| Points..........Pottery.......and Palpitations |
| By Michael E. McGrath |
| Copyright 2006 by INDIAN ARTIFACT MAGAZINE Vol. 25-2 Ovid Bell Press Inc. (Unauthrorized Reproduction Prohibited) |
| The year of 2004 had not been a stellar year for me as far as collecting artifacts. Problems with irresponsible collectors in the valley had left me with only one hunt each on two of my best sites. My other site had not been plowed, nor had the previous year's corn been chopped. In July, to my surprise, the farmer who owned the uplowed site decided to disk it and then plow it. I almost always get beat to this site by an old-timer who lives right near it, so when we got a gully-washer of a thunderstorm the day after it was plowed, I took a couple of hours of vacation and hurried home to get my gear and head out to the field. Besides being hot and muggy, the day was perfectly overcast. I got to the hot part of the site only to be surprised that it had been plowed deep, then disked, just before the thunderstorm had done its revealing work. A grin then cracked from ear to ear on my face when I realized that I was the first one there. On the first pass I found a Perkiomen (or Susquehanna) point (Figure 1), as I walked through several cooking or pit features with the characteristic pieces and stains of charcoal. On the next few passes I found several pitted stones and a vestal notched point (Figure 2). The last few passes of this area produced a small drill point (Figure 3), some small pieces of Vinnette style pottery, and some broken points. I thought to myself, "Wow!" as my point pocket was getting full. However, I was getting really hot and really sweaty. Like a true collector (ore was I a fool?), I trudged on. Hunting conditions like this don't always present themselves, and I was having a great day. I moved on to the second portion of this site and was soon greeted with a large Genesee point (Figure 4) with only the stem visable. I actually thought it was debitage until I tugged on it and it moved the chunk of dirt that it was encased in. What I pulled out was a perfect three-inch point. Do you think this made my day? |
| The very next pass produced the perfect Levanna in Figure 5. I was on cloud nine, but wow, I was starting to get thirsty and my heart was pounding. Must just be excited from the great day!! |
| A few pitted stones, and broken points later I finished up this section and moved on to the last section. By this time I had been two and a half hours in the heat and humidity, and now the sun was starting to peek out. Trudging over to the last sectiion, my backpack full of pitted stones (11) felt more like a second person than anythin else. As I started to walk this section I was disappointed, no pottery was in sight (usually there is a lot of pottery in that section). This was odd, but hey, the plow does mysterious things. On my third pass I found a nice piece of the neck of an Owasco Corded vessel (Figure 6). The final few passes produced three more large, thick pieces of what I believe to be Point Peninsula Rocker Stamped pottery (Figure 7). Walking back to my car, which was a half-mile walk, I thought that this was a great way to end my collecting season. I had found 32 artifacts and 5 perfect points (Figure 8). I also happened to notice that my heart was racing, and I was really hot. I wasn't used to looking for artifacts in this kind of heat, as our springs here in New York are usually in the 50's and 60's during the collecting season. Consequently, I wound up in the ER at 2 a.m. the next morning with heart palpitations. Was it worth it? I'll answer that one if the palpitations go away. A word of caution: it's a good idea to take some water with you if it's going to be that hot. I've collected for 23 years and have never gotten dehydrated like that before. Don't let your drive to find artifacts overrule your good sense. I'm sure there are some skeletons of collectors out in the hot Southwest that could tell you all about how they did not listen to that small voice, the one that gives you sensible advice. |
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| Figure 1 |
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| Figure 2 |
| Figure 4 |
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| Figure 5 |
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| Figure 6 |
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| Figure 7 |
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| Figure 8 |