What do you think about a Indiains camp site

[mlayers]

What do you think about a Indiain's camp site

I was out to a old ghost town and ws doing some detecting. I didn't find much just the ususal junk. Square nails, bar wire, can slaw. I was talking to the owner of the land and he told me about the Indian camp where they used to live at. He said they have found arrow heads there. It is in beans right now but he said I could detect it. Do any one think this would be a good place or not. I dn't know if they used any kind of metal or not. But it would be intesting to look for arrow heads. Lots of land to look for stuff He must have over a 100 acres.......Matt

 

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[Treasure_Hunter]

Re: What do you think about a Indiain's camp site

Walk that field after a good hard rain and look for shiney flint. Point hunting is a blast........

 

[mark v]

Re: What do you think about a Indiain's camp site

I'd detect it. You never know what is there.

 

[RGINN]

Re: What do you think about a Indiain's camp site

Do some research and figure out what era the site dates to. If you got permission to be there, I'd definitely be out there lookin for arrowheads. Detect it too. If it's a good camping site it possibly would have been occupied through the years by many different people, so you could come up with items obtained in trade after the Europeans came here. Good huntin, and keep us posted.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Re: What do you think about a Indiain's camp site

Rando is right. The indians here in the USA had no refined metals. So only post-contact indians would have metal items for metal detecting purposes. The only exception, as I understand this, is some of the indians in the upper mid-west/east (?) had some crude forms of bronze or copper, that they would dig up from naturally occuring deposits (like slag) and pound into various shapes and functions. But other than that small area of the united states, pre-contact indian sites yield no metals.

 

[RON (PA)]

Re: What do you think about a Indiain's camp site

I would go over it twice (walking it and detecting it) that way you have the best of both worlds (metal & non-metal finds). I would stay there until he is planting it again. Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[RGINN]

Re: What do you think about a Indiain's camp site

Copper artifacts have been found over a wide area of the present US, as the mound builders traded for it. Lots of copper came out of Spiro Mounds in Oklahoma. I think it's strange we don't hear of many pre-Columbian gold artifacts here in the US. The gold was here, but it doesn't seem like anyone put it to much use. Maybe it was too soft.

 

[jeff741972]

Re: What do you think about a Indiain's camp site

The raw copper thing, its out there!! I have found a raw copper point where I live in Pa, like 30 miles from NJ so figure heck anythings possible.

 

[Woodland Detectors]

Re: What do you think about a Indiain's camp site

Hi Matt. I believe yes. It would be worth a shot. When we arrived here in from Colorado 3 years ago I detected and found all kinds of stuff. I found this particular area at the camp where I found an abundance of artifacts , tools, points large boulders with holes bored into them. I thought this would be a good spot to detect. I have since found a powder flask from the 1700's. Civil war and Rw buttons. Flat civilians .Dandy's and a crazy amount of lead. All in this one spot. I believe the Native Americans paved the way for the others by finding the easiest routes camps etc... Give it a go. Keep us informed.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Re: What do you think about a Indiain's camp site

Teddy, you say:

"Several people I know follow the old Spanish trail down in California and they consistently dig copper, silver, and gold Spanish cobs and coins"

I don't know who these friends of yours are, but they're pulling your leg. The first permanent land-hold here was San Diego in 1769, and a few other missions were getting started during the 1770s. The "trail" that connected the missions wasn't charted and in use till the later 1770s. And even up till 1800 or so, the entire non-indian population of CA (soldiers, missionaries, and any other Europeans) still numbered only in the low 1000's. Cobs were phased out in favor of milled coins by the mid 1700s. So yes it's possible to find a cob in CA (excluding the Explorer period), but they would have been circulated for nearly 50 yrs. by then, since by the 1750s, there were only a few Mexican states or countries minting cobs.

I have found 50 to 60 spanish reales here, dating back to the 1750s, and hunt with a guy who's got well over 100 Spanish reales in CA. Neither of us has a cob yet, and we've hunted some of the most ....... uh ...... "hot" spots there are to hit here. So no, there are not "gold and silver cobs" jumping out of "Spanish trails" here.

 

[dneyedli@res1.mts.net]

Re: What do you think about a Indiain's camp site

Yes, search away.
That's all I wanted to say.
BTW, look at my avatar.
Dave.

 

[limegoldconvertible68]

Re: What do you think about a Indiain's camp site

My experience here in the midwest has been pretty consistent with sites like you have. The Indians picked that camp site because it met their needs for water and food. Once the early settlers came to the area they were looking for sites that provided the exact same things. You WILL find an early cabin site somewhere very close by. You need to get a metal detector out there!