The Keenan Bead Cache

[monsterrack]

In 1875 W.T. Hutchins was plowing a field and noticed that something came up with the plow. Turning back with the mule he saw a lot of red objects. This turned out to be the largest bead cache of red jasper stone beads found in the state of Ms. Lawrence co. They were bought by T.J.R. Keenan and in 1876 he donated them to the Smithsonian museum were they are today. Only one bead was drilled the rest was preforms, the one that was drilled had a broken stone drill tip in it the size of a grain of rice. I have a chance to hunt this area after deer season, I can't wait.

 

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[justonemore]

Thanks for sharing and good luck, hope you find a few.

 

[painterx7]

Good luck!!!

 

[The Grim Reaper]

That would be an incredible feeling to find something like that.

 

[arrow86]

Awesome , hopefully there’s still a few out there for you

 

[Silver Worm]

You need a partner, Let me know. I live in NE Miss, but be willing to travel down there. I used to live in Biloxi.

 

[old digger]

That would be amazing opportunity. It may be a long shot but hope you can find a couple that were missed. and maybe find something else more interesting. Thumbs Up!

 

[joshuaream]

Permission on a good site, open ground, and the hope that an artifact will be exposed... I'd be like a kid waiting for Christmas.

 

[NCPeaches]

Hope you find something as nice as those! I would be so excited just to walk that spot! Good luck!

 

[Bumpstick]

Sweet! best of luck on your field trip.
Deer season can be dangerous, here in Wisconsin a deer hunter with a shotgun shot a duck hunter through the legs that was in a Kayak.
"Thought he saw the white of a dears tail" Comment was made that he wasn't wearing blaze orange. Not required for waterfowl hunters.
Off to jail the dairy land dumb @** goes.

 

[IAMZIM]

Sweet! best of luck on your field trip.
Deer season can be dangerous, here in Wisconsin a deer hunter with a shotgun shot a duck hunter through the legs that was in a Kayak.
"Thought he saw the white of a dears tail" Comment was made that he wasn't wearing blaze orange. Not required for waterfowl hunters.
Off to jail the dairy land dumb @** goes.

I took hunters safety in 1985. I still remember the most important rule: ALWAYS be aware of your target and beyond, and be sure of what it is. Jail was definitely where the guy should have gone!

 

[welsbury]

Wouldn't it be sweet to find one of those effigy beads.

 

[lairmo]

Hope to see some posted soon!!!

 

[jamus peek]

Wow, I wonder why they would make so many preforms before drilling or if maybe there were more drilled ones that just didnt make it to the museum. Thanks for the share MonsterRack.

 

[rock]

Very nice Im still looking for a bead hope you score some.

 

[dognose]

very nice, it would be a thrill to find beads like that.

 

[redbeardrelics]

That is a pretty cool stash of artifacts, and we can all vicariously feel the excited anticipation of an artifact hunt in that location. Looking at all those bead preforms and effigies just fills my head with questions. Does red jasper naturally occur in that area in small pebbles? I wonder how they could have held all those small objects when working them down to the size and shape they are now. They look to be somewhat polished, and not dull and rough as they would probably be after being ground down to size. How would they ever be able to drill holes that small through a hard material like jasper? I can understand how they would drill small holes through softer bead materials such as shell, bone, slate, etc. but, I am having a hard time grasping the processes and effort involved in gathering, shaping & drilling jasper stones into beads. Some folks swear all red jasper in some areas had to have been heat treated, would that be correct for MS?

Good luck in your hunt, and thanks for the post and photos.

 

[monsterrack]

That is a pretty cool stash of artifacts, and we can all vicariously feel the excited anticipation of an artifact hunt in that location. Looking at all those bead preforms and effigies just fills my head with questions. Does red jasper naturally occur in that area in small pebbles? I wonder how they could have held all those small objects when working them down to the size and shape they are now. They look to be somewhat polished, and not dull and rough as they would probably be after being ground down to size. How would they ever be able to drill holes that small through a hard material like jasper? I can understand how they would drill small holes through softer bead materials such as shell, bone, slate, etc. but, I am having a hard time grasping the processes and effort involved in gathering, shaping & drilling jasper stones into beads. Some folks swear all red jasper in some areas had to have been heat treated, would that be correct for MS?

Good luck in your hunt, and thanks for the post and photos.

The Jasper in Ms. was deposited here by ancient rivers after and during the ice age. There are no deposits of red jasper just pebbles/cobbles here in the south western part of the state. In northeast Ms. Jasper comes in much larger pieces, large enough that the native Americans knapped points out of it, but that is a different deposit than what you find here in the southern part of the state.. The Jasper that I have seen in Ms. has not been heat treated and it is a very hard stone. Some studies have shown that with a pump drill and a small drill bit made from another chert along with sand and water will work well to drill a hole, it just takes time. It is thought that red jasper was the blood of the earth an that is why they made so many beads from it. In order to understand how they worked it you have to think of a lot of different factors.

1st their concept of time was not based on a watch or a time clock and no 8hr work day. 2nd this was a type of money so the more they made the more they could trade for other items. Holding a stone an grinding it on another stone was part of their tool making art, such as mini celts and other small items. Our concept on what we think of doing something is totally different from the way they thought of it. This cache is more than likely the work of a family for over a year and was hid in the ground like people would do cash to come back later and recover it. The one drilled bead in this cache had a broken drill bit inside the hole made of chert, the size of a grain of rice. I believe they used a pump drill to make the holes along with time an elbow grease and some even believe that they had came up with a lathe idea to make beads(tube beads).

 

[A2coins]

Hope you cache in on some of those.