Tag: artifact collecting stories

The Fortune Cookie Folsoms

Kenny Resser, Topeka Kansas

Complete Folsom projectile point made of gray Permian chert, displaying classic Paleoindian fluting and fine pressure flaking, photographed on a black background.

Figure 1: A complete Folsom point made from Permian chert and measuring 1½ inches in length.

I have been collecting Indian artifacts for close to twenty years now. In that time, I have found some great artifacts. I have built up a good sized collection and started to attend artifact shows in Kansas, Oklahoma and Nebraska. At these shows, other collectors have shared what they had found and told their hunting stories.

I have always been really interested in the artifacts of the Paleo Indian, and have found a good number of them in my years of hunting. This includes just about every Paleo point type in the Central States Region. But there was one point type that I could never seem to find, the Folsom point. Every time I went hunting for artifacts the Folsom point was on my mind. I knew it was only a matter of time before I finally found one.

The weekend was getting close, and I had plans to go to a spot that had produced some nice artifacts for me in the past. I was really looking forward to getting out there to see what was waiting for me. That Friday at work, a few of us decided to order some Chinese food for lunch. After eating, I broke open my fortune cookie and the message said “A pleasant surprise is waiting for you.” With the weekend hunt on my mind, the first thing I thought of was “I sure hope the surprise is a Folsom point!” So I put the fortune message in my wallet and went on about my day.

The next morning I was already hard at it as the sun came up, wondering what “pleasant surprise” was waiting for me. I had been hunting for about two hours with not much luck, but I had planned on making it an all-day hunt. That’s when something caught my eye lying flat on the rocks. Thinking it was just another flake, I bent down to take a closer look. I couldn’t believe what was laying there in front of me, for it was a complete Folsom point. (Figure 1.) I had no idea what to do with myself and almost forgot how to use my camera because I was in shock. As soon as I took a picture of this beautiful Folsom laying there, I sat down beside it (not even picking it up yet), and just started crying because I was so happy to have finally, after 20 years of hunting, found the Holy Grail! It was 1½ inches long and made of Permian chert. Needless to say, my day was cut short, as now I was unable to focus. Plus I was nervous about having the Folsom on me and trying not to break it.

One night, about two years later, I was again eating Chinese food, this time with the family. While everyone was talking, I was thinking about and looking forward to my hunt the next day. After eating, I broke open my fortune cookie and it was almost like a flashback! The message again said the same exact same thing as my other fortune, right before I found my first Folsom! Jokingly, I read it out loud to the family and said the last time I received a fortune like this I found a Folsom point. point on the left measures 2 inches in length.

The next day got an early Start hunting and planned on being out all day. I was at it for about six or seven hours, and did manage to find a pretty nice point, I was happy, but the day was still not over yet, so I kept looking.

I came across an area that looked like it had some pretty good potential. I hunted it for about ten minutes when I caught a glimpse of a flint flake sticking out of the ground. I pulled it out, and when I opened my hand to look at it, I couldn’t believe it. I had another Folsom! (Figure 2, left)

Two incomplete Folsom projectile points displayed on a black background. The point on the left is made of dark gray Permian chert and is missing the tip, while the smaller point on the right is made of tan-banded Permian chert with an intact blade and broken base.

Figure 2: Two incomplete Folsom points found by the author. The point on the left measures 2 inches in length.

Again, I was in shock! This one was two inches long, made of Permian chert, and had an impact fracture on the tip. I had two Folsom points in my collection.

Knowing how fortunate I was to have found two Folsom points in my lifetime, I knew it might be a long time before I again found such a rare point. But I didn’t know that “long time coming” would be only two weeks later! I found a third Folsom point! (Figure 2, right)

This one was the tip of a super nice Folsom made of Smoky Hill Jasper. It measured 1½ inches and had very fine edge work.

I am thankful to have found three Folsom points, and if I ever get another fortune cookie message that says, “There is a pleasant surprise waiting for me,” you had better believe the next day I’ll be searching for that next Folsom point!

Black-and-white line drawings of two Folsom projectile points shown from multiple views, illustrating differences in flute length and width on each side of the Paleoindian points.

Figure 3: Author illustrated drawings of two of the Folsom points mentioned in the article. The point on the left is shown in Figure 1. The point on the right is the left-hand Folsom point shown in Figure 2. Notice the difference in the length and width of the flutes on each side of both points.

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A UNIQUE VARIETY OF “OLD COPPER” SPEAR POINT

E. J. Neiburger, Curator Emeritus
Lake County Museum, Waukegan, Illinois

Abstract

A unique form of “Old Copper” culture spear point has been identified. The “step” socketed spears are rare and identified by a significant right angle step at the junction of the spear and the tang. These artifacts show a quantum advance in metallurgical technology used by ancient North Americans.

THE OLD COPPER CULTURES

One of the rarest examples of Native American artifacts is the ones made out of copper. In the northern Midwest (Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Ontario, Canada, etc.) vast deposits of native copper, 99.9% pure, were left by retreating glaciers. Native Americans mined and collected this soft metal as early as 5000 BC. Those native groups, through time, who used this metal are lumped together as the Old Copper Culture and industry. (ref. 1,2)

Figure 1. Portion of the Hamilton “Old Copper” collection at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, showing numerous spear points.

“Drawing of Old Copper Culture copper point types, including conical, socketed, and rat-tail forms.”

Figure 2. Illustration of typical point styles of manufacture used by Native Americans.

Illustration of Old Copper Culture spear point manufacturing showing copper hammering, blade shaping, notching, annealing, and socket formation for hafting onto a wooden shaft.

Figure 3. Illustration showing the simple method of copper spear manufacture: pounding, shaping and folding.

The natives used the copper to fabricate tools and weapons (ref. 2). Though dwarfed numerically by the millions of stone artifacts made and used by prehistoric Americans, tens of thousands of copper artifacts have been found. One of the most useful products of this Old Copper industry was spear points.

The weight and impact generated by tossing a large stone spear generally cracked or shattered a stone point after one or two throws aimed at a hard object. Throwing a stone-tipped spear was destructive, thus very inefficient. The use of metal helped solve the breakage problem and was one of the primary uses for native copper. Native copper was used in the manufacture of strong, heavy, copper spear points. Thousands have been found.

There were many designs in spear point manufacture (Figure 2). These included: pencil-shaped spikes, flat leaf-shaped blades (notched or not), rat-tail blades (a leaf-shaped blade with a long, round rat-tail shaped tang), cones (like a pointed ice cream cone) and socketed spear heads (a flat blade with some type of hollow socket in the tang which received the wooden shaft). The blades differed in size, shape, weight and cross-sectional dimensions (flat, triangular, etc.).

The focus of this paper is on one particular form of socketed spear point: The Step-Socketed Point, a form of spear point (Figures 3–6).

The typical manufacturing technique for making a simple socketed spear point involves the hammering of a copper nugget, annealing (a heating technique to soften the metal and avoid cracking), and continued pounding until a flat, leaf-shaped blade is formed. Triangular notches are cut out of the opposing edges of the blade, and the sides are folded over to form a socket (tang) which surrounds approximately three-quarters of the wooden shaft. The tang connects the blade to the shaft. The blade was then ground and sharpened (Figure 3).

Most socketed spear points had their tangs on the same plane as the blade. This form, as described above, was easy to manufacture and resisted gross bending upon impact. Still there…

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When you join the Central States Archaeological Society, you’ll receive four quarterly issues of the Central States Archaeological Journal each year. Every issue is packed with original articles on archaeological discoveries, artifact identification, Clovis and Paleoindian research, ancient technologies, and remarkable finds from across North America.

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After Twenty-five Years I Finally Found a Cache

by Gene Edwards Berlin Heights, Ohio
Central States Archaeological Societies
January 2008 Journal


Over the last twenty-five years I have made at least fifty trips to Missouri, Arkansas and Texas to go artifact hunting with my friends. Each trip was marked with some exciting find or interesting event. I’ve made many friends throughout the years, and the memories of each and every hunt are priceless. On one trip, I was lucky enough to go out with Greg Perino.

I spent hours asking him question upon question. One time he pointed out to me, “Boy, if you can’t read the soil, you never will be an archaeologist.” He had a knack for reading the soil that I never mastered. But, on one such trip, while hunting in Northeast Texas with “Sonnie” Roy Hutchinson and Ken Cullipper, I was lucky enough to find my one and only cache of points; fifteen wonderful Maud points. These are Caddoan points from the Fulton Period, 1450 to 1700 A.D.

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