ghp95134
Full Member
- Joined
- Sep 29, 2014
- Messages
- 100
- Reaction score
- 96
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- Primary Interest:
- All Treasure Hunting
First, a preface: My father introduced me to arrowhead-hunting at Ft. Riley, KS, in 1961. We never found a single one, just lots of flint flakes. He told me the old wive's tale about heating flint with fire and dropping cold water on the flint to form the arrowheads (^__^). In 1964~68 I lived at Ft. Bragg, NC. We lived along the Post's southern border near Chicken Road, where I and my friends used to walk its border along a tank trail ... "Arrowhead Hunting."
My first finds were just above the Virginia border when our Scout Troop went arrowhead hunting ca. 1965. Points 1~5 were found there. Points 6~25 were found at Ft. Bragg, along that tank trail. Points 26~28 were found at a reservoir lake about 30 minutes' drive from Fort Campbell, KY in 1982 when I was stationed there with the 101st Airborne Division. A friend told me about the location and said I could walk along the lake and just pick up arrowheads; when the TVA flooded the area, old mounds etc., would wash up ashore -- I didn't believe him, but it was true. The last item, the scraper, was fount at Ft. Irwin, CA (National Training Center) in 1985. Someone I knew took me to a location that was on a bluff overlooking a valley. Right at that location was a "stool" (might have been basalt, it was all over the NTC), and surrounding the stool were chips galore. He said you could just imagine the hunter sitting there working on tools while watching where game would be. Lots of fun in the desert!
I have NOT found a single thing since then. HOWEVER -- I have a pleasant recurring dream about three times a year in which I find beautiful and plentiful arrowheads. They're all perfect; sometimes other artifacts. Then I, in my dream, say "HEY! This is too good to be true, I'm dreaming." Then I wake up. True story.
With that said, here is my "treasure:"
What has always intrigued me is #11 because it looks like sandstone. You definitely can see the beveled base, but all features are eroded.
I just bought Overstreet's Price Guide (13th Ed.) and have tried to ID my haul. If y'all can help me I'd certainly appreciate the help. I'm guessing here.
Virginia:
1-5. Milky quartz
North Carolina:
6. Clarksville (quartz)
7.
8.
9. Guilford-Stemmed (it has an interesting concave area at the reverse base).
10, 21, 22, 23, 24. Badin
11. Alamance. Sandstone or limestone -- it seems awfully degraded and soft
12.
13 & 14.
15. Stallings Island Slate point? Not in the Price Guide, but very similar specimens here:
I tried to fasten it on a bamboo "spear" when I was 14 ... so there are marks on the reverse.
(16~19 rhyolite?)
16.
17.
18. Lecroy? If not, maybe Ecusta or Edgefield scraper
19. Beaver Lake/Cumberland. Nice ovoid shape. Too bad it is missing the tip and ear, and there appears to be an impact chip on the reverse top. Rhyolite?
20. ?? Knife?
21 and 22. Found on different day/month/year. However, when photographing these today, I noticed that they SEEM to mate. The reverse side, both pieces have very similar ridges at the center where the "break" is. I'll post my hypothesis following this entry.
23.
24.
24.
Tennessee/Kentucky (forgot which side of the border)
26. Big Sandy
27. Dunno, but it has a nice rhomboid shaped cross-section/left-bevelled edges.
28. Ovoid shape
Ft. Irwin, California (Barstow/Mojave Desert area)
29. Scraper
Thank you for your indulgence.
--ghp
My first finds were just above the Virginia border when our Scout Troop went arrowhead hunting ca. 1965. Points 1~5 were found there. Points 6~25 were found at Ft. Bragg, along that tank trail. Points 26~28 were found at a reservoir lake about 30 minutes' drive from Fort Campbell, KY in 1982 when I was stationed there with the 101st Airborne Division. A friend told me about the location and said I could walk along the lake and just pick up arrowheads; when the TVA flooded the area, old mounds etc., would wash up ashore -- I didn't believe him, but it was true. The last item, the scraper, was fount at Ft. Irwin, CA (National Training Center) in 1985. Someone I knew took me to a location that was on a bluff overlooking a valley. Right at that location was a "stool" (might have been basalt, it was all over the NTC), and surrounding the stool were chips galore. He said you could just imagine the hunter sitting there working on tools while watching where game would be. Lots of fun in the desert!
I have NOT found a single thing since then. HOWEVER -- I have a pleasant recurring dream about three times a year in which I find beautiful and plentiful arrowheads. They're all perfect; sometimes other artifacts. Then I, in my dream, say "HEY! This is too good to be true, I'm dreaming." Then I wake up. True story.
With that said, here is my "treasure:"
What has always intrigued me is #11 because it looks like sandstone. You definitely can see the beveled base, but all features are eroded.
I just bought Overstreet's Price Guide (13th Ed.) and have tried to ID my haul. If y'all can help me I'd certainly appreciate the help. I'm guessing here.
Virginia:
1-5. Milky quartz
North Carolina:
6. Clarksville (quartz)
7.
8.
9. Guilford-Stemmed (it has an interesting concave area at the reverse base).
10, 21, 22, 23, 24. Badin
11. Alamance. Sandstone or limestone -- it seems awfully degraded and soft
12.
13 & 14.
15. Stallings Island Slate point? Not in the Price Guide, but very similar specimens here:
I tried to fasten it on a bamboo "spear" when I was 14 ... so there are marks on the reverse.
(16~19 rhyolite?)
16.
17.
18. Lecroy? If not, maybe Ecusta or Edgefield scraper
19. Beaver Lake/Cumberland. Nice ovoid shape. Too bad it is missing the tip and ear, and there appears to be an impact chip on the reverse top. Rhyolite?
20. ?? Knife?
21 and 22. Found on different day/month/year. However, when photographing these today, I noticed that they SEEM to mate. The reverse side, both pieces have very similar ridges at the center where the "break" is. I'll post my hypothesis following this entry.
23.
24.
24.
Tennessee/Kentucky (forgot which side of the border)
26. Big Sandy
27. Dunno, but it has a nice rhomboid shaped cross-section/left-bevelled edges.
28. Ovoid shape
Ft. Irwin, California (Barstow/Mojave Desert area)
29. Scraper
Thank you for your indulgence.
--ghp
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