What I think it once looked like

[tamrock]

I found this last summer close to the Arkansas River North of Buena Vista. I forgot I had it and as I was looking for nail clippers in the inside pouch of my suitcase I again found I had it. In the motel I pondered over what it may have looked like before the mule deer had stepped on it a few times over history. Seeing two opposite notches I knew it was a point of some kind. I think I have it as to how it looked originally and it is of a design I've never found any others like in the area, if I'm correct on this assumption of how it may have once looked? The material is also not like most of what I've found in the area also. It's a pink chert where most other pieces I've found are the tan to red colored jasper material.

 

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[kcm]

I bet you used to work jigsaw puzzles!

 

[old digger]

It is hard to tell, maybe an Elko Eared.

 

[tamrock]

Thanks OD. I've looked at other's online called desert side notched points and if this a piece of something like that, it be the only one I've found like it. The area I found it has yielded various other styles of points. The upper Arkansas valley was a summer hunting ground by tribes that would enter from the Arkansas, Platte and Rio Grande river systems

 

[11KBP]

I found this last summer close to the Arkansas River North of Buena Vista. I think I have it as to how it looked originally and it is of a design I've never found any others like in the area, if I'm correct on this assumption of how it may have once looked?

I would say your assumption is correct as to what it once looked like.

With it being found in the Plains region some would call it Washita
and some simply call them late prehistoric Plains Side-Notched.

If you use Perino’s reference the Desert Side-Notched is generally
a name given to the same style of point in the far western states.

 

[tamrock]

Thanks, 11KBP

 

[diggingthe1]

That's beautiful country. 2 of my favorite points came from around there.

 

[Jon Stewart]

My thoughts on it are that the first picture shows an arrowhead with a small base, maybe a corner notched point. Not the second photo type head. Material looks similar to Keokuk that darkened with age. JMHO.

 

[tamrock]

I would say your assumption is correct as to what it once looked like.

With it being found in the Plains region some would call it Washita
and some simply call them late prehistoric Plains Side-Notched.

If you use Perino’s reference the Desert Side-Notched is generally
a name given to the same style of point in the far western states.

Ya know, I have an other side notch that's smaller then a penny I found along the Arkansas river further to the south around Salida, Colorado. I like to look amongst the piñon forests for artifacts. When you sneak around a grove of piñon's you can get almost close enough to deer to reach out and touch one. A few times I've been searching the ground and not focusing what was around me and then hear breathing just in front of me and look up to see 3 doe's watching me within 15 feet. I'm sure the native hunters knew how they could hide in those piñon forest to ambush many deer. Also every 4 years the various piñon groves would produce tons of piñon nuts. I know tribes from many miles away would come to the upper Arkansas river valley to live the summer month as it was a great source for food. A buddy of mine liked to catch and release trout by hand in the small creeks and streams that feed into the Arkansas, just as I'm sure the natives did the same for thousands of years.

 

[tamrock]

That's beautiful country. 2 of my favorite points came from around there.

Sad so many are broken Most are small, thin and fragile and unlike those strong hefty artifacts one can find in the dirt fields of Midwest regions.

 

[11KBP]

I found this last summer close to the Arkansas River North of Buena Vista.

Seeing two opposite notches I knew it was a point of some kind. I think I have it as to how it looked originally and it is of a design I've never found any others like in the area, if I'm correct on this assumption of how it may have once looked?

I have an other side notch that's smaller then a penny I found along the Arkansas river further to the south around Salida, Colorado. I like to look amongst the piñon forests for artifacts. I'm sure the native hunters knew how they could hide in those piñon forest to ambush many deer.

Both of your finds are Late Prehistoric arrow points and the first one you posted an image of fits in with these damaged examples from my collection of Kansas and Nebraska pieces.

You're probably correct about the deer hunting scenario.

 

[tamrock]

Both of your finds are Late Prehistoric arrow points and the first one you posted an image of fits in with these damaged examples from my collection of Kansas and Nebraska pieces.

You're probably correct about the deer hunting scenario.

Ok, My thoughts were this broken piece was maybe from tribes that entered the area from the south by the Rio Grande and over Poncha pass to access the upper Arkansas valley. So this piece most likely came in from the plains tribes up the Akansas or maybe from Wilkerson to Trout Creek pass via the region of Colorado Springs? I do believe the material it was made is from a far away source.

On another note, the sandstone the second arrowhead is on is a flat slab metate, concaved on both sides I found broken in the same area that I know is a type of sedimentary sandstone one would find on the high eastern plains of Colorado. I found every broken piece and put it all back together with Elmer's glue. It's held together for maybe 35 years now. I had it hung on the wall once, but mama didn't think it went with her idea of decor.