STOP! - Arrowhead Collecting On The Web

More documents

Recommendations

Info

ACOTW TM Arrowhead Collecting On The Web e-Mail Letters To The Editor: October 18, 2009 Hey Scott, Here is the story of our finds in central Oregon. My wife’s uncle owns a considerable plot of land (ranch) in the juniper country of Central Oregon, east of Bend. One can grow detached from nature living in the metro area of any city (we reside in Portland) and so we decided to head out to his ranch for a week-long getaway to what was, for us, unknown country. Upon arriving we discovered there was little to no water on the entire ranch (save the occasional cattle pond), eliminating any sort of fishing and reserving activities to either hiking or horseback riding. The dust and considerable mid-day temperatures drove us to choose horseback riding and on our second day there, took off at daybreak for a ride. My wife’s uncle had informed us of several dried-up lakes which, if you get there early enough, sometimes will have deer grazing on the sparse grass that pokes through the alkali mud. We chose the closest one and set off on a 2 hour rocky ride with little more than a cattle path to guide us. The lake must have been no more than 5-6 feet deep at its prime and looked to presently contain a few inches of water on a wet year. Steep banks surrounded the entire lake, which lead up to a nearly continuous level terrace. As we were passing over one part of the terrace we noticed black flakes everywhere, sometimes so thick one couldn’t move without stepping on a dozen or so. I thought it may be an archeological site but was unsure due to my lack of experience on the matter. My suspicions were confirmed, however, when I noticed a point sticking directly out of the ground. I picked it up and about that time my son yelled that he found one as well. A few hours later we had found four nice points and several handfuls of Top is an undisturbed artifact in the dry soil of the ranch in Eastern Oregon. The volcanic ash rich soil clings to the point even afer the point is pulled from the ground. broken ones. We reported the news back to my wife’s uncle who assured us that there were many such sites around that lake and in other places on the ranch, telling us to feel free to pick up whatever we could find. He showed us a collection that he had framed and hung on the wall of a couple hundred points that he had “happened upon” while working. The points were all shapes and sizes, most beautifully made and all from obsidian. Upon our return, we purchased literature on point typology and have (continued...) Volume I, Number 7 8 November 2009
ACOTW TM Arrowhead Collecting On The Web determined that the points we found that day are of the Cascade/Early Leaf type and among the broken pieces were Windust and Cougar Mountain points. The thrill of holding something that likely hadn’t been held for thousands of years and fashioned by an unknown people for an unknown purpose sparked something within me and I have been an avid collector ever since. It has only been a little over a year since our first finds but we have already returned to the site numerous times and have sought out new sites only to be rewarded with more ancient finds. Our “whole” or “all there” finds have included Windust, Cascade, Silver Lake and Haskett types from our initial site and Elko, Pinto Basin and Gatecliff from other sites on the ranch. While we are no experts, I think it’s safe to say that people have been occupying the property and leaving traces of that occupation since early archaic times. How exciting! Your publication has been another great find for us, giving us a wealth of knowledge on the subject as well motivating us with stories of great finds sent in from your readers. Please, by all means, keep it up! Jason Davis October 22, 2009 Sorry for the delay. We have Windows 7 launching today and have been busy all week. Here are pics from our most recent visit to the ranch. This is a 4” Windust or Cody complex knife. The insitu pic is just that, I hadn’t even touched yet and called for Daniel to come over and take a photo. The following pic is only a few seconds out of the ground. I will try and get a cleaned up pic for you as well since it has beautiful mahogany obsidian striations. Thanks! Jason Publisher’s e-mail address: fscottcrawford@ arrowheadcollectingontheweb.com Top isthe same Cody or Windust Point, cleaned up, showing the streaks of mohogany color in the obsidian. The second photograph is an edge view to show additional detail of this fine point’s design and workmanship by the aboriginal knapper. Below are three additional excellent dart and spear points or knife blades from the ranch. Each one is a different style of blade, from Pinto Basin on the left to an excellent Cascade on the right. Volume I, Number 7 9 November 2009
Page 1 and 2: ACOTW TM Welcome To www.ArrowheadCo
Page 3 and 4: ACOTW TM Arrowhead Collecting On Th
Page 7: ACOTW TM Arrowhead Collecting On Th
Page 11 and 12: ACOTW Arrowhead Collecting On The W
Page 13 and 14: ACOTW Arrowhead Collecting On The W
Page 17: If you collect arrowheads, before y

STOP! - Arrowhead Collecting On The Web

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?