Cotton field finds

[Sabre52]

Howdy folks,

A buddy of mine used to farm cotton out by Alpaugh, CA on the bed of ancient Lake Tulare. Fields there are full of late Paleo sites and the associated bones are even permineralized and almost stone. I wish I had pics of my buddy's collection which was really unbelievable as he would pay his workers to pick up stuff for him. When I was out there one day the guy plowing the field found a huge ten inch knife of Franciscan jasper. My own finds are nothing fancy but I thought I'd post a pic anyway. I always wished I'd find a perfect plummet/charmstone but this fragment is all I ever found. The points are very heavy dart points and the crude Olivella shell beads were the indicator we used to find sites. Those came all the way from the California coast to the south San Joaquin Valley in trade. The top, green chert point looks to be Hunters Valley Chert or maybe a similar chert from Indian Valley. Another example of long trade routes...Mel

[orrum]

That's way cool Mel!

[Fossilman]

Love artifacts....A great little collection you have there Mel.....Liking the story behind the finds too.....

[accidentalrockhound]

Super neat, been looking for hunting grounds in colorado to find points and artifacts,

[vegasjames]

Wow, great finds!

[fernwood]

Love them

[huskeric]

How amazing it must feel to unearth something that was made by another's hands millennia ago. You are the first person to pick those items up since they were laid there, likely by their creator.

I think the rocks i find by themselves are amazing, but to find something that someone like me was drawn to, and then made into a tool and used for hunting or rituals, that is simply mind-blowing.

[jamesp]

Great finds, knowing the source is half the fun with such. Those people cherished their knapping materials.
That plummet looking stone a real rare find out east.

[Sabre52]

James, if you can imagine it, my friend who was allowing me to hunt his fields had a shelf full of various plummets ( called charmstones in Commiefornia) and he didn't even keep partials. Don't know for sure what the stone is they used. Some are steatite and some a reddish maybe alabaster stuff but most are greenish and appear to be serpentine, which would make sense for the area. Found a few obsidian points but most were Franciscan chert. Buddy had a knife from Stone Canyon jasper and another from Squires ranch which is a red and white brecciated jasper. Lots of associated elk bones as the Tule Elk was native to the area for thousands of years. Bones were permineralized, not quite petrified but very close to it. The area being farmed was the ancient bed and shore of Lake Tulare.....Mel