In
the spring of 1980 farmer Murrell Reed got on his tractor and started breaking
up the ground on his Nelson County, Kentucky, farm. Within a ten-minute walk
of Murrell's farm are two caves, several rock overhangs, a small creek, and
a fair-sized river, so it was an ideal area for early man in Kentucky.
There had always been an arrowhead or two to be found on his land, and he would
on occasion stop the tractor to save a piece. But on this day, while making
his final pass around the field, he saw something that brought him off the
tractor and to the ground like never before. He had never laid his eyes on
anything like this! There
in
an area about sixty feet long were two heavy concentrations of flint. It was a cache of over 115 pieces
of flint.
The cache contained sixteen Harrison Turkey Tails, ranging in length from 4 3/4 inches to 7 1/2 inches. Also in
the cache were fifty-three Hebron Turkey Tail points ranging from 3 inches to 5 1/5 inches in length, as well as
assorted other blades and preforms. Looking at the collection as a whole, one can see that these points were made
by two different craftsmen.
It is also interesting to note that the blades were
made from two different types of
local flint: Kentucky
Hornstone and Sonora flint.· |