some sandpaper and some other stuff

larson1951 · Mar 26, 2010

Russy helped go through some more stuff and brought stuff after sorting
the pumice was used like sandpaper for polishing and sharpening things like bone awls and stuff
also some sandstone shaft abraders
next box is some TRSS (chert) preforms and misc blades, knives or scrapers and maybe a few spent cores
larson

archer66 · Mar 26, 2010

Hey Larson....

Have you ever explained on here what the history of your site is? For instance what culture or cultures? What time period it was inhabited? How deep are most of the artifacts? I know you surface collect behind farm equipment but do you also dig?

When are you going to write your book

?

larson1951 · Mar 26, 2010

I think the last culture was the mandan
I think it was used for at least 6000 or more years because of some of the points I find, maybe 8000-10'000 yrs or more, I just don't know for sure
for instance pelican lake, oxbow, avon lea, duncan-hanna and more
I have found a few obsidian points and hell gap and many others
I don't know the right name but there was a culture that heavily tattooed themselves a long time ago
I don't dig, it took me over 20 yrs of surface walking after rains to find this stuff
srv is the one that should do a book, not me
he has 3 times the amount of stuff and is very knowledgeable
I'm just a farmer and contractor
but I have fun also, just like srv
it seems that some of his artifacts are similar to mine
Larson

archer66 · Mar 26, 2010

Feel free to tell me if my questions are too much:

Are you finding artifacts from different cultures mixed together on the surface or are you finding one culture in one part of the field and another culture elsewhere? I know that farming practices "redistrubute" artifacts over the surface over the years but assuming they are coming out of the ground somewhat near where they were discarded or lost do you see any pattern?

How large of an area are the artifacts being found....is there an epicenter where concentration is highest with diminishing frequency as you move away?

What topographic features made that site attractive over such a long period of time?

The Grim Reaper · Mar 26, 2010

Larson, thanks for the kind words. You aren't the first to suggest I write a book and I just might one day.

From what I have seen of larsons collection over the past year or so is that his site is predominately Mandan and that is because of such a lengthy occupation and it being the last culture to occupy his land. I would guess the Mandans occupied his site for 600 or 700 years so that's going to leave a lot of Mandan artifacts and trash close to the surface which is what is plowed to the top the most. I'm sure if larson was to plow another few inches deeper he would probably bring up a lot older artifacts. I have see a few that he has found and showed here that date back to early Archaic and possibly Paleo so it's there, it's just a lot deeper. Our Ft Ancient sites are the same. When the farmer plows it a little deeper we find Archaic and early Woodland pieces mixed in the with the Ft Ancient artifacts. There was even a Clovis found on the site a few years back.

archer66 · Mar 26, 2010

I haven't been around long enough to have seen as much of your finds SRV but when you do write that book make sure to point us to it.

reddirt · Mar 26, 2010

Out of curiosity do you have an artifact room? If so, do you have pics of it? I'm sure pics of your whole collection would be awesome! I have seen the pictures of srv's artifact room and man is it impressive!