Productive Foray to Northern PA

artorius · May 29, 2011

Although most of my artifact hunting is in Southeastern PA, there are a few fields in the northern part of the state that I visit occasionally. Over the Memorial Day weekend I visited a field in the North-central part of Pennsylvania, not far from the New York border. The field had been plowed but not disced, and there had been heavy rain over the past several days. I put in about eight hours of searching and found these, which for this particular field is exceptional.

The celt is intact, although the surface has some mild exfoliation, and the large knife, which is made of silicified shale, is in great shape. The leaf-shaped point is interesting - it is too large and too thin to be a classic Early Woodland Teardrop (Ovate) point, and I am not sure how to classify it. The corner-notched point is serrated, and may be a reworked Kirk point. The other two points are a nice stemmed point with grinding on the sides of the stem (but not the base), and a broad, stubby point with an unfinished base. This last is an enigma - if it were narrow in shape, I would call it a Lamoka, but I am at a loss as to how to place this one. It is the second example of this kind of point I have recovered from this field, so it does not seem to be a fluke. One of the pics includes a decent duck-billed scraper I picked up. Any thoughts on any of these would be appreciated.

I also found other broken points, and also some other scrapers.

Materials are local flints and cherts, as well as silicified shale. This field, by the way, yields material from the Early Archaic to Late Woodland, although Late Archaic styles are the most commonly encountered material.

This field is in a lovely, secluded setting, which always makes collecting there a pleasure.

artorius

musky44 · May 29, 2011

Re: Productive Foray to Nothern PA

nice finds. interesting material. that blade is sweet!!

jaron3 · May 30, 2011

Re: Productive Foray to Nothern PA

Great finds! Thanks for sharing.

The Grim Reaper · May 30, 2011

Nice looking finds Artorious. Looks like you've got a really good and productive spot there to hunt. I see what you mean about the one Point. If it was a little more narrow I too would be inclined to call it a Lamoka. Maybe it's a variant of the type since you've found more than one.

creek astronaut · May 30, 2011

wow!you had a great hunt! :thumbsup:

Krisrock · May 31, 2011

Nice Finds ! Keep em coming.. Your hunting grounds really make the hunt what it is.... Sweet :headbang:

Hutch in PA · May 31, 2011

Always glad to see stuff from PA! Nice finds. Is the blade perhaps a preform? Love the little celt.

artorius · May 31, 2011

Hi Hutch,

I think the large blade is a finshed (and resharpened) knife.The piece is thin for its size, has fine retouch flaking along the edges, and its shape (to me) shows the loss of original symmetry that comes from resharpening. I have found preforms on this field before, but this is too well made for a preform.

I almost missed the celt - it was mostly covered in a large blob of mud. Luckily I saw enough of a hint of a polished bit to pick it up and wipe it off.

This was an extraordinary haul for this field. I am accustomed to feeling lucky if I find just one decent piece after a full day's search.

artorius

Hutch in PA · Jun 1, 2011

One is all it takes to keep me going too. I don't know about you, but in NW PA, points aren't located under every clump of mud. A good day is finding one whole point, a really good day is finding a couple (not including dozens/hundreds of flakes). Isn't it funny how you can walk a field and find a point or two, but rarely more? Then you go back the next day and the same thing happens. And then the next day and so on. By the way, I'm in the Philly area every-other-week from Tuesday through Thursday (work travel sux). Where are you located? Maybe we could meet up.