Collecting Native American Artifacts
Not just rocks!
It's been a few days since I've posted anything, so I wanted to take the time to tell you about one of my main hobbies. I've been collecting artifacts since I was around 10 years old. My parents ultimately got me into this hobby by making amazing discoveries around our yard! Sadly, I don't have any photos of the arrowheads we had found when I was younger, but I do have some photos of my more recent finds!
The frame below was NOT found by me. I did take the photo though at a local artifact show.
It is always a thrilling experience to walk up on a man-made artifact that can potentially be thousands of years old. Several different types of paleolithic types of artifacts can be found in my area, including Clovis and Dalton arrowheads. These are some of the oldest known artifacts that occur in my area. They're extremely rare too, that's why I don't have any photos of them. The photo above actually represents about 12,000 years worth of artifacts. The oldest points in the frame are over 10,000 years old, and the newest is around 650 or so years old. It's a very nice collection.
Though I don't have any that are as old as the oldest ones above, I do have quite a few that age anywhere from about 8000 years and newer. The point below is known as an Adena style blade. The age range on this type of point, and similar styles are somewhere in the neighborhood of 1,500 to 3,000 years old. Adena blades are one of the most common type of arrowhead a person can find in my area. Prices for Adena blades vary anywhere from $5 to well over $10,000 per piece depending on the quality of the blade in general. This is just a typical Adena point, not worth much over $15.
I usually find individual pieces scattered far apart from each other, but every once in a while I find caches of artifacts that were grouped together. It is exceedingly rare to find a cache of any type of artifact, but it does happen. I was walking the riverbank one afternoon after a long flood, hoping the water had washed something out of the ground. I had probably been there for half an hour when I stumbled onto the first cache blade laying in the sand. Then I saw another laying just feet away, and then another, and another, and another! I knew I had just found a cache. It was exciting! Once I picked the last one up I knew there had to be more, so I began looking higher on the steep bank, and what I found up there was amazing. There were layers of these artifacts just sitting there, all sticking out of the riverbank! I called my brother and told him about my luck. Needless to say, he was a little jealous of my discovery (later that week he found a cache himself that was completely breathtaking).
In total, my cache contained 19 blades. These blades were extremely valuable to Native Americans, and something bad must have happened to it's original owner. They just wouldn't abandon their possessions like that. The area could have very well been destroyed by an enormous flood.
Arrowheads aren't the only artifacts a person can find on a hunt. There's always a chance of finding an axe, celt, hammerstones, pottery, beads, bone fishhooks, and bannerstones.
Bannerstones were used as weights for atlatls. An atlatl is a type of device that would effectively lengthen the arm of the spear thrower. They allowed spears to be thrown at greater velocity and distance. Finding a bannerstone is a lifetime achievement for a collector. They are one of the rarest artifacts a person can find. The bannerstone pictured below has been valued at more than $250,000 USD, and the man who found it was lucky enough to find an almost identical one on the very same day! 
Here is another example of an atlatl in it's complete form. You have a handle made of animal bone, a bannerstone for weighing the atlatl down, and a hooked piece of deer antler. The spears would be hollowed out in order to fit it on the hook.
Complete hardstone axes are also hard to find. It had been a lifelong dream of mine to find a full-grooved axe. One day while walking on a high ridge that had been cleared by heavy machinery, I finally found my axe. It was in a small site that was strewn with pieces of hardstone pebbles. At first I thought it was just a pebble, but my brother said "That's an axe!" I pried it out of the ground, and sure enough it was a full grooved axe! Believe it or not, later that week I found another one as well!
There is also a type of axe that lacks a groove entirely. These are called celts. I believe these were used to hollow out trees to make boats and other things. The way they were mounted suggests that's what they were used for. They were mounted like a hoe onto a piece of wood. Celts are gorgeous little artifacts. I've been lucky enough to find two of these.
I've got many stories about my artifact outings, and if you'd like to hear about them, let me know in the comments. I'd be glad to share my stories! I have many more photos of my finds I'll post as well. This hobby is a passion of mine, nothing beats walking up on a perfect arrowhead laying in the dirt.
Our river levels are dropping quickly now that the flood is over, I'll be heading down to the riverbank very soon. Wish me luck! If you have any questions regarding artifacts, let me know and I'll answer them as best I can.
Storm spotter for the National Weather Service office out of Louisville, Kentucky.
Amateur photographer, capturing as many of life's amazing moments as I possibly can.
Proud former student of @markrmorrisjr and @dolphinschool. Feel free to check out both accounts as they are loaded with tips and tricks for becoming a more successful Steemian.
Love this post. What a unique hobby to have. You have to get out of that job and find a way to make a living storm chasing, relic hunting, and with photography!
I'm out of that job for the moment. It's a temporary layoff. I've been looking for another one, but the choices in my area are slim. Now I don't have any sort of income at the moment. I'm not about to sell my artifacts, they're too hard to find! Lol. I've walked hundreds of miles worth of creeks, fields, and rivers to find what I have found. I'll find something better soon, that's a promise!
I love this post and theese are really unique artifacts you have here 😉 truly amazing to se.
Thank you for sharing and I'm looking forward to se more 😊 cheers!
Thank you :)
This is a fascinating post. Really, really interesting material, great storytelling, relevant and personal photos. As always, awesome content. Glad to see you posting. :)
Also--you should bop into @dolphinschool discord: https://discord.gg/me2EX5
I just hopped in there. Thanks!
You must have a good eye, to find all of those. Maybe there just aren't very many where I live, though this was Dakota and Ojibwa country. About the only thing I ever found was an eight-inch stone that had been formed into a spearhead, but was very rough and unfinished.
Someone told me that, if you head out to a freshly plowed field, sometimes the digger heads turn up arrow points. Any idea if that's true?
While hiking in Spain, though, there are so may ruins and worked stones. A group of us used to hike through the area frequently and the guide (history buff) showed us cave paintings from the Bronze Age.
Plowed fields are actually one of the best places to look! A lot of buried artifacts get pushed to the surface by the farmers. I'd love to see paintings in caves like that. I've never gotten to see any. They're found in my area but I've never stumbled across any yet. There's supposed to be a cave that is full of them somewhere near here, but I've searched for it many times with no luck.
Arrowheads are fascinating. Thank you for sharing your collection and all of that information. My family used to find them in the fields of our farm. My mother has boxes of our old collection still. I love how they are always unique. Happy hunting!
I'd love to see some of them someday!
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You're in NM? I'm from Alto, though I live in NYC now.
I'm from Indiana, but I do have friends in NM. Did I say NM somewhere? Hope not haha. :)
LOL no, there's a town called Clovis in NM and there are a lot of ruins and ghost towns and remains of ancient civilizations in that area. That's what I get for assuming/wishful thinking! :P
Clovis NM is where the Clovis point got it's name! I should have known it had something to do with the Clovis lol. :)
Sweet pieces of history man!