by Charles Vaughn, Aurelian Springs, North Carolina
Volume 64, Number 3, July 2017 Central States Archaeological Journal
Figure 1. The Clovis in situ
On the fourth of January 2017, my good friend Howard Boney and I decided that the rainfall the day before was enough to make conditions perfect for the first artifact hunt this year.
We visited three good sites in Halifax County, North Carolina only to find one of them in poor hunting condition. At the other two sites, we were greatly disappointed to find clear evidence of tracks from other artifact hunters who had previously been there. As a result no significant artifacts were found.
Very discouraged, we decided to get some lunch. Several miles from our planned food stop, and completely as an afterthought, we stopped at a real good site which had been farmed for peanuts last year. We immediately began to notice many chips and flakes, mostly white quartz. We set out to hunt and found half a dozen projectile points along with broken points and several hammer stones or grinding stones.
As we started to leave the field, I headed back to the car to drive up the farm path to pick Howard up and depart. About twenty feet from the car, I spotted the pictured Clovis point (Figs. 1, 2) in the middle of a farm track. I called to Howard to come see what I had found. We both were amazed and excited and began taking cell phone pictures.
The first of the pictures accompanying this article shows the Coastal Plain chert Clovis in situ (Fig. 1). The Clovis is single fluted on one face and double fluted on the other and is 2 1/8 inches long. The other picture was taken by my wife later (Fig. 2).
This is my first whole Clovis find in approximately thirty-eight years and is the finest one I have ever found.
Above: Figure 2. Both sides of the Clovis. It is made from Coastal Plain chert and measures 2 1/8 inches in length. The face on the left is double fluted.
Volume 68, number 1, January 2021 Central States Archaeological Journal
Most of the writer’s Clovis point finds are from prehistoric Indian sites along the Kankakee River. They are also from upland sites. These sites are situated north along Kankakee River tributary streams in Will and Kankakee counties. These counties are located in northeast Illinois. A small intact Clovis point was collected from a site near the Iroquois River in Kankakee County, Illinois. Another small Clovis point was recovered in northwest Indiana. All these personal finds include five intact and three damaged specimens and are made from non-local cherts. An additional Clovis base was also found by the author in Pike County, Illinois.
The first photograph (Fig. 1) shows one side of the five intact Clovis points. Each specimen from left to right from these photos is inscribed with all pertinent information recorded. The last two small points are identified next from top to bottom. The first and largest of the intact Clovis points is made of an off-white Burlington flint. It is fluted on both sides of the blade. The base is ground. It has been anciently re-sharpened. This specimen was found on the creek side downward slope of one knoll. This knoll is part of a series along the northwest side of Rock Creek. This is by the town of Peotone in Will County, Illinois. It was found in March 1977. This series of knolls along Rock Creek has yielded many artifacts. These artifacts include Archaic period chipped stone tools. There are also two sections of Hixton quartzite Late Paleo period blades. In addition, there are three hard stone grooved axes.
The second Clovis is a narrow specimen. It is made of a mottled quartz-like material, possibly Shakopee chert. It has long narrow flutes on each alternate side along the very blade edge. It exhibits a ground base and has been anciently re-sharpened. This unusual fluted point was found in March 2000. It was located on the downslope of a sandy clay loam knoll. This is along the uplands portion of Forked Creek in Green Garden Township in Will County, Illinois. Archaic culture chipped stone artifacts were also collected from this site. These include a small Hardin Barbed blade of white Burlington flint.
The third Clovis point is made of hornstone, also known as Harrison County flint. It is fluted on both sides of the blade. It has a heavily ground base. It has been anciently re-sharpened many times. This Clovis was collected from the first high terrace. It is on the south side of the Kankakee River, just east of Warner Bridge. It is now a conservation area in Kankakee County, Illinois. The Clovis was found in June, 1970. A number of Archaic projectile points were also found in this farm field.
The fourth Clovis is a small example made of Starved Rock chert. It has short flutes on both sides of the blade with a ground base. It was anciently re-sharpened. This point was found east of the Iroquois River. It was on one of a series of sand hills located downstream from Sugar Island Bridge. This location is in Kankakee County, Illinois. The discovery occurred in May 1959. There were also numerous projectile points from other cultures found on these sand hills.
The fifth Clovis point is another small point made of glossy white Burlington chert. It is fluted on both sides of the blade and has a ground base. It was anciently re-sharpened. This Clovis was collected in the Kankakee River flood plain. It was on a ridge located just south of Hebron in Porter County, Indiana. This occurred in March 2003. Sparse evidence of other prehistoric Indian cultures were also found here.
The second photograph (Fig. 2) shows four damaged Clovis points found by the writer. From left to right, the first specimen is the top portion of a Clovis point. It is made of white Burlington chert. The very upper portions of flutes are present on each side of the blade. There is no blade edge grinding present on this part of the blade. This is because a large portion of the base is missing. If intact, this Clovis would have been approximately 3.5–4 inches long. This specimen was found on a sandy clay loam knoll. It overlooks a wide expanse of Exline Creek east of Manteno in Kankakee County, Illinois. It was discovered in April 1980. Archaic points were collected on this same knoll. A small Hardin Barbed blade of white Burlington flint was found just east. This was on the opposite side of a hardtop road on another knoll along the creek.
The second specimen is a small thin Clovis reworked into a tool. It is made of a light grey hornstone. It is fluted on one side and has a lightly ground base. Found on a high south bank farm field near Custer Park in Will County, Illinois in April 1981. Evidence of Archaic, Woodland and Upper Mississippian cultures are also present on this site including Woodland pottery shards.
The third specimen is a Clovis base made of colorful Avon chert. It has a heavily ground base. The base is fluted on both sides. It was found on a sand hill overlooking a small creek near Custer Park. This location is on the south side of the Kankakee River in Will County, Illinois. The discovery took place in May 1963. Other prehistoric cultural evidence was found in abundance on this sand hill off the river along the highway.
The fourth Clovis base is made of white Burlington chert. It has a heavily ground base. The base is fluted on both sides. If intact this Clovis would have been a large one. It was found on the east end of the town of Pittsfield. It rested on high ground along ravines in Pike County, Illinois. The discovery happened in March 1980. A damaged Dalton blade was also collected from this farm field. Archaic chipped stone artifacts were gathered as well. On the same day in March, the writer and two collector friends found a small intact fluted Clovis point. This farm field was deeply moldboard plowed when these artifacts were collected.
Fluted Clovis points are rare in the areas the writer has surface hunted. He is fortunate to find this many points, both intact and damaged, over the years of collecting. He searches the farm fields for Indian artifacts. Many of the writer’s collector friends have never found a Clovis point. They searched for relics over their entire years of collecting.
Times have sure changed. The author began searching in the fields when they were normally moldboard plowed in fall. This was especially true when the spring crops were planted in corn or winter wheat. Some of the writer’s favorite farm fields for hunting Indian artifacts have been no-till farmed since the 1990s. It is not expected for this farming practice to change in the near future. Some farmers no-till their fields. Others practice various depths of chisel plowing. They also work the ground by shallow disc tilling. These methods still produce a crop of Indian artifacts every season. When the writer reminisces about the past, he recalls many fond memories. He remembers his social life and the music that was popular during those early years of collecting Indian artifacts. What a great hobby this has been and still is! Hopefully it will remain so for many young collectors in the future.
