NC artifacts

[stan]

Okay, here goes. I shot these today and uploaded them on Photobucket.
Let's see if this works! I hope you enjoy it. Sort of fun to put together.
Charlie, eat your heart out!

This first group is called Savannah River, dated about 3000 BC. The largest piece about 2.5 inches long.


This Hardaway could be about 8000 BC. THis little beauty is about an inch long.


Kirks may be about 7000 BC. The small piece is just over an inch.


Guilfords are from about 3500 BC. These are up to three inches long.


These Big Sandys could be from about 6000 BC. A couple have been repurposed. The largest piece is about 3 inches long.


Well, Photobucket seems to work! What I am showing is the most of the best points I have, all gleaned from walking plowed fields over the years.
A lot of the points are broken, often by plows. My collection is not large, but just about everybody has a few "arrowheads" in their whatsit drawer.
And there are several very large and beautiful collections around the state. My uncle lined the top of a stone wall with maybe a hundred points embedded in concrete. i don't think any of the old timers who picked them up from their farms realiized that the pieces were so ancient. Another thing about my pieces is that most of them are weathered. THey are primarily flint or chert which by now has acquired a grey patina. And you can see that they are stained by our trademark red clay soil.

Lastly, here is an authoritative site on NC point types & chronology with excellent photos:

http://www.arch.dcr.state.nc.us/uwharrie/oliver25.html

[Minimalist]

Nice rocks.

[Cognito]

Those are nice points, Stan. Charlie will respond as soon as he stops kissing his computer screen.

[Minimalist]

[Charlie Hatchett]

Those are nice points, Stan. Charlie will respond as soon as he stops kissing his computer screen.

LMAO! Come here boy (imagine a big ol' noogy)...



And I see Min enjoyed your statement...

I admit it, I'm an addict...not even recovering...lol!!

Stan, your points are very nice: several Early Archaic and Transitional Paleo pieces... quite rare finds. Really nice job on the photography!! As you know, it's not easy to take photos which will bring out all the details of a piece.

Promise me you won't try to sell the pieces..at least not piecemeal. If you do sell them, sell them all together with a complete background from where they came. Too much good history there!!

Again, excellent pieces!!

[Frank Harrist]

Promise me you won't try to sell the pieces..at least not piecemeal. If you do sell them, sell them all together with a complete background from where they came. Too much good history there!!

Good advice, Charlie. It's the info that's important.

[Charlie Hatchett]

It's the info that's important.

Yeah, that's why hate to see people selling stuff off piecemeal...all the info and context is lost forever.

[War Arrow]

Stan said:

My collection is not large, but just about everybody has a few "arrowheads" in their whatsit drawer.

I'm living in the wrong bloody country! Admittedly when I was a kid growing up on a farm in the middle of nowhere, instead of arrowheads we had belemnites, ammonites, devil's toenail fossils and old bits of clay pipe turning up just about every time you stuck a trowel in the ground. Most were small but my dad found an ammonite the size of a car wheel, and nobody thought it was a big deal! Every kid at school had a shoebox full of the things. That's one thing I miss now I'm in a city. Sigh.
Anyway, very nice photos Stan. The thought of arrowtips being so commonplace as to be used in a wall is mind boggling to me.

[Cognito]

Promise me you won't try to sell the pieces..at least not piecemeal. If you do sell them, sell them all together with a complete background from where they came. Too much good history there!!

Excellent advice from Charlie. Keeping the provenance with the points is the way to go, the more information the better. I number all of my points after putting Paraloid B Lacquer on them first, ordered from Talas. Each artifact number refers to a date, location, and a brief story associated with its retrieval ... along with my amateur's attempt at identification. Many of them have yellow sticky pads attached to them instead of numbers right now since I need to find the time ...

[flintoff]

WA...where abouts were you brought up in England, anywhere near Northants? ...devils toenails lol...i used to love finding them when i was a kid...i found 1 only 2 weeks ago which happened to be the biggest iv ever seen, even when i was young id never found 1 this big...i did bring it home with me solely because of its size but for the life of me cant remember where i stashed it but it was massive lol.

[stan]

Thanks to everyone for their responses to my humble point collection.
I have some othe things to show you, even a slate tool, or two,
Flintoff....I had forgotten that I had them.

I have a question for Charlie and Cognito and Frank. What is dividing line between paleolithic and neolithic (and what was happening in the transition?) in the the American context?

Thanks again.

[Charlie Hatchett]

Thanks to everyone for their responses to my humble point collection.
I have some othe things to show you, even a slate tool, or two,
Flintoff....I had forgotten that I had them.

I have a question for Charlie and Cognito and Frank. What is dividing line between paleolithic and neolithic (and what was happening in the transition?) in the the American context?

Thanks again.

Hey Stan...still eating my heart out...

Here's a paper by Britt Bousman, from Texas State, addressing your question, as it pertains to Texas:

http://cayman.globat.com/~bandstexas.co ... ousman.pdf

[Charlie Hatchett]

Here's a Wilson Point I found at Subunit Lima-Igl:



http://cayman.globat.com/~bandstexas.co ... e%2019.jpg



http://cayman.globat.com/~bandstexas.co ... e%2020.jpg


See Bousman's article above, to see how these points were a major player in the transition between Early Paleo technologies to Late Paleo technologies to Early Archaic technologies. Again, it's not a linear change...but scattered, with many cultures tinkering with different technologies, apparently adapting to the changing environment post Clovis. The Wilson peeps created a technology that would eventually be embraced continent wide, 2500 years prior to anywhere else in the U.S. These peeps lived in an environment that allowed much free time to "ponder" and "create", whereas their West Texas brothers, living in a leaner environment, showed less technological innovation.

[stan]

Thanks, Charlie. I'll read your link tomorrow.
Your Wilson looks a lot like my Big Sandys.
I've seen Big Sandys from Tennessee, too.
One thing about mine is that they are both
knapped and ground. The hafts are ground.
Is that true of the Wilsons? Doesn't look like it from
your sample.

[Charlie Hatchett]

Thanks, Charlie. I'll read your link tomorrow.
Your Wilson looks a lot like my Big Sandys.
I've seen Big Sandys from Tennessee, too.
One thing about mine is that they are both
knapped and ground. The hafts are ground.
Is that true of the Wilsons? Doesn't look like it from
your sample.

Certainly looks as if the Big Sandy technology could have evolved from the Wilson technology. The two appear to have the same overall morphology. The Sandy's look a little thicker...maybe for bigger game??

They sure are nice.