# My kind of spring cleaning, surface hunting flint , chert, obsidian relics.



## CreekWalker (May 27, 2016)

The fields are plowed and planted, the spring rains have settled the soil clods. It's time to surface hunt native American relics, if it's allowed in your state. You may find other items, marbles, for one, glass and pottery shards, which lead to further investigation of the area, coins, (yes, they do wash out) and fossils. Whose hunting? Here's last weeks Illinois finds, by Fieldwalker, my son in law.


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## sunrunner (May 27, 2016)

I would do the same thing on Ohio years ago.


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## CreekWalker (May 27, 2016)

Still legal there?


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## RCO (May 27, 2016)

you think there'd be some native artifacts around where I live , never really found any myself or knew where to look for them , also not sure what the rules are here


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## CreekWalker (May 27, 2016)

It's legal in most states on private property, as long as it's surface hunting, without excavation. Also, unlike privy digging,  where we use Sanborn maps, I use the historical record of sites and villages, to locate likely locations.


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## Tombstone Brick (May 28, 2016)

That's great fun here, after the spring winds we go out and hunt.


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## CreekWalker (May 28, 2016)

We had constant rain this spring, so the plowed fields were watered well, with good sediment of soil clods. We first check, with a local landowner, usually a family acquaintance or friend of a friend, after I've verified there was a native American presence at one time. I look for a hillside field  or a bare bluff above a large  stream or river. We scout on 4 wheel atv's, looking for flint or chert, since we have none naturedly, point and flint pieces stand out on the loamy soil. So this morning , we went hunting as a family group, with children, after a brief class of what to look for , we starting on a newly planted field. The area was rich with sandstone chunks, and cobble stones, so, the grand children kept anything that looked like a tomahawk , celt or grind stone.  The plow and disc had broken many a good projectile point, but we found a few complete ones, and a lot of heartbreakers. The first photo is the result of this morning hunt after weeding out the sandstone tomahawks.


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## CreekWalker (May 28, 2016)

After lunch , we went  to other location, not as trashy, but with more new growth and ground vegetation, which made spotting relics slightly more difficult. It was slow going, but had similar results, as the morning hunt. Photo posting is quirky tonight, so click on the links.View attachment 172092


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## CreekWalker (May 28, 2016)

One of the cool points was a narrow fishspear, a Benton or Table Rock type.


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## ScottBSA (May 30, 2016)

Very nice finds.  I'm glad it was a family adventure.

scott


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## CreekWalker (May 30, 2016)

Thanks , Scott. It's an annual family hunt. My son in law and I went back with metal probes, and spent about five hours, probing the most concentrated area , we surface hunted Saturday. We were surprised at the number of points and pieces we missed or stepped over, that was still on the surface. This is today's finds, which includes a nice polished wedge shaped celt and a sandstone nutting stone. View attachment 172137View attachment 172138View attachment 172139View attachment 172140


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## CreekWalker (Jun 12, 2016)

I checked out two sites this week, found a square knife and two tip less flint blades.
	

	
	
		
		

		
			












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## CreekWalker (Jun 12, 2016)

The next site is stream side, with objects washing out into it. So I find relics both on the bluffs and in the creek. Most blades and points are uniface, with crude flaked edges. I joke that this was a Neanderthal site, but in reality it was a late Nodina area , say 1000 AD to the 1400's. For some reason they had lost the ability to flake flint and chert as their earlier Paleo, archaic and Mississippian ancestors! They used what they found, with very little hand workmanship. 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	


























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## CreekWalker (Jun 12, 2016)

I found this object in context with the rest. An effigy of a turkey's head and maybe just a conglomerate. Some of the items above was a ground Celt or axe, a nutting stone or mortar, a crude knife I blade , a large spear point,


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## CreekWalker (Jun 12, 2016)

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## CreekWalker (Jun 12, 2016)

You can see pottery shards in the first photo, here is one with a hole drilled.
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




 The cylindrical and grooved object above made have been used with a flint drill , much like a detachable screwdriver with bits or used as a friction fire starter.


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## Ace31 (Jun 17, 2016)

Definitely some great finds there.


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