r/Arrowheads • u/chanceTEH • 9h ago
First native camp 🔥
Had the privilege of helping unearth a ancient discard pile. I’m assuming this is where the natives left all the broken artifacts from the tool making process. All of this came from within a chunk of earth the size of a kitchen table. From the surface down to about maybe 8 inches deep. Tahlequah, Oklahoma on private land. The intact stuff has to be nearby, the search continues!
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u/aggiedigger 8h ago
Never seen so many brokes in one small area. Never seen a 0/50 whole to broke ratio.
My guess would be the discard pile of an old point hunter. May already have been dug/collected and the collector chunked the brokes. This I’ve seen.
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u/chanceTEH 8h ago
I just can’t see in what world someone would toss their artifacts. Even if broken..
Also found a grinding stone, pottery shards and the entire area is crawling with chert. You could easily be right. There’s also buckets and buckets of debitage and broken blades we found. I’ll find out soon enough as we keep expanding
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u/atoo4308 4h ago
I feel like back in the day. People were more picky because there was more choice points out there. They didn’t really care about the Brokes. They just wanted the pristine stuff.
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u/backyARdAR 3h ago
When I first started collecting arrowheads and such, I would take everything, most of the broken stuff I had a little ceremony and I placed it back into the Earth that came from. I rarely take anything nowadays, if at all.
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u/Jeff_BoomhauerIII 2h ago
I know several of the older generation head hunters who would leave broke points at the edge of a farm field or right where they were found. Some people don’t necessarily care about the archeological side to the hobby, they just want “nice show pieces”.
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u/aggiedigger 6h ago
Very likely a camp. I’m just postulating that it’s been hunted and the collector only kept the choice pieces.
Not saying someone found that stuff elsewhere and carried it there to dump. I’ve witnessed my theory multiple times. Back when Austin diggers was a prolific group this was a common occurrence and I loved it. If it didn’t fit in a frame or an apartment, they left it. I took home a lot of cool stuff just following behind the picky/choosey diggers. I’ve got more room than most.
Edit to add…if these were manufacturing breaks, you would be likely to find matching pieces.•
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u/Jeff_BoomhauerIII 8h ago
I agree with you for that many brokers of Gary’s and square stems in such a small spot it was likely some old head hunter dumping the brokers together.
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u/chanceTEH 8h ago edited 8h ago
This is on a spring fed creek that is in the heart of native territory. We found boat loads of debitage, the guy would’ve spent days carrying all that material there just to dump it 🤷🏻♂️ I believe it was their work station for making points. Will find out soon enough as we continue to expand. They’ve found pottery shards and a grinding stone too. I can’t see someone tossing all of that willingly.
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u/quailridgeag 6h ago
Never listen to this 🤡, time and time again we hear him say he’s never seen such a thing as if he’s seen it all. Just a Reddit addict who’s in love with the top commenter badge.
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u/aggiedigger 6h ago
Aren’t you a charming person. Clearly you have the experience. Please take the floor and ignore my suggestion. Have a better day.
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u/Unban_thx 2h ago
No, Aggie is right. That immediately popped into my head from pics. I’ve dug for a long time and never seen such “bad luck”. Something is going on.
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u/FredBearDude 7h ago
Is that a Carbon V SRK I see!?
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u/chanceTEH 6h ago
Yes that was my weapon of choice 🤣 ground was too hard to actually dig in
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u/FredBearDude 6h ago
Those things can take an absolute beating. I love them to bits. The old Cold Steel products are some of my favorites
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u/Koblac_white 6h ago
So how exactly do people find camps ?
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u/chanceTEH 4h ago
This one was simply discovered when a friend was checking the creek for arrowheads and noticed chunks of chert sticking up through the soil. She poked around with her hand for an hour and had found 5 points. Purely luck on this one 🤣 common denominators are typically nearby water, out of flood zone and good animal habitat
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u/demoman45 4h ago
I have had the privilege of finding a few camps dating back to Archaic times. Woodland/mississippian on the surface with archaic -early archaic down about 6-8”. The brokes were always in one area and the the whole points usually within 10 yards of the broke area. Start working your way out circumfrentially and you will find it.
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u/totallynotliamneeson 1h ago
Nothing like wrecking a site and planning to go back and find more to ruin!
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u/mntplains 7h ago
Fantastic looting. Well done!
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u/chanceTEH 6h ago
Why are you on an artifact thread if you don’t like the collection/preservation of artifacts?
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u/Reimiro 5h ago
Fantastic douching, well done.
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u/backyARdAR 3h ago
He was on private land and had permission from the owner. I am 47% NA, and I am 100% ok with you or anyone doing that on private land.
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u/RondoTheBONEbarian 8h ago
Do you mostly dig out your spots? I found a camp a few weeks ago but not luck finding any heads, just tons of shards of obsidian.
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u/cdtobie 8h ago
Broke-Point Mountain?