Northwest Native American artifacts

[bansheeraptor]

I have acquired a decent lot of native American and paleo tools , I believe them to be mixed all together , I could sure use some direction in identification

 

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[GatorBoy]

From what I can see it looks like you have an entire bin of preforms, crudely worked impromptu tools and other slightly worked material that may have broken or been given up on.
I would imagine the person who collected all of this has nicely finished examples and used that as kind of a scrap collector.
I'll be the first to say I don't know a lot about the northwest but from what I know that's what I see

 

[bansheeraptor]

Thanks Gator boy , there is a grip of tools in there , beautiful stuff ,
if anyone has any interest in enhancing their personal collections , pm me

 

[arrow86]

That's a lot of artifacts !! Must have been a huge camp/village

 

[old digger]

Welcome to TNET!

Looks like there may be a spoke-shave in your container in the last photo.(center).

 

[old digger]

Are you finding the material scattered in one area (a quarry site), or in other separate areas?

 

[bansheeraptor]

I found this cache on on some default property I cleaned up for the new owners , it was this old boys stuff that he collected for over 60 years , I just opened one barrel last night and this is what was there , tons of stuff , what would you do with it ?

 

[GatorBoy]

Personally I think the best thing you could do if you're not keeping any of it is locate someone local who collects and appreciates those type of tools it would really make their day.
I would love to see more of that spread out and visible actually especially if theres other type of material in there there could be some real goodies hiding in there

 

[bansheeraptor]

The stone looks like a chert. In the close up photo you appear to have a couple of bi-faces or pre-forms. These are essentially the swiss army knives of stone tool technology and can be fashioned into any number of different tool types at a later time. The photo also shows what look to be some rudimentary scrapers. A lot of the artifacts appear to have been “tested”, where someone started breaking/modifying rocks looking for particular properties or “just the right one”. I don’t see any artifacts that are temporally diagnostic, no specific tool types that are associated with a particular time period, and without knowing exactly where they came from there’s no telling what people or peoples may have created them.



It appears the collection is the byproduct of a chert quarry location. Probably a source of known tool stone accessed by nearby residences or a stop along seasonal travel routes and used as a spot to replenish raw materials for tools. Hope this helps, thanks for reaching out.


This is what the Idaho historical society said about the box of pieces
I have 10 more 55 gallon barrels full , untouched for 40 years , anybody interested ?
many thanks Gatorboy ,

 

[bansheeraptor]

 

[timemachine]

Whoa, barrels is a large amount! What about the local university or museums? WA state has a few places that would accept the donation, but transporting them, ughh.

 

[GatorBoy]

It depends on how much effort you want to put into it but coming from someone in my position who spent years searching for and collecting those types of things if I were gone and it was out of my control .. As I sit here now I would hope the items stayed local

 

[gordonquixote]

Looks like a bunch of random crap. If you want to keep it, do so but it is literally worthless.

This is someone's sort pile where the worked stuff went. I also used to keep everything but I eventually just made a chert pile outside out of the way. Now I just throw everything in a pile on a site when I leave.

 

[GatorBoy]

A lot of folks brand new to the hobby and even some others that still feel that sense of wonder when holding something like that with its history definitely appreciate that kind of thing I can understand the feeling of not wanting to be burdened with all that stuff when you've been doing it for a long time and have nice finished projectile points and tools in your collection already.
Take a kid artifact hunting for his very first time and watch him find some stuff like that you'll see how not worthless a lot of it really is I think.
I'm just saying I'm willing to bet he already has received personal messages requesting some

 

[bansheeraptor]

A lot of folks brand new to the hobby and even some others that still feel that sense of wonder when holding something like that with its history definitely appreciate that kind of thing I can understand the feeling of not wanting to be burdened with all that stuff when you've been doing it for a long time and have nice finished projectile points and tools in your collection already.
Take a kid artifact hunting for his very first time and watch him find some stuff like that you'll see how not worthless a lot of it really is I think.
I'm just saying I'm willing to bet he already has received personal messages requesting some

Thanks for everything you guys , you are all awesome , and this is a great place for the people to come and meet fellow treasurers , Gatorboy you are awesome , and yes it is something to just hold a piece that was used by our fellow man a while back , anybody who wants some of these chert tools and has something to trade , I'll pack up 10 to 15 lb boxes of obviously knapped edges and tool frags .
onto bigger and better .......I need some help sorting out these barrels , is anyone even close to Boise here ?

 

[rock]

No to far from me or I would take some off your hands. My concerns are what if they are modern and not ancient. Could be some ones modern scraps.

 

[bansheeraptor]

No to far from me or I would take some off your hands. My concerns are what if they are modern and not ancient. Could be some ones modern scraps.

could be , but the old boy was 94 years young , and was a serious collector , you can tell the modern chips / or recents , compared to the pieces that def are old , but , you are right , could be , we will see as I dump these barrels over the next month , I will post updates , and pics for Id if you all don't mind , you have been a great group

 

[GatorBoy]

I was hoping you would do that.
I've gone through some of my own old stuff and found things I missed or didn't even know how to identify when they were found

 

[rock]

could be , but the old boy was 94 years young , and was a serious collector , you can tell the modern chips / or recents , compared to the pieces that def are old , but , you are right , could be , we will see as I dump these barrels over the next month , I will post updates , and pics for Id if you all don't mind , you have been a great group

Dump away but I know some collectors that knap as well as hunt here on Tnet. bansheer do you collect and hunt for them?

 

[GatorBoy]

When there's a lot of mineralisation and patina it's pretty easy to tell when chips and flakes are new.
Plus not many folks breakdown an entire core and add secondary work on pieces that wouldn't turn out to be a projectile point or some other finished bi face.
I think these are pretty clearly anciently worked material tossed into bins by the person hunting the fields or what have you.
Many years worth... That's why I'm excited to see what's on the bottom when this person was less experienced