Broken Arrowhead, July 2013.

Crying Piece: Slang in a tiny community of artifact hunters.  A broken arrowhead that would have knocked your socks off if it was whole. 

I found a crying piece the other day, the tie off of an arrowhead.  The stone is gorgeous and white, it has beautiful pressure flaking, and would have been oh so very gorgeous if it was whole. 

Really, I should just be thankful that I found a broken piece. 

Arrowhead hunting in Iowa. May, 2013.

I found this beautiful birdpoint on May 27th.  What a pretty little thing.  It's thin, the knapp marks are complicated, the flint is awesome and I'm a happy rock hunter.

Arrowhead Hunting in Iowa, April 2013. Points, Scrapers, Knifes, Hematite Piece, and more.

April 26th was a pretty excellent day for arrowhead hunting. The Midwest has been dealing with a lot of flooding...which is bad for basements but excellent for artifact/fossil hunters. The rain raises the water levels in small lakes, creeks, ditches, and rivers, the extra water erodes river bank walls and exposes new sand/rocks/dirt.  Here are some of the pieces we found.  Enjoy!

two perfect arrowheads.

Left of Right to bottom:  A beautiful turtle back scraper, a broken long, thin arrowhead, a Madison triangle with a busted tip, and a crude arrowhead.

Left to Right to bottom: A hematite knife or celt (this one is confusing to me, you don't often see hematite pieces, the base of a spear or knife, a scaper, and two knife.

As you can see, it was a very successful day.  The only piece that has me puzzled is the small hematite piece.  It's napped like a knife or scraper but I think it's a small celt.  Who knows?  I'll upload the videos to a youtube account and post the link here later.

Thanks for looking.

Arrowhead Hunting in Iowa. April, 2013.

I had a good weekend.  I found a ton of fossils in a creek bed, went to a benefit auction and bought some cool stuff, and found an awesome arrowhead when Kyle and I went hunting on Sunday.

It took me three years to find a perfect arrowhead.  I've found other perfect artifacts...just never a perfect arrowhead and it felt amazing.  My stomach flipped several times when I spotted the piece.  I may have even let out a squeal of joy. (i also found a perfect mano, a broken drill, and a broken birdpoint in this field)

Watch the video.  It'll take a moment to load but should be worth the wait.

Thunderbird Effigy or Eagle Effigy Piece. Too bad it's a Hoax.

eagle effigy piece.

A few weeks ago Kyle and I went to an antique store in Oskaloosa during our lunch break.  I wasn't looking for anything in particular, I just really like antique stores and this one is especially excellent.  Since I'm into coins I sniffed some out and took them to the register where owner of the store was working.  She took my money and we made casual conversation about her history with antiques.  As it turns out she's a third generation antique dealer.  It runs in her blood.

She asked us about our collections.  Kyle told her that he was into arrowheads and she asked him to identify something that had her mind boggled.  She reached into a jar and pulled out a flint napped object. 

"Well, that's an eagle effigy piece," said Kyle, "They're kind of controversial."

"How much is it worth?" Asked the owner.

"....20 bucks?  Maybe." Answered Kyle.

I coveted her effigy at that point.  It had to be mine and I began to haggle.   I didn't care if it was controversial.  I needed it.

"I'll give you 7 bucks."

"Ha!"

"OK, how about ten?"

"Give me 12 and it's a deal."

Of course I paid the money. That piece felt so good to hold, worth every penny...and an arrowhead shaped like an eagle?  That blew my mind. It was worth the risk as far as I was concerned.  This is where the controversy begins.  Apparently, no archeologist believes that eagle effigies exist, they believe all of them are counterfeits.  Eagle effigies have never been found at burial sites or archeological digs.  Ipso Facto....they don't exist.  I did a little research and found that arrowhead books written in the 1800's had chapters about eagle effigies and why they were fake.  People have been counterfeiting them since people started wanting to own arrowheads.  Crazy.  A long time ago they were sold at tourist traps.  I didn't know what to think but... it's probably a fake.  The patina is believable and the flint naps looks unbelievably  authentic...but people that counterfeit are good at their jobs.  

Later in the day I called the woman at the antique store and told her the story.  I even told her I found a couple on Ebay.  (they sell for a lot on ebay...I didn't get ripped off).  She told me that she found the piece in a box of jewlery that hadn't been opened in 36 years.  So...it's old.  It's controversial.  It's beautiful.  It's art as far as I'm concerned and I keep it in my studio for good luck.

It's quite the conversation piece.

Artifacts, Iowa. Bird Point.

1.  KP, Mudd, and I went on an artifact hunt ton Saturday. Check out what Kyle found, a perfect birdpoint.    It was hidden in tall weeds and he still managed to sniff it out.

2.  My buddy and her family just got back from an amazing California themed vacation.  They brought me back these wonderful smashed pennies.  This is my first smashed penny that proudly features a bottle of booze!  I'm pretty excited about that.

3. Mudd got a bite of the garden carrots.  Look at that face...awwwwwww.