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.

Fossils and Curios from Iowa.

I picked up display boxes when I went to the pawn shop the other week.  Four of them.  When we got home I spent the better part of 5 hours organizing fossils.  I'm totally normal, I swear.  Obviously, not all of these objects are fossils...there's some raccoon jawbones, a boar's tooth, an old geode bit, some native American artifacts, and a Shriner pin (like the beaver?), an old ass gnawed up deer bone, petrified wood, a wheat penny, and some fool's gold.

I think the display boxes look good and in case there are any questions about the giant glass arrowhead I might as well answer it now.  While browsing the racks at the pawn shop I came across an arrowhead that was napped out of some kind of brownish grey glass.  It was made by some guy in Ottumwa, he probably pawned it for a couple of cigarettes.  The owner of the store wanted ten bucks for the thing.  I offered him five (coz it's really pretty cool) and we had a deal.  Five dollars well spent.

It's pretty cool that I found all of these things.

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.

Vintage Coke Bottles and a Strange Owl.

Someone enlighten me.  I have no idea what this is.  It's an antique but that's as far as I've gotten.

The coke bottle was made in 1923.  The Pepsi bottles are pretty old as well.

A broken Native American Artifact and three fossils.

This summer has been horrendously hot.  The earth is dry and the water in the river is incredibly low.  There are some perks to having the water low, things that have been hidden under the water for years and years are finally exposed.  It's a good time to be a pirate and walk the river bank looking for treasure.

And treasure is what I found. We did some cyber sleuthing and found out that the Coke Bottle is ridiculously old.  The internet says it's from around 1923 (-1931) and I always believe the internet...

Along with the vintage bottles (and fossils and arrowheads remnants), I found this really strange owl.  I have no idea what it's origins are but I'm assuming it came from a bed post.  It was pretty cool to pull it out of the water, it's quite the find.