Mar
11
indian artifact hunting help?
Byok ive found arrowheads, old musket balls, knives, pottery, spear heads, axe heads, matatees or how ever u spell it, that kind of stuff but i have never found a buffalo skull or old revolver/rifle i have even found a cavalry spur! i live in the texas panhandle and have about 50,000 acres to work with andand it has creeks and flat land mesas and brush all kinds of terrain. so is there anywhere specific i can look to find a buffalo skull my dad has found one but i want to and i have already located indian campsites and i also would like to find an old rifle or such and indian scurmishes did happen on the creek.
2 Comments
March 11th, 2010 at 2:10 am
Indians and Paleoindians in your area used one method of bison hunting where they would drive herds over cliffs and then scavenge the animals that died falling below. If there is a steep cliff site like that, especially with a sheltering overhang nearby you might be apt to find bison remains there at the bottom or under the overhang, perhaps eroding out of a nearby streambank. One problem with large bones is that they tend to be dragged away, scattered and consumed by animals.
You also might want to look into joining a local archaeological group (membership is usually available for amateurs as well as people in education and professionals) and learn more about what you are looking for, also to learn the laws and rules for respectful handling of what you find. Surface collecting on private land has few restrictions but if you were to dig below the surface or disturb human remains or sites with sacred significance to the native people you would be doing more harm than good. Realize that when you dig up or remove artifacts you destroy their context and much that could be learned about them if they were left in place.
March 11th, 2010 at 2:43 am
Leave the artifacts alone. You’re destroying the archaeological record. Archaeologists extract information, lifeways etc.., based on contexts of artifacts and when you disturb the context information is lost.