Talk about a Grab Bag of Eras! Take a look at this!

Airborne80 · Sep 13, 2009

Woke up this morning with a cold black wet nose (Charlie, my best friend and Golden retriever) in my face, grabbed a cup of Joe, sunflower seeds (2nd day without smokes and it hurts!!!!) and Charlie N I rolled to the "spot". We normally go to hunt for arrowheads, as metal detecting is not allowed in the area. Though we did not find anything spectacular, we did (once again) demonstrate that this site has seen heavy use from early prehistoric times right on up through the present, without ever having missed a beat, in terms of activity. The first item appears to be a very very old, crude, worn and broken point of some kind. Not far from it and in the water foot or so into the river is the second railroad spike that I have recovered there. Next... a very old and heavy chain link... probably from the old ships that used to offload in this area. Then came the old rusty smaller spike and the unknown metal item. The rest is a mix of quartz flakes, a broken point and a poss tool or preform. Charlie and I had a great walk/swim and it will be the last for a week. Sadly, I will be away on business all of next week but will follow you guys and your cool finds from a hotel room. Have fun, thanks for looking and stay safe!

johnnyi · Sep 13, 2009

Nice grab bag airborne80. I particularly like the old spike which hopefully you can eventually date from its size and shape. It looks like you might have part of a quartz point there in the middle too! Sometimes the other stones, the schists, can fool you though, as they take on some pretty convincing shapes. Aside from grinding tools, usually the cutters and "puncturers"

are made of your harder stones like argelite, quartz, flint, and the different jaspers. For one thing, they're easy for indians to chip and shape. Even quartz is so soft that you'd find it on points for a "one shot deal" or find it used occasionally used for an ornamental knife. Anyway, neat finds. There's nothing like walking a plowed field after a rain!

Airborne80 · Sep 13, 2009

johnnyi said:
Nice grab bag airborne80. I particularly like the old spike which hopefully you can eventually date from its size and shape. It looks like you might have part of a quartz point there in the middle too! Sometimes the other stones, the schists, can fool you though, as they take on some pretty convincing shapes. Aside from grinding tools, usually the cutters and "puncturers" are made of your harder stones like argelite, quartz, flint, and the different jaspers. For one thing, they're easy for indians to chip and shape. Even quartz is so soft that you'd find it on points for a "one shot deal" or find it used occasionally used for an ornamental knife. Anyway, neat finds. There's nothing like walking a plowed field after a rain!

Thank you Johnnyi for looking and for your appreciated thoughts. You are right about the stones and it can be challenging. This site is a unique one in that I have found beautiful perfect points, tons of broken pipes, a gazillion flakes, more than a few geofacts that I thought were points, RR and other stuff. It's a fun place to hunt for sure. I will see about dating the old spike. I have no clue as to where to start but I guess that's why God invented Google haha :wink:

Thanks again and stay safe.

johnnyi · Sep 13, 2009

Wow Airborne, sounds like a great site!

Old River · Sep 13, 2009

Congrats on the smokes. Best of luck to you. Got some nice finds also.

Airborne80 · Sep 13, 2009

Old River said:
Congrats on the smokes. Best of luck to you. Got some nice finds also.

Thanks O.R. 41 hours now.... doing so so. It kinda comes in waves and then I fight through it. Stay safe! :icon_thumleft:

allen · Sep 13, 2009

wtg on that cool assortment of neat finds !!! :thumbsup:

Airborne80 · Sep 13, 2009

allen said:
wtg on that cool assortment of neat finds !!!

Thanks brother :icon_thumleft:

johnnyi · Sep 13, 2009

Airborne, I didn't understand the smokes comment until now. I thought you just ran out.

Anyway, in the spirit of giving a fellow detectorist a little moral suppost (plus I've been puttng off the inevitable for way too long) I just soaked a new pack of Marl. lights and dumped them in the trash. Now I hope I don't blow my top in the next 48 hour on the whatsit board!

Thanks for the example man.

Airborne80 · Sep 13, 2009

johnnyi said:
Airborne, I didn't understand the smokes comment until now. I thought you just ran out. Anyway, in the spirit of giving a fellow detectorist a little moral suppost (plus I've been puttng off the inevitable for way too long) I just soaked a new pack of Marl. lights and dumped them in the trash. Now I hope I don't blow my top in the next 48 hour on the whatsit board! Thanks for the example man.

Wow man!!!! Believe it or not.... you just encouraged me big time!!!! I am in the bad stage where...... I am good to go for an hour or so then..... i start getting all watery mouthed and jittery. I am not being the nicest guy in the world to the kids and have had to apologize a few times for being snappy. I am adopting my two nephews and they are staying clear of me for a while :wink:

Best of luck to you..... to us both and I mean that. I keep looking for an excuse to smoke just one but then I say to myself... "Come on Airborne!!! Your stronger than some chemical addiction! Suck it up and drive on!! Hooah!" I hope I can keep it up. Stay safe and thanks.