This weeks finds WV

[coalfire]

While I don't have a large group of finds, this is what I have so far. I went out today for an hour, (too cold for more) and found the celt face and the LARGE drill base. I found them less than 2 feet apart and within 10 seconds of each other.
Monday I found the Ottercreek type (?) and the small gray madison type point. They are whole except for a tiny bit off the small madison type. The woodland triangle is missing a corner.
~Z~

 

[pickaway]

Wow.nice finds.What material is that celt made from?

 

[coalfire]

It looks like a blackish stone with green specks and highlights. Reminds me of a few gorgets I have seen.
~Z~

 

[Johnny X]

Heart breakers!

I would have loved to see that drill all together.

nice finds.


keep your eyes on the ground.

xstevenx

 

[Atlantis0077]

Howdy,

You have an excellent site in which to search. Finding both points and that celt says to me it was probably a semi-permanent camp area. You normally don't find many polished hardstone tools in a site the Indians spent little time. I would imagine you will be able to find some really good stuff there. Should be some larger points as well.

Keep your eyes open and I would suggest the use of some type of probing rod. A thin metal shaft you can stick into the ground...works best when its very wet. You can hear it hit objects buried from the surface to about 3' deep. I use discarded CB antennas to make mine...the metal is springy and not prone to permanent bending.

Happy Hunting.

Atlantis

 

[coalfire]

I was curious as to the Celt's material since I have not come across it before. I took it to a small college in Keyser, West Virginia. Which is about 35 miles from my home. The Professor of Geology, Judy Ninesteel helped identify it. The stone is Basalt or diabase or diabase porphyry (all basically the same). Basically it is a volcanic stone. The green visible spots are crystals that grow during cooling.(basalt has micro crystals, diabase has a few crystals, diabase porphyry has large crystals)
The funny thing is this does NOT belong in the valley I found it. Obviously it was brought here by Native Americans. The closest places are near Baltimore and south near Tennessee. I am more apt to believe it came from the north by Baltimore.

Why? Well I was at the local library and found a research paper by two sisters that mentioned the existence of Susquehannock Indians in this area. It seems that someone found a site with palisades post molds much like the Susquehannock. The college that did research at said site kept it a secret. I would assume the Susque. Indians were here for hunting during the frontier push in PA. Or they used this area as a hunting area away from the Iroquois nation.
Other than this one paper I only find mention of Shawnee being here. But no one is definite. On the other hand some claim that the Seneca Indians of the Iroquois Nation were in this valley and this is the reason for the naming of Seneca Rocks a mountain that many rock climbers utilise nowadays.

I would tend to lean towards the Susquehannock as the owners of my broken Celt. They travelled repeatedly from PA area to the Chesapeake. Also they travelled over much of PA and into some of Ohio (where they were also called Andaste and Minquos) for hunting. So coming to the top of this area through the small band of Maryland is possible. The Seneca Indians, if they were here never came close to the Basalt cropping near Baltimore. But then trading is always possible.

This is just some of my musings and not official. Take it for what it's worth. Yeah I do my research. LOL
~Zeawolf~

 

[Cannonman17]

Stone celts like this, and in fact ground stone artifacts in general, first appear during the Early Archaic period and unlike some axes don't have many characteristics that are useful for dating. While your theory is entirely possible, it is also possible that the piece is five or six thousand years older than what you believe. When I show some of my artifacts to people one frequent question I get is " do you know what tribe that/those are from?" and the answer is always no. I can tell you all about the historic period of this area including what Native groups were living where, who was friends with who, etc etc BUT all that type of information is from the historic period (since written records) and since the Native Americans really didn't keep any written records the "historic" period for North America only goes back as far as contact with western civilization, and in the general scheme of things that's relatively recent. So while we can make a list of Native American tribes that were in any given area in say.... 1700... it doesn't help a lot in identification of artifacts. These tribes constantly moved, merged with one another, dissappeared all together, migrated, etc. etc. of course this doesn't hold true for archaeological sites that have been excavated and found to have say a fire hearth with associated arrowheads and the carbon date comes out to be 1750 in which case we can say with at least some certainty that the associated pieces came from a particular tribe.

 

[coalfire]

Thanks for the reply! I whole heartily agree with what you said and I can even carry it further to say that many artifacts are NOT what we say they might be. (i.e Boatstones, Birdstones, ...)

The Susquehanna idea I posted for the possible origin is my guess. I am looking for a hidden report that the two sisters relate in their short research paper. It references a dig site several miles out of town that was done by a college and possessed Susquehannock Indian artifacts. It was kept quiet because (I assume) it had a burial site. They did find the fire pit.

The origin of the stone is from Susquehannock migration trails. But it could have bee traded. The Shawnee were Algonquin speaking and had Delaware friends as I found out. The Delawares migrated west to Muncy Penna. (Muncee Indians) I hunted there area also, during college.

But again I agree with you because this is from Historic time as you said.

Also I am trying to get the reports that were written about the new highway that is coming through the county. Which cuts right near my apartment. Through the mountains. I am including a site with photos from my town area. The pipe is a sort of given of the Susquehannock type. (from Penna digs) The copper bells definitely are in the Historic era. I am not sure if this is the Highway digs or the Susquehannock site.

http://cwva.org/protohistoric/moorefield.htm

Again thanks for the response!
~Z~

 

[Cannonman17]

You've got me curious now... about this part of your last post, I was wondering if you could elaborate for me, it could lead to a great discussion- if you want of course.

I can even carry it further to say that many artifacts are NOT what we say they might be. (i.e Boatstones, Birdstones, ...)

 

[coalfire]

First I will use the term Gorget. A gorget is a through back to medieval time for a piece of armor that surrounded the neck for protection. In later times up to the 20th century it was a piece of metal suspended on a chain and used by military and police to denote authority. I have included two pictures.

From the people I have asked about the Indian gorget's. (being the two hole flat style) No one has a definite answer. Just Ideas. One reason is that some gorgets are from the time before wite man came to North America.

The same with Birdstones. No one knows for sure.
Like I have said before it is my opinion.
~Z~

 

[Cannonman17]

ahhh... I see what you're saying. I've always figured they were used as counter weights for atl atls... just not as decorative as the effigy types. I've always figured that the birdstones served the same purpose but just like you said... guesses. As far as I know there hasn't been any excavated with the atl atl itself. I don't believe they were ever used as a piece of armor like the european version of a gorget- just not practical...I guess I always try to look at artifacts in terms of utilitarian uses before ceramonial- It's my opinion that people jump to the religeous/ceramonial nature of things too quick, often times there was a much more practical use for an item.