Arrowheads?

[indiucky]

Anyone know anything about arrow heads? (or spear or knives) My youngest found this yesterday. I am mostly interested in figuring out how to date it….and what it was used for?

Archaic period
It's a tang knife
looks of a style more common in the western states than here but that doesn't mean squat....it was found here so it's from here....
I'd say it's late archaic hafted Ledbetter knife...

Condition is everything and the condition on that piece is gorgeous...very nice....I am just curious as to where the chert came from....

 

[indiucky]

Corrected again. Atleast there is an endless amount of things to learn.

It's a nice hafted knife...late archaic...would have looked like this when he lost it lol....it's in too good of shape to have not been lost....I bet he looked around for an hour after dropping it lol....

 

[indiucky]

Figure out where the flint is from.....that will tell you a lot.....Indiana Hornstone is just found in one little section of Harrison county on the river yet artifacts made from it have been found in 48 states and Spain....

Yes Spain...but you all are not ready for that conversation.....




























Here is a map of all of the chert outcroppings and type in Indiana....

 

[indiucky]

 

[indiucky]

I want you all to carefully look at the condition of this knife blade...It's perfect...so we know at some point roughly 2000 years ago some dad just got done skinning a deer...set his knife down and spent the next two hours crawling on an Indiana forest floor saying, "have you kids seen my knife??? hey...can everyone take a moment to help me find my knife??? Where the F did I lay that thing down...Hey honey can you unwrap the meat from the hide and see if I left in there???...Well I hope the SOB that finds that knife one day appreciates it....that thing was brand new...I traded half a deer hide for that chert...."

 

[Leadeye]

I'm guessing that the local flint knapper back then was well provided for, unless it was a skill that everybody had. Maybe like many skills today there were people of variable ability.

 

[cg21]

I want you all to carefully look at the condition of this knife blade...It's perfect...so we know at some point roughly 2000 years ago some dad just got done skinning a deer...set his knife down and spent the next two hours crawling on an Indiana forest floor saying, "have you kids seen my knife??? hey...can everyone take a moment to help me find my knife??? Where the F did I lay that thing down...Hey honey can you unwrap the meat from the hide and see if I left in there???...Well I hope the SOB that finds that knife one day appreciates it....that thing was brand new...I traded half a deer hide for that chert...."




View attachment 355496

I appreciate the narration

 

[indiucky]

I'm guessing that the local flint knapper back then was well provided for, unless it was a skill that everybody had. Maybe like many skills today there were people of variable ability.

I've seen that chert before in Floyd county...I just went through a couple of my trays and it's well represented...not as much as Indiana hornstone but close....I think the chert is from down here........I've got a broken scraper base I found in Georgetown when I was a kid that looks like if came off the same chunk of chert as that blade.....

 

[indiucky]

I'm guessing that the local flint knapper back then was well provided for, unless it was a skill that everybody had. Maybe like many skills today there were people of variable ability.

It kind of looks like it may have been buried in yellow ochre...which would throw my whole "he lost it" theory out the window and...my piece isn't quite as yellow and that blade looks like it's not been used, much if at all...maybe wrapped in ochre cached???

 

[ibbob]

Oh cool, an SME on points! My grandfather found these in Starke Co. @indiucky Do any of these catch your eye?

 

[BehindBlueI's]

He knows more about this stuff than anybody I've met here.

That's a long way to say "nerd", but yeah.

 

[indiucky]

That's a long way to say "nerd", but yeah.

His name was to be "Ohio" Jones...at least until Spielberg, by chance, met a teenage Indiucky, packing a revolver and wearing his trademark fedora.... on the banks of the Ohio below the Falls....

In honor of that meeting he changed the name of his hero to "Indiana" Jones....


And now you know...the rest of the story......

 

[indiucky]

Oh cool, an SME on points! My grandfather found these in Starke Co. @indiucky Do any of these catch your eye?
View attachment 355505View attachment 355506

Yes...all of them....there are some neat points there...a couple that have been reworked...very nice....

 

[atticachert]

Northwest IN

That’s a big one of that style for NW Indiana. They are more known for being found in Missouri and southern Illinois but we do get them in northern Indiana. They are usually 1 1/2- 2” long maybe. Not sure on the material. Looks like possibly Hixson? Is it Translucent?

 

[cg21]

That’s a big one of that style for NW Indiana. They are more known for being found in Missouri and southern Illinois but we do get them in northern Indiana. They are usually 1 1/2- 2” long maybe. Not sure on the material. Looks like possibly Hixson? Is it Translucent?

I mean not completely but can definitely see light on the edges

 

[w_ADAM_d88]

This is a favorite I found, not in Indiana though. Found this one in Waco, TX along the banks of the Brazos River.

 

[indiucky]

That’s a big one of that style for NW Indiana. They are more known for being found in Missouri and southern Illinois but we do get them in northern Indiana. They are usually 1 1/2- 2” long maybe. Not sure on the material. Looks like possibly Hixson? Is it Translucent?

It's hard to say without having it in hand but I have seen that material quite a bit in Floyd county...a guy who used to come in my shop said he's found quite a bit of it along the river between New Albany and the casino in Harrison county......

I think it may be this.....

Carter Cave Chert / Paoli Chert

Description of Carter Cave Chert / Paoli Chert

www.projectilepoints.net

 

[yetti462]

What amazes me is the trade of material across the country. Obsidian from Yellowstone has been found east of the Mississippi, Indiana hornstone all over.

I know a guy that found a Mayan artifact in Ripley county. Amazing to think about their capabilities back then.

 

[indiucky]

What amazes me is the trade of material across the country. Obsidian from Yellowstone has been found east of the Mississippi, Indiana hornstone all over.

I know a guy that found a Mayan artifact in Ripley county. Amazing to think about their capabilities back then.

The state had a shell gorget they'd found down at Clark's cabin at the Falls of the Ohio state park (before a meth head burned it down) that was this gorgeous purple....that shell is only found on the coast of Maine lol.....Like I said earlier, Indiana hornstone (Harrison county flint) has been found in 48 states and (allegedly) at some Solutrean sites in Spain.....the rivers were highways and I imagine the Falls of the Ohio was quite the trading center back in the day.....still is lol....

 

[Vapor Trail]

State?..Maybe I missed that part..
Doesn't look old judging from flaking on edges.
Post it on Artifact Addictions and get an opinion..lots of experts there..