In search of ancient weapons

[DIM TIM]

This post isn't about guns, but it is sort of hunting related.

One of the things that I like to do, that could sort of be considered a hobby of sorts, is to talk with the farmers, and get permission to hunt their fields in the spring just before planting time, and in the fall right after the harvest, to search for indian artifacts ( arrowheads, spear points, knives, drills, etc,.

It is a great way for me to get some extra time in the great outdoors, some good exercise, and some nice artifacts if it is a good day.
One of the things that facinates me the most about them, is the fact that some guy that lived hundreds, and quite often thousands of years ago, took a piece of stone, and made a tool that would help him to get some meat, hides, and in some cases, bone tools for his family and community ( read tribe ).

My last good find was in Culver, Indiana, along the shore of Lake Maxinkuckee. I was there for a family reunion of my mother's family, and there is a shelter house that sits along the shore, right above a public beach.
I was going to my car, to get a soda from the small cooler I had in it. As I started back, I happened to look down in some decorative stone that is right in front of the shelter house, and noticed a tube shaped piece of stone that was almost the same color as the stone in the decorative flower beds in front. I thought it was rather odd looking, and decided to keep it. Good thing I did.

When I was at home a few months later, quite by accident, I found a picture of something just like it in a book that I had just purchased on making authentic indian items.

It is a weight that was attached to gill nets that were floated by logs in the lakes, rivers, and streams to catch fish.

So, the next time I go, I plan to walk 100 yds. in both directions, and see if I can maybe find any more while I'm there. You never know until you look.

 

[jlm223]

Grew up in Kentucky, when I was a kid we would spend a lot of time digging up stuff,sometimes we would set up camp. Friends relatives has several nice pieces some worth lot of money to collectors, me not so many, now days it's really frowned upon, you will get arrested.

 

[Ashkelon]

Try some of the river bottom land down off US 52 in West Harrison Indiana. Indiana University just wrapped up an archaelogical dig there this summer. The whole whitewater valley was full of Indian settlements. My family has found many nice points just hiking around or working the fields.

 

[BIGE7.62]

Farm fields aren't plowed and turned over like they use to be ,so it's hard to find things in farm fields now .Like was posted earlier look around moving water . Good luck and post some pics of what you find .

 

[den57]

Turned fields are great spots for Indian artifacts. look for fields close to creeks and stream's. I use to work for a local Farm/Agr. support company and would always spend time looking for arrowheads while waitting on the spay rigs to empty out or while out taking soil samples.

One of the salemen for the company was always finding Indian artifacts and had quite a collection and most all of them were found in Shelby, Johnson and Morgan Co's.

 

[trophy hunter]

i have found a nice collection of points, pipe and drills here in jefferson county...

 

[ThrottleJockey]

Grew up in Kentucky, when I was a kid we would spend a lot of time digging up stuff,sometimes we would set up camp. Friends relatives has several nice pieces some worth lot of money to collectors, me not so many, now days it's really frowned upon, you will get arrested.

Could someone please explain to me why one would get arrested? Am I really that stupid to not understand this?

 

[Coydog]

I found an arrowhead next to my mailbox post and another one next to a sidewalk. The latter was interesting because it was made from stone with fosssils in it.

 

[AGarbers]

Could someone please explain to me why one would get arrested? Am I really that stupid to not understand this?

Someone else might better explain this but my understanding is, in Indiana it is OK to collect items on the surface on private property, but digging is not allowed. The idea is digging into sites destroys any information that might be gleaned from how things were laid out. Archaeologists realize that their methods are always improving. Just like crime investigation has drastically improved, and will continue to do so, archaeology will too. So digging up a site contaminates it, causing information that might have been found with these new methods to be destroyed.
These sites are also considered to be part of our heritage, and as such, belong to everyone to enjoy forever. While a point or pot shard is really cool, it is just about worthless to science once it’s in a cigar box with a bunch of others points.
On the other side, if a plow brings something to the surface not a whole lot more damage can be done unless you go below the depth of the plow cut.

 

[AGarbers]

Years ago I had an archaeologist tell me that over the past 25,000 years someone has lived just about everywhere. If something makes you place a good home site to you it would be a good home site to someone else in the past.
This is especially true on low hills near water. They wanted to be above floods, away from bugs, near good farming, and have good views in case of attack.
The classic example is that site west of Franklin.

 

[redlegrod]

I have found a lot of items here in Miami County. (arrowheads, axe heads)

 

[ThrottleJockey]

I would really like to see a law preventing me from digging arrowheads or even bone on my own property or any other property where I have permission from the owner. There are protected areas, and there is protocol for making a new area protected. BUT I am nearly POSITIVE that there is no blanket law in regards to the issue. There are VERY specific criteria that must be met for an area to even be considered for protection. There are for a FACT laws protecting property rights though. Heck, LEOs around here don't even know the gun laws and traffic laws, I really doubt there are any that would arrest you for picking arrow heads.

 

[Flintlock]

Surface collection of artifacts, in Indiana, is legal so no problems there. HOWEVER, if you purposely dig with the intent of looking for artifacts older than 1870, it is illegal--regardless of whether or not it is private property. You're allowed to dig on your own property, sure, but if you are digging with the intent to find archaeological artifacts, it is illegal. All archaeological excavations in Indiana must be approved by the DNR and digs must be headed by someone with a phd in archaeology. There are only about 25 people in Indiana with a phd in archaeology.

http://www.in.gov/dnr/historic/files/lawqa.pdf

 

[thompal]

Surface collection of artifacts, in Indiana, is legal so no problems there. HOWEVER, if you purposely dig with the intent of looking for artifacts older than 1870, it is illegal--regardless of whether or not it is private property. You're allowed to dig on your own property, sure, but if you are digging with the intent to find archaeological artifacts, it is illegal. All archaeological excavations in Indiana must be approved by the DNR and digs must be headed by someone with a phd in archaeology. There are only about 25 people in Indiana with a phd in archaeology.

http://www.in.gov/dnr/historic/files/lawqa.pdf

So, you should always dig with the intent of looking for artifacts from 1871. If you just happen to find something older, you should be fine. Right?

 

[AGarbers]

I used to work at Diamond Chain in downtown Indy. What few people realize is that ground was once a graveyard from about the time the city was founded until sometime in the late 1800s. However, the river kept washing coffins out when it flooded. They decided to move the bodies to Crown Hill and turn it into a baseball field. Around the 1920s Diamond Chain bought the grouns, added six feet of fill, and built the plant.
Several times while I was working there they added heat-treating furnaces. They had to dig down about 15 feet for the quench oil tank pits, and every time they dug, they found human remains and headstones. And everytime that happened, all work stopped until the state came in and carefully removed all of it.
I saw much of it, and it was very interesting, and creepy at night. If you think Hanna House is haunted... How about a place where hundreds, if not thousands of displaced bodies could still exist, including CS prisoners of war that died at Camp Morton just a few blocks north.

 

[jlm223]

Could someone please explain to me why one would get arrested? Am I really that stupid to not understand this?

I was referring to KY. government land, digging, not picking up arrow heads on top of the ground from private land, I hope this and the other post has helped you understand.

 

[Hoosier8]

I used to work at Diamond Chain in downtown Indy. What few people realize is that ground was once a graveyard from about the time the city was founded until sometime in the late 1800s. However, the river kept washing coffins out when it flooded. They decided to move the bodies to Crown Hill and turn it into a baseball field. Around the 1920s Diamond Chain bought the grouns, added six feet of fill, and built the plant.
Several times while I was working there they added heat-treating furnaces. They had to dig down about 15 feet for the quench oil tank pits, and every time they dug, they found human remains and headstones. And everytime that happened, all work stopped until the state came in and carefully removed all of it.
I saw much of it, and it was very interesting, and creepy at night. If you think Hanna House is haunted... How about a place where hundreds, if not thousands of displaced bodies could still exist, including CS prisoners of war that died at Camp Morton just a few blocks north.

I had to look that up. I live near the old camp Morton (Herron Morton area). I found where it says that at one time there were as many as 5000 prisoners there in 1864 and a record of 1763 that died in the camp with 7 of them killed while trying to escape. A local undertaker had a contract to bury them in the old city cemetery. At one time there were at least 2000 sick and dying from disease in part caused by the conditions.

Fascinating piece of history I knew nothing about.

 

[ThrottleJockey]

I had to look that up. I live near the old camp Morton (Herron Morton area). I found where it says that at one time there were as many as 5000 prisoners there in 1864 and a record of 1763 that died in the camp with 7 of them killed while trying to escape. A local undertaker had a contract to bury them in the old city cemetery. At one time there were at least 2000 sick and dying from disease in part caused by the conditions.

Fascinating piece of history I knew nothing about.

Yes, it is truly disgusting the way the union army treated our freedom fighting confederate brothers.

 

[PatriotPride]

So, you should always dig with the intent of looking for artifacts from 1871. If you just happen to find something older, you should be fine. Right?

Exactly. They can try and restrict our freedom until they're blue in the face. There is ALWAYS a way around it.

Yes, it is truly disgusting the way the union army treated our freedom fighting confederate brothers.

Yes it is. I'm expecting this post and yours to be censored---but in any event, it truly is disgusting how the Federal government treated the Confederate soldiers---soldiers from another COUNTRY. People quickly forget history, or they believe the lies that they are taught.

Remember---history repeats itself.

 

[Rey B]

The area around Lake Maxinkuckee is a rich one. The Potawatomi and other tribes lived there for a long time. I work at CMA's summer camp teaching nature courses. The kids bring stuff to show me all the time. Both arrow heads and fossils. In 2008 a guy that was expanding his pond a few miles from the lake found Mastodon bones. The museum people from Indianapolis set up a dig and found two complete skeletons and a ground sloth skeleton. We were invited to come and observe the dig. Rather cool.