Sabre52
Cave Dweller 
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,492
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Post by Sabre52 on Aug 24, 2016 17:06:37 GMT -5
Howdy folks, Found most of these south end of Clear Lake in Commiefornia where the wife and I used to stay at a resort and hunt points along the shore at low water. A couple may be from Pope Valley where we used to dig on a friends ranch too. I lost my catalog years ago but I think most of these were scraped up with a three pronged cultivator when we dug down to bedrock. Lozenge and leaf shaped points of Mt. Konockti sp? obsidian were the rule. I've got some smaller ones with fancier bases but not sure what box they are in. These are pretty much all dart or spear point sizes and surely some are small knives too. Many are quite thick as compared to arrow points we also found in the area. Interestingly, these guys "killed" their really nice mortars or maybe they simply wore them through and chucked them but the bottom at low water, was full of acorn grinding bowls with no bottoms. Modern name for this culture was Lake Miwok but most of these probably predate them. Most are still razor sharp because they sunk to the bottom and were covered up and protected from wave action. Light colored one lower left is silver sheen obsidian which is very uncommon in the area...Mel  |
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Post by orrum on Aug 24, 2016 17:47:46 GMT -5
Super collection Mel!!!
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Fossilman
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,718 
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Post by Fossilman on Aug 25, 2016 9:26:41 GMT -5
BEAUTIFUL!!! All Obsidian Mel? And (or) some Chert?
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,600
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Post by jamesp on Aug 25, 2016 11:57:00 GMT -5
Oh yea, those are a score. Bet you guys had fun finding them.
question: Does the wave action move the sand around and force heavy objects to hit underlying bedrock thru constant settling ?
And even collect in the pockets of the bedrock, like divots and crevices ?
The limestone bottom rivers and creeks do this in Florida. Remove the sand overburden and then collect away.
Sometimes it is just harder soil they settle on top of. Same process.
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,600
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Post by jamesp on Aug 25, 2016 12:05:06 GMT -5
We find acorn bowls. On oak ridges. Apparently those oaks have been regenerating on those ridges for 1000+ years.
most made of soft granite plates about 1 inch thick, 3" X 4" and not fancy.
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,492
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Post by Sabre52 on Aug 25, 2016 13:27:58 GMT -5
Fossilman: Most all obsidian except one gray chert and one some kind of what we call sinter in Southern California. Kind of a frothy glassy stuff.
James, Yeah the points seem to work their way down to bedrock just like gold nuggets would do. Points lodge on edge in the ripples in the bottom which is kind of a hard siltstone like stuff. Pretty to miss them until you know what to look for. We were very unsuccessful in our hunts till right before we moved to Southern California. We heard the lake was quite low that October so borrowed my dad's boat and made a trip right before I moved south for my Ag Dept job. Met a guy at Lower Lake that was hunting with that cultivator technique and he showed us how. Best hunt we ever had without digging an actual village mound site like we had access to in Pope Valley. Nothing beats that kind of screening. Was sad to leave that ranch behind when we moved to Southern California. There we had access to a least a dozen untouched mounds.
James, A good friend used to have a huge ranch by Paso Robles , CA. Lots of in situ bedrock mortars there on oak covered hilltops. Coolest thing we ever fund was a single big flat boulder with one single big mortar hole and above it five or six smaller holes in a semi circle. Figured it was used for paints or maybe medicines.. We sat for quite awhile trying to figure out how to take it home but simply too big and too high on a peak to move.
My friend found the first rectangular, steatite container I've ever seen right near there when plowing a barley field. He just inherited one of those three ranches and the farm house. Hope he still has that container, as it was very neat....Mel
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Post by adam on Aug 25, 2016 13:54:40 GMT -5
Dang, that's a ton. Fabulous eye for arrowheads.
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Post by radio on Aug 25, 2016 14:35:53 GMT -5
Some dandies there! Awesome finds!
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,600
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Post by jamesp on Aug 26, 2016 8:44:16 GMT -5
Sabre52 I would be in heaven getting those in the lake bed. I have collected on/around mounds. Only if it is in a corn field and they are plowing it. Or where a dam backed up water on it. i think I have a mortar in a level granite boulder on this property. Looks like it and located appropriately. No doubts if you have a pattern of them as in your case. I find a higher than average density of walnut trees around Mississippi age Etowah mound sites. Curious if Native man established them as a fine food source.
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,492
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Post by Sabre52 on Aug 26, 2016 10:57:31 GMT -5
James, I suspect native Americans did plant trees in preferred areas. I do know that in California, they apparently planted Buckeye seeds near village sites, as we often spotted sites by the groves of trees and the presence of live water too. They needed the flowing water because ground up buckeye seeds are poisonous until left baskets in running water to leach out the toxins before processing. Pecan trees and Texas Walnut trees are usually in groves at villages and campsites here on our ranch in Texas too. Native Americans were very practical and I can see where it would be easy to plant a few nuts around their favorite camps to establish a permanent food source that would be easy to access. Gotta say though, Texas Walnuts would be a heck of a lot of work for a little nut meat, whereas pecans have a load of easy to get nutrition and native hard shell pecans taste out of this world good. When I'm hunting points the winter, I often get sidetracked, cracking and eating fresh pecans. Yum!!!!!.Mel
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Post by RickB on Aug 26, 2016 16:49:38 GMT -5
Nice find Mel and thanks for posting the pics. Here in South Carolina I've found several of the mortars with smaller indentations on them. Most people agree that they were used to crack nuts. Rick B
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