Seriously, though Charley, that hook doesn't look old. It looks like wrought iron and depending on where you found it, could be a clue about some of the other finds around it. Judging by how corroded it is, its recent (200 years more or less tops). If it were very old, it would be dust by now.
You may find other pieces of it around or it got discarded because it was broken. You near any old trails or wagon roads?
Morning Monk.
The Old Chisholm Trail crossed Brushy Creek about 3 miles upstream:
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/books/texascl ... -0013.html
http://www.roundrocktexas.gov/home/index.asp?page=952
When I first discovered the site, about 1.5 years ago, I did find a few horseshoes, part of an iron wagon wheel, a few square nails and what appeared to be the remnants of a spur, all lying on top of the alluvium.
I've found nothing of the sort since very early on. The alluvium has eroded down quite a bit, and I've picked over the area, pretty much daily, since then. The Pleistocene gravels have only been recently exposed, and I'm guessing the settler stuff probably sifted down from the overlying topsoil, until it rested on the firm gravels. I've found no artifacts on the 300 yards of bedrock directly upstream from the alluvium, so my guess is the stuff didn't wash downstream, but sifted down from above.
The same family has owned the land adjacent to the creek, in the area of the site, since the mid 1800's. So this stuff may have been from some of the original settlers of the land.
