A few ancient points

[dtcmor]

Here are a couple of pics of some artifacts that I have found in the area. Most are local flint or chert and one seems to be made of a jasper material. They are all pretty worn.





Thanks for looking!

[drjo]

Ever wonder how many they originally made if they lost so many?

Dr Joe

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[MikeS]

Nice finds! They all look to be in great condition!

May 7, 2010 5:48:26 GMT -5 drjo said:

Ever wonder how many they originally made if they lost so many?

Dr Joe

.

Somebody once told me that they routinely discarded them when they made better ones and/or they started to wear out....

[dtcmor]

Thanks guys - It would seem that the reason there are so many around to find is that these kind of tools were used for more than 10,000 years by all the cultures that live on this continent before the white settlers came. When they broke one they had to make another, and usually took the broken ones and changed them into another type of tool. But it does seem like there are millions of them everywhere - for every one you see, there might be 10 more buried under the surface that you don't see.

[Saskrock]

I took a anthropology course back in university, I can't remember the exact number of hours a week they said it took an average hunter/gatherer to supply themselves with food/shelter but it was low. Like about 8-10hrs. Way less then we work now in any case. Combine that with no tv or internet and I could see spending a lot of time making things just to keep busy. Few years of practice and you could pump out the points like crazy. 10000 years of keeping busy makes for a lot of points.

[rockdude]

Arrowheads go back farther than 10K years in Africa, Asia and Europe. Lots of points, hand-axes scrapers etc. We think of them as "Indian" artifacts but they're much older.