# Indian arrowheads



## boppa

stevebrandle said:


> These are three nicely made arrow heads I found. It was interesting to see that some points were very well made and some of them looked like lopsided duds. I don't know if the duds were rejects or just an indian with new or crappy knaping skills.
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> The points below are some examples of different styles. The light colored broken one on the left actually has a hole that goes thru it. (maybe it was the first fishing point to tie a string to it):idea:


Those "three nicely made arrow heads" look like they were made with Bayport chert (assuming you found them in MI). There are 2 places in MI where indigenous people mined projectile point chert: Norwood (near Charlevoix) and Bayport (Saginaw basin). Bayport chert is uniformly dark grey (sometimes with a white edge) & Norwood chert is grey with darker grey stripes, also beige with stripes and also black. 
There was definitely trading of chert back in the day as it is common to find Bayport chert points in NW MI and Norwood chert points and chippage in the same locations.


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## stevebrandle

boppa,

All of these relics were found in the Saginaw River basin and the three mentioned arrowheads appear to be Bayport chert.


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## Sawcat

I was helping a friend dig a trench for a footing for his cabin up on the banks of big creek. I was mostly just throwing sand and the digging was easy. I started hitting a vein of river rock with some brightly colored stones, some I set aside to keep. I stuck my shovel into the sand and I must have just caught the edge because a tear drop knife just stood up at attention like a magic trick, luckily I didn't damage the knife, it's totally cool and still has a bit of an edge to it. It has been knapped all around the edges and is a little longer than my hand is wide. Judging by your description from above I'd guess this was Norwood Chert, it is a sandy beige color with some darker striping. I would love to know more about it, but the info on the internet is mostly western plains tribes, I'm thinking this may have been Pottawatomie or one of the local tribes around Luzerne. 
Anyhow I think it's one of the coolest things and I often think of the man or woman who dropped it into the river ages ago.


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## StumpJumper

Steve, that sand ridge wasn't around Oscoda was it?


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## swampbuck

stevebrandle said:


> These are three nicely made arrow heads I found. It was interesting to see that some points were very well made and some of them looked like lopsided duds. I don't know if the duds were rejects or just an indian with new or crappy knaping skills.
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> I have one simular to the bottom arrowhead that is black. Found in my garden after a rain, Higgins Lake mich. I have found a couple light colored ones, but always wondered how a black one ended up here.


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## stevebrandle

Sawcut, can you post a picture of your find? I'd really like to see it.

StumpJumper, Not Oscoda area; it was just west of the Saginaw city limits.


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## StumpJumper

There's lots of sites buried under subdivisions. Most of the time if they are excavating and dig something up it's kept hush hush so archeologists don't come in and claim it to be a historical site....


I've found artifacts all over MI but most of my collection came from the Oscoda area, a site called Goodwin-Gresham.. The place was like an arrowhead factory, flint chips everywhere by the thousands, pottery, arrowheads... you name it we found it. Pretty much the whole town of Oscoda sits on a huge site, you stick a shovel in the ground anywhere between the AuSable and Vanetten creek and you'll unearth flint chips or better.

I still have about 5 boxes full of flint and chirt flakes, I don't know why I thought I had to keep every piece we found lol.


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## Sawcat

Here's 3 from my phone so the quality isn't the best.


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## Sawcat

The craziest thing is that this knife just fits in my hand like it was meant to be there. It was crafted by a skilled artisan who depended on their tools to live everyday. I wonder what that life must have been like?


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## stevebrandle

Thanks for posting that, it looks similar to one of the pieces I posted earlier. I wonder if these are really knives or ????


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## boppa

Sawcat said:


> Here's 3 from my phone so the quality isn't the best.


Sawcut- Very nice artifact. I'm no archaeologist or geologist, but I have worked with them on accessioning (cataloging) artifact collections. Lots of the lithic artifacts that are found are called "preforms" or some kind of tool or projectile point in process of completion. Your piece could very well be a knife or could be an unfinished "turkey tail" point or whatever- hard to say.
It is interesting to hold something in your hand that was made so well so long ago. We have accessioned some points from NW MI that have been archaeologically authenticated to have been created about the time of the last ice age- 10-12,000 years ago. Those are way cool to hold in your hand and think about.


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## Topshelf

This is a very interesting thread. It just so happens I live at the dead end of a road with a Indian name. My neighbor has told me she has found lots of arrow heads on the adjacent property. I'm at the top of a knoll which is all sand. I havent found any YET but I see myself looking in the summer.


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## ptaustinpete

I have an entire box of indian stuff my brother & I found along the Huron River. It all came from the side of the river bank in down town New Boston. My grand mother owned the dairybar. It all came from between there & the bridge. We have at least two knives, a couple of axe heads?, pounders & many many arrow heads. It was right behind the buildings sitting on top of the ground.


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## Mathews_Archer84

I've been trying to find arrowheads and relics for years with no luck! Living in Monroe county i should have a little better luck finding something!


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## Whitetail Freak

My mother found a skinner (we believe) yrs ago in the driveway. It's quite large and sharp. I assume chief wabasis's tribe since in the area. Now if I found his lost treasure.


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## BigSteve

I got a buddy lives here on the north side of Tecumseh and his family has a pretty good size farm thats been in the family for generations. Over the years his grandpa would walk around looking in their fields after they plowed them and my buddy to this day still has a small bucket probably about 3.5 gallons thats filled with arrow heads, spear heads, and other tools that were pretty neat. One of my favorites was was this rock that was sorta round, with a smooth face on one side and on the other side there were i believe five small holes that were somehow tooled into the side for your five finger tips to fit in for grip. I'm not sure if it was used for grinding corn into meal or something. His grandpa donated a bunch of stuff to the U-M and a few other farms in the area have also found quite a bit of stuff. He tells me that one of the neighboring farms had some kind of dig done by the U-M and that was how they came to donate some of their stuff. They were told by them that the arrows heads were very small which they had some of and alot of what they thought were arrow heads were actually spear heads. also some axe/hammer heads.


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## mau

never found an arrowhead but i did find what i think is apiece of petrified wood that has been worn smooth.someone told me it was probally a "worry stone"


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## Weekender#1

I live down in Findlay, Ohio and have been looking for surface finds for quite a few years, The new season is nearly upon us now, I use a golf club shaft and just poke around in the plowed fields behind my home. I pick up around a dozen points a year. I take the dog for a walk and just walk the fields I have my favorite ones. I have one field that I believe was a camp as I can pick up 4 points per visit and I am only out for a hour or so. Sand and high ground guys and if you are not finding anything you are walking to fast and looking to far to your sides, just back and forth on prime grounds.


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## localyahoo

Does anyone where I can find out where there might be an old settlement or something??? I have been trying on line and looking in farm fields and have yet to turn up anything. I know I am sure its one of those things once you get the eye for it they just jump out at you. I can find morels and antler sheds, but I just cannot find an arrow head . Any help would be appreciated, I am not looking for a hand out just some basic info for some general areas to look at. I certainly do not mind the leg work. You can PM me if you want to keep it private!

Thanks,

LY


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## corihor

Nope, never. Although I've looked a ton


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