What material have you found that "doesnt belong" in your area?

[Hutch in PA]

What material have you found that "doesn't belong" in your area?

I'm always curious about finds made of materials that have traveled incredible distances. I find the vast majority of my artifacts along a major river here in PA. It was undoubtedly the 'turnpike' of their day. I don't have any really good examples to show...most everything I've come across was sourced locally or at most within a state or two. If you post, please provide the area of find and the estimated distance to the source site. Let's see if we can determine a 'winner' for greatest distance traveled!

 

[21stTNCav]

Re: What material have you found that "doesn't belong" in your area?

Well here goes. I know this will most likely not win, but it sure made me scratch my head. I live in Harlingen TX, on the outskirts. Our home is pretty old being built in 1952. The homesite is situated on about an acre and was most likely pasture before our home was built. When I got my Garrett GTI 2500 the first thing I did was of course run into the back yard and see how she worked. I found an rectangle piece of metal with a hole in one end. It wound up being a dog registration tag from 1947 before the house was built. Odder still it was from Indiana!! Go figure.

 

[coteau]

Re: What material have you found that "doesn't belong" in your area?

Obsidian seems to be the most common long-distance lithic material in this region. According to x-ray fluorescence studies, obsidian in ND comes from Obsidian Cliff, Wyoming. So, this arrowhead was made from obsidian that was quarried approximately 700 miles away. 700 miles actually isn't that far away for down-the-line trading, though.

This point was actually found in two pieces and glued back together.

There is also some obsidian in the Black Hills of SD, but x-ray sourcing shows that most obsidian found in this area comes from Obsidian Cliff, Wyoming, Yellowstone Park.

 

[artorius]

Re: What material have you found that "doesn't belong" in your area?

The first artifact I found, a heavily reworked Kirk knife of Coshocton Flint, I picked up in a gully outside of a parking lot just outside of Philadelphia. I was eight at the time. Many years later, when I began to seriously collect artifacts, I found that this flint came from eastern Ohio - about 400 miles away. Coshocton artifacts occasionally turn up in eastern Pennsylvania, but they are not common.

artorius

 

[lostlake88]

Re: What material have you found that "doesn't belong" in your area?

I found this Hopewell point in the Bluegrass region of Kentucky, it is made of some sort of coral.

 

[Th3rty7]

Re: What material have you found that "doesn't belong" in your area?

Two pieces of Coshocton I found in WV, a few hundred miles from the source.

 

[olroy70]

Re: What material have you found that "doesn't belong" in your area?

I find 'Texas opal' at sites around me. It is only found along the Rio Grande, 250 miles away.. Extremely hard, but have found scrapers to big pieces of it.

 

[The Grim Reaper]

Re: What material have you found that "doesn't belong" in your area?

I have a small Obsidian Triangle Point that I found here in southern Ohio. I don't know it's source, but since it isn't native to my area it had to travel a great distance to get here.

 

[rginn]

Re: What material have you found that "doesn't belong" in your area?

I'm not concerned about winning. There was a very extensive trade network in place, more so than most people realize or believe possible. In SW Oklahoma, we found a lot of Alibates flint, which came from north of Amarillo. We found obsidian and turquoise which the archy's speculated was obtained in trade from the Pueblan people. We found shell that came from the oceans. Spiro Mounds was a great place for trade items. The copper was obtained from the Great Lakes region and the conch shells came from the Gulf of Mexico, so I guess that stretches from border to border of the current US.

 

[lostlake88]

Re: What material have you found that "doesn't belong" in your area?

I have a small Obsidian Triangle Point that I found here in southern Ohio. I don't know it's source, but since it isn't native to my area it had to travel a great distance to get here.

I found a chunk of black obsidian in western Hamilton Co, Ohio. Interesting

 

[mootsman]

Re: What material have you found that "doesn't belong" in your area?

I hunt mostly around the intersection of the Fall Line and two rivers. Since this means good North-South and East-West corridors, I fairly regularly find cherts for which the nearest quarry is a couple hundred miles away. Most recently some folks IDed a point that I found as Paoli Chert. From what I can determine the source of this would be over 600 miles from my area.

 

[jpitt1970]

Re: What material have you found that "doesn't belong" in your area?

I found a Bowtie Gorget in Northwest Florida. The material is green slate that originates from Ohio, over 900 miles away

 

[Hutch in PA]

Re: What material have you found that "doesn't belong" in your area?

Well, I don't know who the winner is...let's just say everyone who finds something of interest is a winner! Thanks for the updates everyone. I enjoyed.

 

[uniface]

Re: What material have you found that "doesn't belong" in your area?

Our camera doesn't load pictures to the computer now for some reason, or I'd illustrate it : a Hardaway point (type III) of North Carolina Metarhyolite, found near the forks of the Susquehanna in east-central Pennsylvania.

Gary Fogelman found a trade blank of Paoli (Carter County, Ky.) chert on a site in Lycoming Co. Penna. It's illustrated on the cover of one of his books.

 

[Ohio_Doug]

Re: What material have you found that "doesn't belong" in your area?

I have a small Obsidian Triangle Point that I found here in southern Ohio. I don't know it's source, but since it isn't native to my area it had to travel a great distance to get here.

I have found some obsidian here in Jackson Ohio, no finished pieces but small chunks of it.