one may be a fort ancient type.Would you be so kind to give me your opinion? Thank you again
TnMountains http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,226687.0.html

 

[docmann]

Dorkfish,
Impressive collection! While I haven't checked out the link, would you mind describing the culture of occupants of that era? Very nice array of artifacts. Strong work!
docmann

 

[The Grim Reaper]

docmann, the group that resided at this site was of the Ft Ancient/Mississippian Culture and the site has been dated from 950 to 1650 AD. These people lived in huge villages normally surrounded by a large wooden wall, or palisade, for protection. They were farmers, fisherman, and hunters and stayed in the same place year round. They would usually put their villages on high bluffs overlooking a river or stream so they could have fresh water and access to fish and mussell shells which must have been a big part of their diet considering the amount of shells we find at the sites. According to the things I have seen and read on this site and other Ft Ancient sites in my area these people lived in huts with wooden stakes for walls and probably thatch roofs. I have seen the post hole patterns that were uncovered on this site and the stakes looked to be set about 2 feet apart and from the looks of the holes they were quite large so these huts were probably fairly sturdy. From the amount of fish, deer, raccoon, fox, bear, wolf, elk, etc bones that are found at this site along with the mussell shell and snail shells I'd say they ate really well. They also found evidence of corn/maize at the site. With the amount of Pipes and Gamestones that are found here they also must have had a good leisure time as well when they weren't hunting or farming.

This is what a typical Ft Ancient village looked like. This is a recreation of the Sun Watch site that is located near Cincinnati.

 

[docmann]

Dorkfish,
Thanks for the detail. Interestingly, I too find a great deal of mussel shell at both of the Wichita People camp sites (dated ~1250 to 1400 in this region). It sounds as if the cultures were similar with the exception of the semi-nomadic nature of the Wichita People who, as I understand, would temporarily abandon their thatch dwellings and enter the bison chase for a season each year. It sounds as if the structures you describe are more formidable also. Finally, I've yet to uncover any evidence of pipe or similar items. Still find a great deal of broken pottery and massive amounts of old bone, a great deal of which is charred.
Again, thanks for info,
doc

 

[Th3rty7]

very interesting info dorkfish, do you have a frame of ft ancient knives you could post? I only have this one but it's one of my favorite blades, the flaking is superb. The distal tip isn't broken but worked into a scraper.The material is either ridge, or carter cave, its light blue with orange tan specks.

 

[The Grim Reaper]

thirty7, we don't find a lot of large Knives on our sites. I don't know if they just didn't utilize the large Knives or if they are all just broken up by now. I have a couple of bases that may have been large Knives, but that's about it. I'd say about 95% of the flint we find is of the Madison or Hamilton Triangle Point types with about 10% of those being of the serrated types.

These are the typical points we find on our sites. The 3rd picture has a large base in the middle that was probably a Knife and the 2nd picture has a couple of the typical size Knives we find on each side of the Drills in the center of the tray.